Originally Posted by
oh munner
I don't care how hard I try, or what size seam I use, 1/4" or scant 1/4", my squares NEVER turn out to be the size they're suppose to be. For example, right now I'm in the process of making snowball squares out of 5" charms. Most, but not all, measure 5", some however, are 4-1/2", or 4-3/4" square. I finally gave up trying to be so accurate. If not trimming a block to the perfect size is good enough for Fons and Porter, it's good enough for me!
This is kind of my experience, too. And I think I'm getting worse instead of better. When I made my first quilt my blocks seemed to be uniform....or maybe I was just too ignorant to know they weren't....but in any case they went together well, and that quilt turned out fine.
My practice now is to square up each block but in my current project I've realized I am lax in making them all the same size. I think I'm reluctant to cut off too much or am too lazy to find the smallest block and make sure all the others are the same size. But when sewing these together, with sashing, it shows if they are different sizes. I'm fighting that right now in the little, sans jars, "I Spy" I'm making. I can see that some are "off" a bit and it annoys the heck out of me.....but not enough to take it all apart and recut all those little blocks. I just resolve to know-- and do--better next time!