Good morning!

Quick question. I am making a lap size quilt for a friend of mine that just finished her cancer treatment. The pattern shows 7 lines of fabric on the front. 4 of them are a 5 1/2" wide stip of a prissy cut fabric that goes the length of the top. The other 3 are pieced using 3 1/2" squares. I have 2 pieces that are 5 squares wide and 28 squares long and 1 piece that is 4 squares wide and 28 squares long.

My question is this, when I add the strips of the prissy cut fabric are there any tips to sew it on, or is it so easy you just slap it on there? The prissy cut has no corners so I don't have to worry about matching anything. I just don't know if I should treat it like a pieced strip or a sashing.

Oh...and I discovered something while I was piecing the long strips this weekend. There were no clear instructions about which way to press the seams since there are 14 pieces of 5 or 6 colors in it and it was put together randomly. So, I pressed them all with the seams going in one direction. When it came time to complete the piecing process, I found that sometimes I had to press the seams to the other side to match my corners. I thought it would be a big pain, but it wasn't. All my corners matched up quite nicely. The only problem I noticed was when I flipped it over to make sure all the seams were pressed, some of them looked perfect with no folds or anything, but others looked like when the went through the dog feeds to be sewn they flipped the other direction. Does anyone know how I can prevent that from happening?

I'm so glad this top is almost over! Not sure I'll be able to give it to her by Xmas...but maybe soon afterward.

melissa

If I understand your question right, I would either press the seams open or alternate the directions that you are pressing the seams to. I should help them match up easier and if you have a walking foot, that would make it easier as well.

My seams flip all the time and I just press them, sometimes I might even clip them a bit so that they will lay flat...figuring the quilting will prevent any fraying. I know this isn't correct but just letting you know how I take care of the problem! LOL I am not sure its preventable unless you want to take all day stitching each seam and checking the underside everytime you come to an interesection!

Vicki,

That's what I was doing. I made little snippets whenever they flipped so I could get them to lay right. I figure between the quilting and the applique there will be some stability there.

My rule of thumb is to press seamd to the darker side. Most patterns keep a dark/light contrast going, so it is seldom an issue. About the only time I need to snip is on the center of a star.

My general rule of thumb is to press over to the dark side too. :lol: But on this pattern, it used 14 different pieces of blue, beige, pink, and purple. There were many lights and darks and if I followed that rule, the back would be a mess. That was why I pressed them all in the same direction. The fabrics are thick enough that you cannot see the fabric behind it if it's a lighter color.

I hate when the seam flips over like that! I was asking in a chat what that was called. I'm sure quilter's have a name for it. My name isn't G-rated, so I won't share! 8)

Melissa - I'd sure like to see a picture of what you've got done so far - sounds intriguing!! 8)

I'll try and post some here tomorrow. It's feeding time here at the zoo, so I just got on real fast between main dish and veggie preparation.

Here is the prissy cut print. The stripe to go between the strips and on the outside edge. This material is also the backing. There are several different sets of children holding the heart:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...nprogress1.jpg

Here is one of the pieced sets. There are 2 that are 5 pieces wide and 28 long and one that is 4 pieces wide and 28 pieces long:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...nprogress2.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...nprogress3.jpg