nativetexan

Ok, i'm off with my quarter inch seams on the tumbler 10 inch cuts. sigh. i over lap the ends the same and come out with a row that would need to be trimmed top and bottom just a bit. I know if i do this the next row of tumblers will not necessarily fit well.
how to match the ends to sew rows straight?? I am not new to this but having trouble today!! looked at various tutorials to no avail.

PaperPrincess

Can you fold the tumblers to find the center of the seams, then match the centers?

nativetexan

do you mean when i put the rows together? if so that is usually what i do. but the seams may not match if i trim the uneven edges of all the tumblers in the rows before putting together. just not sure why I am having this trouble.

nativetexan

well i think i have found a solution. i will put sashings in between and at the ends of each row. just watched a tutorial on that. helps a lot to do that. of course the tumblers were sewn straight! still I think this will do the trick.

Prism99

Be sure, after you see a long sashing to a row, you turn it to the wrong side and use a ruler and pencil (or chalk) to mark the seams on the sashing. Use those marks to line up your next row of tumblers; treat the marks as "virtual" seams that you match up with pins to the row's real seams. This ensures that your rows will line up when you are done.

madamekelly

Just my thought if I understand the question- if you are sewing all the "twosies" into "foursies" from the same direction, (bottom to top, or top to bottom) you do get kind of a curvature that makes your strips uneven. Try sewing every other seam set from the top, then the bottom to keep everything from growing strange? As you join the rows, finger press a crease in each tumbler to match them perfectly and pin at those creased areas instead of at the seams since you can't do that. Might straighten it all out for you. I hope this make sense to you. It can also help to be sure all tumblers are cut from the same direction on the layer cake. Keep the stretchiest side on the east/west on the tumbler, so the top to bottom does not stretch. It really will help. Give the pieces a fabric a little tug, if it 'grows' that will be the side to side direction, and will not misshape your rows.

bjchad

When you sew the tumblers together you have to offset the ends of the seam so that a small dog ear hangs over each end. Your needle should enter the seam line at the spot where the two pieces cross. So your offset is about 1/4 inch. This will give you a straight edge.

LynnG

I purchased the Marti Michell One-Derful Tumbler Template after frustration with other tumbler rulers. The MM ruler has notches to cut off, in the bottom corners, for lining up. Instead of eyeballing and guessing the offset the notches match up perfectly. The template makes it a little fussier to cut but a snap to sew. Other tumblers do the opposite so... pick your poison.

I have the charm square tumbler from msqc but felt it took too long to fuss, guess and line up the offset; I got very tired of ripping out too. Too much time and fussing for a simple quilt (imho). I recut them with the mm. template and zippy sewed right through the pile. It would be WONDERFUL if msqc would just notch their tumbler rulers; I would buy them all in a second.

Onebyone

I haven't made a tumbler quilt using a template. I used the Go tumbler die and it was easy to match the tumblers, no dog ears. I made one offsetting the tumblers and that was the easiest way. No matching seams.

tessagin

Bonnie Hunter has a video and shows how she matches up the tumbler. Basically just find the center. Later you will be cutting the tails. No big deal She uses the Dresden 8 1/2" tool to make hers. Jenny Doan has a tumbler template and pretty much the same on a video. Not difficult. I like the idea of not having to buy an expensive template/ruler. Fons and Porter had a video using a tumbler template/ruler that shows a square edge to be "nicked' off to better align.