I'm working on a quilt, using Carol Doak's Alaska block. Does anybody have any tips on how to battle the bulky seams? I'm afraid when the blocks are all sewn together, the owner will feel the knots where the points meet.

Thanks

When I took mine for opinions on the same thing to the LQS they suggested: 1) use a rubber mallet and pound the seams flatter, or 2) trim the seam allowances where the seams meet to thinner than .25". I worried the last one might make them fray out, but she said she's never had a problem with fraying. I'm going to make another and try #2, just to see.

When I used to work for an alterations shop, we would get in Levi's and such to shorten. The area where the flat-felled seam is consists of 4 layers of denim; make 1 roll, and now you have 8 layers; a 2nd roll produces 12 layers. That is tough going even for an industrial machine. The solution was to use a rubber mallet and pound that area into submission, protecting the fabric with another piece of cloth. I don't know if that might work for your situation or not. It might depend on if this is a wall hanging or a quilt too. The wall hanging doesn't care.

I stop sewing and take a backstitch at each point that is supposed to be in the center except for the final one where you sew the halves together and then I press that seam open. If the fabric is extra thick, I'll press the east/west seams open also. I have pounded denim with a hammer to flatten out seams so it should work on cotton also. I didn't use a rubber hammer--I used the real deal carpenter's hammer.

Carol has a great yahoo site that she does answer questions they are strictly Carols work but very nice group. I hope this helps

Very interesting!