Originally Posted by
NJ Quilter
When I am squaring up a block comprised of different elements, I place my ruler on the center seam and measure out from there. Do this on all 4 sides. When making HST's, I center the ruler on the seam line again and measure to the outside edge on all 4 sides. In both cases, this helps with making sure your block is centered as well as not clipping off important points. I believe in squaring up each element or block as you go along. Generally speaking, you then don't have to square up your entire quilt after it's completed because everything you have put together is already square.
I, too, now believe in squaring up each element as you go. When I first started quiltmaking I did not know about squaring up (self taught, as in just about all I do) and realize now that I got amazingly lucky that my first quilt ended up square....and that I also quite by accident used good fabric. It was a simple 9 patch but even they can get out of square.
I watched you tube videos on squaring up and do much the same as NJ Quilter (above). I pay attention to the center of blocks so as not to cut too much off any one side and end up with blocks off center.