Joe

Another question do you square all your smaller pieces before putting them together? For instance so far all the blocks I've made have been made of 9 different squares. Then i sew the top row together middle row bottom row then sew them all together. Should I be squaring every step of the way? Look at the block below its clearly not square but if I square it it's too small so i put it in the block as is then the end block was way out of square and I had to trim it down to 12x12 1/4. Here is the finished block after squaring.

TammyD

Hi! I make my blocks a little bit bigger, then square them up. If you have a lot of these blocks made up and they are a little smaller it might be a sashing opportunity :-D

scrapcollector

No expert here, but I was taught to square as you go. Makes everything a lot simpler.

dglvr

Yeap. Ditto. Thats what I do. :thumbup:

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

HST are tough for me to keep square, too. I make them by adding a full inch to the finished size I need. Put the two squares together, draw a diagonal line and sew 1/4" from each side of the line. After sewing, cut them apart on the line. They are then a touch oversize so I have room to square them up.

It's a bit more time consuming, but it's the only way I end up with squares.

zennia

Square as you go saves a lot of problems and disappoints later.
I make my HST like Lisa. Lots of room to work with.

raptureready

I use THANGLES to make my HST and they come out close enough to perfect everytime---right size, little if any squaring up. For other things, yes, I square as I go. If your hsts are coming out too small, try sewing a "scant-er" 1/4" seam.

sharon b

I have the same problem :oops: I was told to measure everything every step of the way . Turns out a LOT of the patterns I was using actually call for a "scant" 1/4" not a regular 1/4" and that was making all my squares too small :hunf:

And the HST are VERY hard to get correct because of the bias

Practice, Practice, Practice and trust me I know how frustrating it is

Honey

Squaring just makes your quilt go together so much smoother.

shaverg

Sometimes I do. But not always. If I look like I am sewing a little quirky that day. I do.