citruscountyquilter

I agree with the starch suggestion but you also have to be careful when starching that you don't stretch your fabric. Press rather than iron and don't have it very wet. I would hesitate wetting my finished block with either water or starch to bring it into shape. You might get it to fit in one place and be worse someplace else. In the future do your starching before you cut. This will help stabilize the fabric so it isn't so pliable.

When I am assembling things I look to see what I need to do to make points match, seams match etc. Those will be noticeable. A seam that is not a true 1/4" that happens when you are matching points is not noticeable. Ideally you want things to be square and the same size but if one is a little off then go for what is going to show. If squaring your blocks chops off points then don't square your block and ease it together instead. You want your end result to lay as flat as possible with all the points and seams that are supposed to match matching. Often times that takes some fudging here and there.

eparys

I too square as I go so in the end my blocks vary very little in size from one another.

Is there a possibility of adding a small border to each block using the background color(lets say 1" unfinished - so that would make each block about 1 " larger when completed)? If so, then it would be easy to square each block up and they would all be a consistent size.

feffertim

I always starch my fabric before cutting, I have found if I cut and sew blocks together and then steam or starch them, they tend to shrink or get distorted. Starching (best press) first ,my finished blocks are almost always accurate.

MFord

I've found it true that trying to starch after making the block can cause even more problems. I just hoped the sizing in the batiks would keep them from stretching much, but no.

So, remember I had 16 blocks? I started putting them together in rows yesterday...I did not even know that a person could make a Hunter's Star block backward, but I had done it - 4 times! So I got three rows sewn and looking reasonably good, and took 4 blocks partially apart yesterday. Hope to get them back together the right way!
I used the 45 degree line going through the center to do my trimming and indeed, had to turn the blocks around several times, trimming a sliver here and there. I still had a few where one side or another wasn't quite straight, but I eased them in ok.

For those that suggested sashing - that is certainly doable, but these blocks make more stars where they intersect, and I didn't want to lose those. This has been fun, but it's hard to sew all those little pieces together and make all the seams match. I'm going back to layer cakes for a while after this!

oldtisme

Franc36 you just gave me a "duh" moment. Instead of starching twice I need to change up my Starch to water ratio! Jeepers Duh me, Thanks a Bunch!

oldtisme

Last 2 batches of layer cakes I bought...both the same...I had to square them all to 9 1/2 they were so off square. No more buying Layer Cakes for me, I'll make my own ty

mjhaess

I square up the blocks and the quilt..

bearisgray

IF your pieces were cut accurately and you sewed your seams accurately - I think you can just ease your pieces together. Bias edges will stretch with a lot of handling.

In this case - if were mine - (and the cutting and sewing were accurate) - I would finish assembling each block.

See if the edges are fairly straight and all the units are about the same size (within 1/8 inch or so of each other)

On a 12 inch block, 1/8 inch difference eases in so that it's almost not noticeable.

In general, though - I try to have each unit be the expected size and trim as I go. So I will square up HST units, flying geese units, triangle in a square units - I have trouble getting them "right enough" - and then square up the block. I usually don't square up the whole top, because that usually turns out "close enough" - I do measure the for the borders and have opposite sides match for length.