Postage Stamp Quilt, HELP!!!
 

Anybody made a postage stamp quilt? I'm having some trouble matching corners. I've made many scrappy square quilts with bigger pieces and can always ease the pieces if they don't want to nest properly, but some of these little pieces won't nest and my corners aren't all right. I do cut accuratly and I can sew a decent 1/4 inch seam. This is driving me nuts, what am I doing wrong? Is there a technique I don't know? I'm using 2 inch strips, finishing 1.5 inch. Am I being too picky? I have finished 20 blocks so far. Help!

I'm doing one with 1.5" squares. Let me see if I can explain how I'm doing it. I'm chain piecing them. I sew the first 2 vertical rows together and leave them connected by thread. Then I add the third row, again leaving them connected by thread. I do it all the way across, then fold at the threads and sew horizontally across the whole thing. I know that makes no sense what I just wrote but I'm not sure how to explain it. I took pics of my last block in progress, let me see if i can figure out how to upload them here. Or maybe I can find better directions. Or both.

I think you're being too picky. However, here are some things that would help me with a project like this. (1) Heavily starch fabric before cutting into strips. (2) Press seams open. (3) Use white glue to "pin" seams before sewing.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...4b071378be.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...fd9a71ad21.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...7480b0800f.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...86f18cf77e.jpg

Its definitely not perfect but the corners are decent. I pressed open, which meant using a seam ripper to break the chains after sewing the horizontal rows. But I think your corners would match up better if you press to opposite sides and then nest. I will be FMQ mine and the quares are small so I wanted them to lie as flat as possible.

Now I will also look for a better tutorial.

Starching helped a ton for me. I love the glue idea! I may try that on my next block.

Here's one. Skip the first part and start at the chain assembly section.
http://rachaelrabbit.blogspot.com/20...n-piecing.html

Spend some time looking at pictures of antique quilts and you should relax about "perfection". We are too close to our blocks to see the overall effect and just how minor any slight imperfections really are.

Are you trying to win a show prize or finish a quilt that looks good and gives comfort?

ps: There is so much to look at with the cute prints that I cannot see any problems in the block shown.

Starch your fabric prior to cutting... it really makes a difference. Be careful when you are pressing, its so easy to get a block out of square , and then the seams don't line up.

If you use glue, make sure it's Elmer's SCHOOL glue!

From your pictures, it looks like some of your fabrics may have been stretched from ironing...?

Looks pretty good to me. I haven't started my p.s. quilt yet, but was told not to worry too much about it.

P.S. Check with Havplenty. She works with these little monsters a lot.

It looks good to me! Love the look of all the different fabrics....I think the ironing with starch idea will help the most...And like someone mentioned, if you look at the antique quilts out there, they are not perfect..I bet noone else notices the things you do in your own work..Enjoy and share pics as you progress!!

I think your corners are just fine. Square it up, put it together and enjoy!

The unfortunate part about the minis is that you lose most of the built in ease that comes with larger pieces. Cutting and piecing becomes more demanding of accuracy.
MaryKatherine

I think your looks better than mine would-with those tiny pieces there is less room to ease in the seams.

You're beng too hard on yourself. Most people won't notice that the corners don't match as you have it now, and once the quilt is quilted, it will be very hard to notice tha the corners don't match.

It sounds like you want to have your corners dead on. So do I. Looking at your photos, it appears that the strips wave and the blocks are somewhat uneven. Measure them to see if the squares are really square. If not, as I suspect, try and figure out where you are going wrong. It could be that you are stretching them when pressing, or your seams really aren't accurate. I never starch anything, by the way. It is not necessary to get accurate sewing. It appears that the "me not love" row is more rectangular than square, but that could be from the photo angle. I really think it is in the accuracy of your 1/4 inch seams. Stitch more slowly--if you are sewing with the petal to the metal, as I was, then you can't be as accurate as necessary. Hope this helps. SandyQuilter

I use this technique, RachelSews an Easy Quilt Piecing Technique, video found on You Tube. It makes perfectly matching corners with no hassles. I find the interfacing at Joanns or any place that sells fabric. Really takes the problems out of piecing small quilts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng-6zu9pbtY

Sometimes the cross grain has some stretch and the lengthwise does not.
So keep all grains going in the same direction. I hope that makes sense.

I haven't tried it, but this method looks interesting:
http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransso...he-block-.html

I have stretched fabrics more than you can imagine to get them to fit. If you really study your seams, I bet some of them have let one of the fabrics slide a bit. At least that is what I find when they don't want to fit perfectly. For the small amount you are off in the above squares, I doubt it would be noticed in the quilt unless someone goes row by row checking points. When you quilt it, it will show even less. I love your scrappiness and I had to really look to see what your tiny little mistakes.