Is the 1/4" seam a must for you?
 

I finished a quilt top today, and spent hours snipping away at the threads from fabric fraying. I buy quilt store brand fabric, but it all frays like mad. When looking at all of my seams, I tend to get nervous about it possibly fraying just a bit too much down the road. My scant 1/4" seam (or reg. 1/4" seam) doesn't provide much of a buffer zone for fraying.

So I was considering today, that my next quilt will have "extended 1/4" seams) As long as I stay consistent with my seam, it shouldn't matter, right? I have yet to use an actual pattern, though I have bought some. I generally make a quilt that I see on Pinterest, that really speaks to me, and just figure out how it's done. Does anyone else have similar concerns and does anyone else make "extended 1/4" seams"?

We had a thread about seams pretty recently,
https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...s-t315612.html

When I first started quilting the 1/4" seems tiny, and for maybe my first 5-10 years I used a 1/2" seam, also tied down the finished quilts. I've gotten used to it over the years.

If you are making complex blocks, with more seams in some directions than in others, then you need to pay attention to the size of each patch after it is sewn. Generally this means you must have a scant 1/4" seam. If you're just making 4-patches, or 9-patches for example (same number seams in all directions) then the seam allowance doesn't matter as long as it is consistent.

If you're having trouble with fraying, you may be handling the fabric too much. You might try starching your fabric to cut down on the fraying. I seldom run across a fabric that frays enough to be a problem. Once the top is quilted, the fraying should stop.

I don't use a scant quarter inch seam. I don't even know much about it to be honest. As long as all the seams are the same size it works out for me.

When I first started quilting, I was taught to use a 1/2” seam. Of course, we added the seam to the template, then traced it onto fabric and cut with scissors. Barbara Johannah’s revolutionary book The Quick Quiltmaking Handbook published in 1979 uses 1/2” seams (but no fabric rotary cutter, which did not yet exist).

So, of course you can use a bigger seam allowance. You just need to be aware that a 1/2” allowance mean you cut a 4” finished square to 5”. And a 4” finished half square triangles should be cut to 5 3/4” and 4” quarter square finished should be cut to 6 1/2”.

If you are using small units (anything 1” or less), recognize that a larger seam allowance can add a lot of bulk. Quilter’s who make small scale quilts often use 1/8” seam allowance for this reason.

All my points will be blunted if I don't use 1/4 inch. I don't use a scant. I do use thin thread. 60 wt in the bobbin and 50 wt 2 ply in the top or thinner.

For me it depends on the block. If there are points, I have to figure out what seam works for it. If it is just a simple block into a simple quilt, for me, doesn't matter as much. I quilt mostly for my own pleasure and if a quilt comes out a little smaller, I don't much care.

If one wants a block to end up a particular size, there are more factors that just the seam allowance that influence that.

Cut size of component pieces - depending on whether one is using die-cut pieces, how one measures - the way I cut around a ruler - makes my pieces a thread or two wider than the ruler. It might be interesting to measure - with a very accurate ruler - just how close one is to the "expected" size. I do not have a die cutter, so am not familiar with how "exact" the dimensions are of a shape that it would cut.

Thread thickness

Seam allowance

Pressing techniques - one can stretch a block quite a bit by ironing it like one was rolling out pie dough - not recommended -

Most patterns available now are designed with a "scant" 1/4 inch seam or "regular" 1/4 inch seam.

There are several videos available showing how to "test for accurate seams in quilting" -

So - does it matter?

I have purchased fabric from a LQS that frayed like crazy. It was very coarsely woven - and I would not buy anything similar to it again. It was a "brand" name, too - but I don't recall whiat.

I use whatever seam allowance gives me the right size unit. I wouldn't want to do the figuring it would take to cut a pattern for a 1/2" seam!