Originally Posted by Loretta
I share your thoughts on what a scant 1/4 inch means. I have been frustrated about this for a long time. Why do they do this? Can't a block just be designed for a regular 1/4 inch seam? I have had problems with the points on my stars coming out to the edge of the block and then when you sew the blocks together you will lose some of the point. It is so aggravating- cause you have to try to go a "few threads away from the 1/4 inch seam". Good luck with this ---- it is still bugging me! LOL
"They" dont do this, it is a result, as some have already said, of the fold when you press the seam to one side, you lose some of the fabric that would part of the block.
The alternative, for those of you that want to use the full 1/4 inch, would be some very weird cutting directions... to increase each piece by 1/16th or 1/8th of and inch would never work,
So, to sew with a scant 1/4 works for everyone..if you learn to do this..
Some designers have gone to much larger cutting directions and you trim to the correct size after the seam has been sewn...but that only helps with the first pass, as you add pieces to the block , you are back into the same issue..
so, for those that dont get it.. a scant 1/4 inch seam is a few threads outside the quarter inch seam line. If you were to draw the seam line on your pieces, you would sew, not on the line, but off to the side of the mark, that is enough to be a scant 1/4 inch