Accuracy and Precision
 

They are not exactly the same, but frequently used together.

https://www.thoughtco.com/difference...ecision-609328

Anyway, there have been many posts about the 1/4 inch seam.

In my opinion, which I value highly for my own projects :o, how something turns out starts long before the sewing together of pieces.

Fabric preparation - start out with decent/suitable fabric -

In my case, I soak, wash, dry, and iron it before cutting it. I am not a fan of starching/sizing - but will use it occasionally.

Cutting - are my rulers accurate? Most are, but occasionally one is "off". Do you always use the same placement of your ruler when you cut? Are the edges still straight? I've worn down a few so that the edge was curved instead of still straight. It wasn't a deep bow, but still - it was bowed. From the way I cut, my pieces are usually a thread or two larger than the "stated measurement" - example: my 2.5 inch strips might be 2.54 so I do not need to use a "scant" 1/4 inch seam. Measure the cut pieces to check to see what you are actually working with.

I am thinking that if one uses the slotted rulers or die-cut pieces, the measurements might be a bit scanter.

After that, it is worth the effort to do the three strip test to make sure that you will end up with the expected result.

Keeping the seam allowance the same width (consistent) for the whole length of the seam is a good thing. Keeping the seam allowance the same width (consistent) for the whole project is also a good thing.

Especially if it is the "right" seam width.

For something with all the pieces the same size and shape, it usually does not matter if the seam width is 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 - as long as the seam allowance is consistent.

But as the pieces get smaller and the shapes vary, the seam allowance does matter - if one wants to get the desired results.

Absolutely no new information in this post - I sometimes need to remind myself of it, though!

PS - as far as that 1/4 inch seam - I have learned to do a test run for placement with lined index cards or graph paper. Especially when I am using a different machine.

You are so right bear! I've been a fan(atic) of Bonnie Hunter for a while now. I have to say that making her mystery quilts and using her tips and techniques have definitely made me a more accurate piecer!
And she launched the new mystery colors and yardages today... here I go again!

I know far too many quilters who will look at a mistake and actually say, "I don't care."
Or "finished is better than perfect" (which too often translates to "I don't care.")

makes me crazy! :hunf:

why on earth would you spend all the time and money a quilt costs and not care whether it's excellent or just hot slop? :shock:

humans are confusing. lol?

I choose my I don't care list. A cut off point, I care. A turned seam, I don't care. A wavy border, I care. I think once I learned to sew a 1/4" seam with no guide needed my piecing became as perfect as I can expect. I use the Go for most of my cuttings so accuracy is usually spot on. I starch my fabric for ruler cutting stiff as paper. I prefer Terial spray for the stiffness.

Your skills are what I call foundation skills. You need to start out with good habits to get good results. I'm am with you on checking and rechecking techniques. I use the same 1/4 inch foot for piecing and try my best to always hit that target. I never stitch scant seams. Never.

Fabrics are always starched and pressed before attempting any cutting.

I also match the direction of strips for binding. Meaning the left edge of selvage goes on the next strip at the left edge. Seams all go in the same 45 degree angle across the pieced strips. This morning I pieced binding fabric with fish and octopus. The little critters are all upright for now. They will be upside down at some point when stitched on the quilt.

These strips will make a flange binding and the corners will be on a 45 degree angle as best as possible.

I also square up units to make a block as needed. A unit that is a little skewed can become a big skew at the end of the line.

Small details do count. I'm starting to hear compliments on my projects from others so something is working in my quilting world.

Happy Stitching!

I still say done is better than perfect. And I do care - fabric and my time are both expensive. But far better the quilt gets made and used rather than rolled up in a flannel sheet because I don't like how it's turning out.....
There are mistakes in all my quilts but only if you go over them carefully looking for the darn things!

Just saying that seam allowance width is only one of several factors in getting an item to end up being "the expected size".

I also was not a fan of "done is better than perfect" until I realized that for me, it is the choice between making a decision that is good enough so I can get on with completing a project, or agonizing over a zillion choices to make sure I have the absolute "perfect" solution. So for me, that saying has nothing to do with accuracy or precision, but with not getting into the "analysis paralysis" that is so easy. This has made it so much easier for me to choose a border or a quilt design. I find something that looks good and I like, and I stop looking to see if there is something else out there I might like better.

As a new quilter, this thread makes me feel inadequate. I've espoused the "done is better than perfect" because perfection is unobtainable for me, and every stitch I make helps with the learning curve. I'm not the kind of person who can practice, practice, practice on a piece of fabric that doesn't matter. I need to have an actual project to complete. I figure that as long as I see improvements in the quilts that I'm making, at each stage of the process, I have to be happy with that. Otherwise I might just as well put my sewing machine away and give up.

Again, my point is that there are more factors to consider than just seam allowance width.

For sure! It seems like there are important factors at every step of the process, and man there are a lot of steps!

