sharin'Sharon

I know many do not agree with my way, but it has worked for me. It's not always the length of your stitch (however I agree with shorter stitches) or if your bottom fabric slipped to be narrower than the top fabric. To me, I find that BACKSTITCHING at the beginning and ending of EVERY seam helps deter that 'separating of seam' issue. I don't believe that just because another seam crosses that first seam, that it will secure it. That's why I don't like to sew strips and then SUBCUT my squares for a block. When I made a queen size RAIL FENCE quilt; by the time I was to sew all the blocks together, the seams were starting to 'separate' and I went back and secured every one of them with a backstitch of sewing. Took longer to do that than if I would have cut the individual strips and sewn them (with backstitching) for the individual rail fence blocks. Even when I sew squares together for a 4-patch or a 9-patch, I backstitch at the beginning and ending of each little square. It doesn't make it any bulkier than some people thnk it would. I don't sew for hire, so I'd rather take that extra time to do it this way. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. {chuckle}