Thread: Quilting term?

I have seen posts about easing in a seam. How do you ease in seam, it sounds like something I need to know.

There are times that, no matter how careful you are, one block ends up being slightly larger than its neighbour. You can disguise the problem and sew the two blocks together more easily, by placing the larger block on the bottom. The feed dogs on your sewing machine will help to ease in the extra fullness of the larger block.

I have also gone one step further, when I had a border that just would not behave. I put two lines of gathering stitches on the edge and then treated the seam as if I was attaching a set-in-sleeve to a blouse. It worked very well and was unnoticeable after I removed the gathering stitches and gave it a good pressing.

If you are matching up 2 seams and one piece is wider than the other, you can usually secure the 2 pieces of fabric at the seam (I use fine silk pins) and then sew the seam "easing" in the extra that the wider piece has. If it is a large distance between seams, you might need several pins to distribute the excess fabric.

Aren't you suppose to stitch with the baggy side facing down???

Originally Posted by ManiacQuilter2

Aren't you suppose to stitch with the baggy side facing down???

The feed dogs are grabbing the baggy bottom and moving it slightly faster than the tight top, thus pulling it in. (Oh-oh, time for me to find some feed dogs for my saggy bottom. lol)

When one side is longer than its partner, I generally pin both sides in the middle and in quarters (even more when it's a long seam). Then I match up the pins. That way the difference gets distributed evenly.

If there is just a small bit of difference between the 2 pieces, and it's a short seam, like 4" or less, you can try sewing with a 'baggy bottom'. In other words the larger piece on the bottom, letting the feed dogs ease the excess fabrics.
Easing is used when there's a fair amount of difference, and/or a long seam. It's often used when joining borders. You measure the quilt top in 3 places, cut your borders to the average length and ease it.
Easing will distribute the excess fabric along the entire length of the seam.
Fold each of the pieces separately, finding the centers. Put a pin in marking this. Now take both ends and fold to the center, finding the quarter distance. Put pins in this spot to mark. If it's a long seam, or there's lots of excess fabric, do it once more finding the eighths. Now pin the 2 pieces together, matching these marked points. Tip: if you use pins with different color heads than the rest of your pins for this, it makes it easier. Treat each section separately, and continue to pin the same manner as you just did for the whole seam. Find the center of the section on each piece and pin it together. Do this until you feel that the seam will be smooth and you can sew it without creating pleats. You might need to rearrange the pins a bit within a section and if you use different pins for the original matching points you know not to move those!

You really have to make a shirt with sleeves to understand the term 'easing'. LOL