Agreed! My first few quilts and even blocks on this last quilt were a mess because sewing 1/4 in seam was tricky!!
But! I finally found a system that is working for me and has improved my accuracy immensely but I still finished out those slightly wonky quilts and will use and love them.

Wavy borders, non matched points and all. ❤️

"done is better than perfect."

true enough since i don't think a truly perfect quilt is even possible.

i just don't think it should be taken to the extreme of "i don't care."

"finished, admittedly imperfect, but the very best i could do."

I have learned over the years that everyone’s “good enough” is different. As long as someone is happy with their work that’s all that counts.

I had made a charity quilt with scraps, and ended up with two large pieces of the same green in one block. I thought "finished is better than perfect", and it's only a charity quilt. But I usually hang my almost-finished quilts on my design wall in the living room where I see it every time I walk into the room. I couldn't stand it. That was the first thing you saw when you looked at that quilt. It came out. It was a five sided piece and took me about 10 minutes to replace.

I have had times where something in my quilt bothered me but it was too late to change. Well, after awhile I forgot all about it and have even looked for it if I remembered. So there is something to be said for being too picky I think.
I can't abide cut off points but a turned seam here and there I can live with. I do the best I can without going crazy.
Perfection would kill quilting for me.

It is always my goal for accuracy and precision. I have a Sally Collins book open to that page most of the time as a reminder. Is my work perfect? Of course not. But it isn’t sloppy either. There is a wide range between perfect and good enough.

Again - my point is/was - the "perfect" 1/4 inch seam is only part of the process of attaining the expected/required size of a unit or piece.

For some things, the "finished size" really does not matter. For others, the whole thing goes together better when the pieces/units line up properly.

This post was/is meant to be a reminder that if things are not ending up the size you expect/want/need - there are other things to check in addition to seam allowance width. Adjustments can be made in several places - cut size, thread weight, did an unwashed piece shrink while it was being pressed?

The reasons I am aware of these things is because I have overlooked them or messed up somewhere along the line.

Intersections that don't match drive me up a wall. I just worked on a piece that I started years ago - and I fiddled and faddled with a couple of intersections on that top - and they still aren't right - but after about three tries, I have decided I can live with it. The worst part of it is - I still don't know "why" they aren't lining up properly. I've checked the size of the pieces, checked the seam allowance width -

So - out of 25 blocks, I have three or four intersections that are "off" - I am not happy about it - but this is a piece that is going to go into the "finished is better than perfect" pile.

Please don't be discouraged comparing yourself to someone who has been quilting for years and therefore has the skills to be very picky. I might not be quilting today if it hadn't been for the nice ladies in my LQS. I brought my first quilt top in to choose borders and I was so embarrassed! It was a mess. But the associate who helped me looked at my top and said it looked fine to her, and the owner of the shop said, 'We're here to have fun, not to be perfect.' I'm so thankful they were my first contact in the world of quilting! My pickiness has increased as my skills have improved, and I'm sure it will be the same for you.

I quilt for myself. Not for anyone's inspection. I don't quilt to enter shows. I do care about the finished look of my quilts but still suscribe to "Better done than perfect".

To Tish05: Don't worry, accuracy will come with time. Just this week I quilted a UFO from the early 90's. Although not really bad piecing, I did use 1/2" seam allowances when I pieced the blocks together. If I recall I was pleased with how the quilt came together. Have I ever come a long way over time! It is so refreshing to find this piece and see how my skills have improved. I've used the same attitude on LA quilting. I started about 18 months ago and notice improvement with each quilt and at the same time realize I can get better...someday I will do feathers! So keep at it and remember the only quilt police out there is the one you impose upon yourself.

I too quilt for myself and as gifts for family/friends and charities. Everyone I have given a quilt to has loved it. I don't enter shows because I enjoy the hobby and don't need/want anyone judging and potentially ruining my joy of quilting. When I retired from my career, I also retired from all the years of being judged throughout my school and career years.

I'm one of those people who can't stand a picture that's crooked on a wall, so something "off" in one of my quilts drives me crazy.

I've been quilting for 44 years so I've learned a lot. One of the things I had to accept is that perfect intersections aren't easy, particularly by machine and when cut to template size.

Accuracy is hard to achieve when you are working within very tight parameters. 1/4" seams leave very little room for error. So years ago I started adding an additional quarter inch to my templates. I still sew the 1/4" seam, then I trim to the correct size. I use a gridded ruler to make sure everything is square. When my pieced sections are squared I baste a stitch or two at intersections before sewing. Then I stitch them together with 1/4" seams, and check for square again. I always make extra pieces so if something is off I have another piece to use.

This takes extra time but is the only way I've found that works well consistently. It took a lot of years to figure this out so if you're still struggling keep trying and you'll get there. It takes a lot of patience to get it right but taking the extra time does pay off.

