Newbie Question: How worried should I be about 1/4-inch?
04-25-2011, 10:07 AM
#43
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Monmouth, Oregon
Posts: 5,884
If you want the blocks to be consistent your pieces do need to be cut accurately. Your seam allowance should also be consistent, 1/4 inch or something close which is called your personal seam allowance. Believe me it is easier to do it correctly @ first so you don't have the aggravation of trying to make things fit together correctly. (Ask me how I know!)
:D
Originally Posted by JenelTX
Finally! I started my first quilt today. (I forced myself to wait until I had finished another project.) What a fun day! I cut strips and made 22 blocks with 9 squares in each. They're supposed to measure 4.25 x 4.25 inches, and they all do... except one. That one is 4.25 x 4 inches, maybe a little bit less.
I think I'm just going to throw it away and make a new one, but I wanted to ask more experienced quilters how much I should worry about a quarter inch. Do you normally throw away a block that's off by that much (smaller)? If not, how do you compensate for the shortfall?
Next weekend... pinwheels!!! :)
I think I'm just going to throw it away and make a new one, but I wanted to ask more experienced quilters how much I should worry about a quarter inch. Do you normally throw away a block that's off by that much (smaller)? If not, how do you compensate for the shortfall?
Next weekend... pinwheels!!! :)
04-25-2011, 10:13 AM
#44
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Chino Hills, California
Posts: 63
Jenel.. First off - con gratulations are in order - you have stepped into a world of beauty and fun and comfort and friendship - not to mention adddictions to fabric and thread and tools and rulers and blades and .. oh, OH got off topic there!
Often you will see the instruction to sew a "scant 1/4" seam. That means be sure you don't make the seam more than 1/4, a thread width less is SCANT .. as seams are sewn in, fabric literally disappears! When the seamed fabric is folded over for pressing - there is fabric thread in there that goes with the seam, and makes the block surface smaller if you made that seam a fat 1/4". A specialty foot called a 1/4", or piecing, foot is a great help, but be sure if you use one, sew several practice seams so you know exactly where that 1/4" lies. If the foot edge gives a bit or isn't straight up and down you need to know that and if necessary make adjustments.
If each seam is off by 1/8" - at the end of 8 blocks guess how much shorter that made the row of blocks!
I drew a line 1/4 on a piece of stiff paper, put that paper edge in my machine and sewed with an unthreaded needle. One foot the holes were ecactly on my drawn line, the other foot it was slightly on the edge of my line. I changed it to another machine and it was fine.
Be sure to finish a project on the same machine you started with - all machines are not all the same.
Now go have fun :)
Often you will see the instruction to sew a "scant 1/4" seam. That means be sure you don't make the seam more than 1/4, a thread width less is SCANT .. as seams are sewn in, fabric literally disappears! When the seamed fabric is folded over for pressing - there is fabric thread in there that goes with the seam, and makes the block surface smaller if you made that seam a fat 1/4". A specialty foot called a 1/4", or piecing, foot is a great help, but be sure if you use one, sew several practice seams so you know exactly where that 1/4" lies. If the foot edge gives a bit or isn't straight up and down you need to know that and if necessary make adjustments.
If each seam is off by 1/8" - at the end of 8 blocks guess how much shorter that made the row of blocks!
I drew a line 1/4 on a piece of stiff paper, put that paper edge in my machine and sewed with an unthreaded needle. One foot the holes were ecactly on my drawn line, the other foot it was slightly on the edge of my line. I changed it to another machine and it was fine.
Be sure to finish a project on the same machine you started with - all machines are not all the same.
Now go have fun :)
04-25-2011, 01:50 PM
#45
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Posts: 296
Originally Posted by DogHouseMom
At first I worried more about consistancy of my seam allowances than I did exactly what measurement they were. Consistancy is far more important.
As for the one block, don't throw it away. Rip it apart, figure out where your error was and fix it. It may have been in cutting, it may have been in stitching.
We learn by ripping :)
As for the one block, don't throw it away. Rip it apart, figure out where your error was and fix it. It may have been in cutting, it may have been in stitching.
We learn by ripping :)
04-25-2011, 04:59 PM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: missouri
Posts: 6,311
Originally Posted by erstan947
Rather then throw it away, I remove the stitching, press and recheck the pieces size and then resew. Sometimes one block will have extra large seams. As close as you can be accurate the better your blocks will fit together.:)
04-25-2011, 05:04 PM
#49
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Port Lavaca, TX
Posts: 1,276
Many years ago Our newly formed quilt guild decided to make a thank you quilt. Mostly we were newbies, and with great enthusiasm everybody made several blocks. When I finally cpllected them all, and brought them home to assemble, I discovered that I had TWO sets of blocks. One set with larger than 1/4 inch seams - and one set with smaller than 1/4 inch seams.
I has so many blocks that we ended up with 2 quilts! So we had one quilt for a thank you and the other for our first raffle quilt. But there was a definite difference in the finished size of the two quilts!
It was an interesting lesson.
But it was such fun too!
J
I has so many blocks that we ended up with 2 quilts! So we had one quilt for a thank you and the other for our first raffle quilt. But there was a definite difference in the finished size of the two quilts!
It was an interesting lesson.
But it was such fun too!
J
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