Sharon M

first of all, thank you Jamie, for starting this thread I hope it helps you as much as it is helping me :D . Thank you Rose Marie, Littlehud, Loretta and Rhonda with sharing your pointers and expertise.
sorry to ask so many questions, but guess that is how we learn and if I want to know maybe my question will help someone else too. Rhonda, when you say tack do you mean hand tack or machine? one stich or two? Sorry to be so dumb but I would like to get this down so it is more enjoyable to me and not so frustrating. :D I think that about covers it for me, didn't mean to take over your thread, Jamie.

Rhonda

I just use a needle and thread like you were going to put a button on a shirt. Hand tack but I have experimnted lately with just sticking it under the machine needle. But I really don't thiink it works as well. It really doesn't matter whatever holds the tack in place works for me. When I get down to the end of the thread I will pull the thread so I have a single thread and use up the end that way.

I also thread about 10 needles at a time and have them on the side of my pincushion so they are handy and I don''t have to stop the flow when I get in the groove and am really getting stuff done. Very annoying to have to let go of what I am working on and rethread needles.

My tack is just a couple of stitches over each other in the same place and I leave a small 1/4"-1/2" tail so I can see it is there.

Word of warning my tacks aren't always an instant answer. You will still have times when it moves and your seams aren''t where they are supposed to be but the tacking is better than pinning in my opinion.

Check to see whether your seams meet where they should before you sew and hopefully you will have less redos


Here's a sample of my tacks. Sorry it is not half squares but you get the idea.

MadQuilter

Pointers on points, eh? lol Points not matching can be a sign of inconsistency in squareness, size, and most often seam allowance. (Had some problems in the beginning, but not any more.)

I often construct half-square triangles and found out that there are many methods available. Recently, I bought a a Quilt-in-a-Day ruler specifically to cut down half-square triangles, when the pieces I am working with ae wonky to start. With this ruler, you lay the cross line on the sewn line and cut away the rest to the point. Some may say to sew them oversize and cut down is a waste of fabric, but for me, it is a better result and a great stash buster.

There is also the rolls of paper that allow sewing half-square triangles accurately on the paper template and then cutting out the individual units.

There is a grid method to sew/cut many at once, or one can cut the individual triangles and sew them together which requires handling fabric on the bias.

One important key is to NOT stretch the unit when pressing it open. One gal I know checks her units for squareness after she presses them. It adds time, but may be what some have to do. It is also important to press to the same (darker) side on all the units in order for the pieces to nest when two are sewn together.

When I sew the pieces together, I pin first and make sure to use a consistent seam allowance. Then I sew them all, one after the other.

Again, I press so the pieces will nest, and again, I pin. One little trick is to start sewing one or two stitches from the inside the seam (not all the way from the starting seam). This allows the final pressing to open up the center where all 4 seams meet. Pressing this way makes the seams go in a pinwheel direction instead of a big bumpy lump. (Gosh I hope that makes sense

When I sew the finished blocks together, I always check to make sure that the points will meet. If not, I adjust (placement or seam allowance and fudge a little.)

One of the quilts I have done uses a floating pinwheel. I really liked that because the points did not need to match. :D

Jamie

Thank you! All of you so much...I am such a perfectionist that if it doesn't come to a perfect point, or the seams aren't exact or it doesn't line up i get frustriated, and tend to want to just throw the whole project away ( not that I do, but I want to lol) I'm working on a quilt right now..that nothing is supose to line up, none of the borders are supose to be straight everything is supose to be uneven, and off...and two of the blocks matched up too much, and i was ready to start taking the entire thing back apart to make them more uneven :) crazy yes I know lol....But anyways you were all great..and the info was wonderful..I don't know what I would do without you all!! Thanks :)

mkanderson

Going to tell you like they told me!!!! :lol: When you see something not just quite right that is making it "yours" and not someone elses!!!! Your signature! I know I think I mess up and will take it out and do it over again. Not so much now unless it is REALLY bad.

Rhonda

Sorry I have a tendency to shorten HST to Half Squares or Half Square Blocks

Look under the Blocks section and click on the Half Squares button.

I didn't include this on the site but I did write it on a thread on the board somewhere? that if you are making a lot of the same color blocks (I do mostly scrappy stuff) you can use strips for each fabric. If you cut a 12" (or whatever size you want)strip you can sew the two differant color strips together - open and iron the seam open for a flatter look - lay the template on the seam and cut out your half square block. Continue to use the joined strips til you run out of room. Then pull the fabric apart and sew the other two sides together - open and iron and continue to cut out squares.

You can click on the cut down method in my signature below here and go to my free site to see the pictures of this method. Just follow the steps I mentioned above here.

This is quick and easy in my opinion and you don't have to buy anything to help you make them other than your fabric.

I use swatches for most of my piecing because the lady I sell to prefers the scrappy look and 90% of my stuff is scrappy so we do it in an assemblyline fashion with swatches.

My friend Dorothy makes them for me and she will cut enough swatches of just one color (one dark and one light) so she ends up with several hundred to a couple of thousand at a time. She used to work in a factory and she thinks in large amts!! She says if she is going to do it she has to make it worth the time!