I just do the best I can with what I've got …

I feel like I've won the lottery when I measure a completed quilt or table runner and discover the finished dimensions are those shown in the pattern. Yes! I did it! And 4 years ago, it would have been a different story. Accuracy and precision is important to me. Unfortunately, I stink at choosing fabrics that go well together which is a real bummer. All the accuracy in the world doesn't help if the finished product is "blah". So I'm working on color and value now.

Hi all, umm.....perfection is the question.....well after several years....I am a believer in done is good! I can't achieve perfection....but I am getting better.....the primary question I ask is why am I making this....the answer for the most part...cuz it is fun....it is my hobby. a secondary answer is to make something useful. In general, I make utility things...that get used. I have made a few "art quilted items" but that is not my passion. so....when making something that is difficult and I am not reaching perfection....I go back to my base question...."am I having fun?" I don't really get much enjoyment out of remaking, re-stitching, something a lot....so in general, I have a rule...3 tries and it stays. I also compare my peicing and quilting with myself only...years ago...I think my points were fairly decent about 30% of the time....on a recent project...I thought...yikes most of my points are pretty good! I like to tell my critics...you can choose to look at my good points or the bad...whatever you chose...it is not my problem. I do the same thing with my lawn...I don't use chemicals nor do I weed a lot. so...I tell them...you can choose to look at the weeds or the flowers....your choice. or another good choice is to call the weeds flowers...they are pretty! I love the bright cheery dandilions that spring up in my yard as the first bright flowers after a long cold winter....I have started a champaign for dandilion appriaciation...please join in tee hee...Lin

What techniques are you using to work on color and value? When I first started working with fabric, "collections" of fabrics were limited to just a few different fabrics. With the use of jelly rolls, layer cakes, and charm packs the work is done for you, which has it's advantages, but doesn't help one to learn how to mix and match fabrics. I know I learned a great deal when doing controlled scrappy blocks. A nine patch, hole in the barn door, or shoo fly are good examples of blocks to use. Make several like blocks using your scraps to get a feel of coordinating fabrics within a block...mix up your fabrics and don't take from the same collections. Then sort your blocks to see which ones fit with each other. However you work on color and value have fun with it!

When I started out, I was super matchy-matchy - down to the last 1/8 inch dot in a tiny print. Some of the results were so-so - being charitable!

The book that really helped me was Jinny Beyer's Color Confidence for Quilters. Her "bridging" of colors was so eye-opening to/for me.

I also learned to stand several feet away from a group of fabrics to see how they looked together. Sometimes the over-all look of the fabrics might be different than when looking at them from a distance of 18 inches.

Another tip - that I learned from this group - take a picture - somehow things seem to show up in a photo that are missed by just looking at them. (Wonder why that is?)

Also - "in" colors come and go - make what you like - "quiet and subdued" can be as interesting (to a careful observer) as "loud and bright and popping"

two excellent philosophies. :thumbup:

weeds are free, so if they produce flowers i usually leave them alone.

I've made 20 or so quilts and am still waiting for things to be "accurate." In fact, I'm just coming back to quilting after taking a vacation from it for a year or so. One of the reasons I stopped is because of all the little inaccuracies in my work, knowing I'm still having the same problems after 20 quilts is very frustrating. I go slow, I measure everything twice, I'm careful, I have the correct tools, I watch youtube, yet things are still wonky, my seams are off a hair or 5 here and there which at the end of a row makes a difference.

Last week I watched several youtube videos on making quarter square triangles. I followed the directions to a tee. Yet in the end just about every one was wonky and now I am doing the daunting task of cutting every square down to 3" because 3 1/4" wasn't working and even with this I'm finding some of the squares are short by a sixteenth of an inch or so. And I know when I finally get the pinwheels together, even at that point after all my careful measuring, things will be wonky again. By the end of a quilt I'm usually so fed up with my crooked lines and borders I want to throw the whole quilt in the attic. From a distance things looks fine, especially after washing it when things seem to fluff up a little and inaccuracies are hidden but if it were to be judged, I'd be doomed.

Thanks, Bear. I ordered the Beyer book from Abebooks. For a mere $4.36 I too can master color.

For quarter square triangles - if I cut the "theoretically correct size" for them - they always end up skimpy - even when I narrow the seam allowance a click or two.

So - I either cut around a template - or start with a square 1.5 (instead of 1.25) inches larger than the wanted finished size - and then trim down.

I understand that frustration. Fortunately, I joined in a block lottery last year, and made all sorts of blocks. The hostess chose blocks that were somewhat challenging, but doable by a novice. I struggled with all those HST's, log cabins, etc. to get them to come out the right size. I learned that I hate making HST's; you have to make them, press them and square them up. That's like making them twice. So, I don't do HST's. I'll probably never make a log cabin quilt. I choose simple patterns that I can make and make well. I never have to worry about my points. I just have to match where the seams meet. Bonnie Hunter, I'm not.

There are tons of patterns out there that are beautiful and easy. For me, that's the sweet spot.

bkay