ShellyQ

The Quarter Inch Seam

Actually if you are making a complete quilt out of just the nine patch and are not planning to put it with any other block or use a pieced border, then achieving an accurate 1/4” seam is not so vital for this block. As long as your seams are consistent then you will be able to make a lovely quilt using this block. Your blocks will not finish at 12” but as long as they come out the same size you will be able to assemble them together. The reason for this is that this block has the same number of joins in both directions, so will work no mater what size you seam allowances.

However it is important to work towards achieving as accurate a 1/4” seam as possible, because when we want to start adding in other blocks, making pieced boarders, making blocks that have different numbers of joins in each direction or even making a block for a group quilt or block swap, we are going to run into big problems. Things are just not gonna work together.

A good way to check how accurate your seam allowances are, is to cut three 1 1/2” short strips (Pic 1) , sew these together using what you usually do to make a 1/4” seam, gently press and measure across the three strips. Your measurement should be 3 1/2” (Pic 2).

Woohoo mine came out good (Pic3), no seriously this is great, mine don't always work out this good :lol:

If your joined strips are bigger than this then you cut is too big or your seams are too small.

If your strips measure less than this then your cut is too small or your seams too big.

It is a balance between your cut and your seam allowance, practice adjusting each until you find a balance that gives you the best result. Once you find what works for you. Stick with it and be consistent and this will give you even results across all your piecing.

I’m not keen on trying to achieve a scant 1/4, I’m never quite sure what that means :lol: , so my personal preference is to make what I call a fat cut to compensate for the thread or two that gets used in the fold of the fabric at a join.

I’ll try to explain what I mean. The lines on your ruler have a little bit of width to them an accurate cut is when you place the ruler line exactly on top of the fabric edge. What I call a fat cut is when I can just see the fabric edge below the line. That’s just what works for me, but it’s a matter of balancing the cut and the seam and finding what works best for you.