When sewing the strips together how does one keep them perfectly straight so they don't have a bow (commonly known as a dog leg) in the center of the strip . Even if you sew a perfectly straight 1/4" s eam there is still a bow the strip. There has to be a secret.

Reverse directions when sewing the seams. In other words, when you sew 2 rows together and get to the end, turn around and sew from that end to the beginning of the row you previously sewed. Alternating directions keeps the rows from bowing.

that's correct Barb

Yup!! To remember which end was my last start end I only snip the trailing thread and leave the leader thread long.

Also, it's important to iron each sewn seam before you sew another seam.

Wow, let me go get my dirty little secret note book. This stuff is great! ! ! ..............

I usually put a pin in the start of the first strip, so I don't get confused, then I can always look back and see where my starting point is. When I first started quilting a few years ago, this was difficult for me because I was an apparel sewer for 60 years and you always sew your seams in the same direction for clothes.

Thank you. Now how do you press the seams...open or to the side?

I press my seams to the dark side. I rarely open them.

To the side. Since you are staggering seams anyway in a bargello, you can press them all in the same direction. I just find pressing to one side a whole lot easier than trying to press seams open, looks better too if you happen to have any shadowing in the blocks. When it is quilted, the shadowing goes away anyhow.

Are you sure the bow in the fabric didn't come when you were cutting the strips? That happens to me when I use the cutter. Look at your strips pulled out all the way,is there an "elbow" in the center?

Carol J.

Thank you for the help ladies, I appreciate it. I feel as though you've given me the confidence to try this quilt.

Not often, I know that problem stems from not having the fabric properly squared up. And the bow is usually in the fold area in the middle.

The above is good advice. I just finished a Barjello and the most important thing is alternating direction of rows and pressing one to the right and one to the left so when you butt them together they rock into a smooth seam.

thanks for all the tips... I have a trip around the world I'm going to be doing soon!

And how do you determine the "dark side" when it's bargello??




Yes, press them to the side, and keep pressing all the subsequent seams in that same direction.

If you check your pattern, it will tell you which way to iron the seams....mine is always press towards the even numbered fabrics.

For worry-free evenly stitched seams, use a walking foot, aka even feed foot.

That's what I was thinking.
If it's the first part of the process, sewing plain strips together, it could be one of or a combo of the way the strips were cut (which would have the bow in the middle if the fabric wasn't aligned properly at the time), and/or not reversing directions for each strip (which gives more of J curve towards one end).

I read this in a jelly roll book I bought and have started to use this method when cutting strips. It works for all size strips - bargellos too trust me it works!

"If you have strips that have been cut selvage to selvage(WOF) along the crosswise grain (which most are as it is easiest), just cut the strips in half on the fold. This works well for a number of reasons.

- it helps keep fabrics on-grain and eliminates the bowing or curving that may occur when fabrics of differing thread counts are used.
- You can get more fabric variation in your quilt design also.
- You can use fat quarters too
- some pre-cut jelly rolls don't have many multiples and this lends itself to more variation."
The above quote is taken from
Nancy J. Martin's Rolling Along - Easy Quilts from 2 1/2 strips ISBN:978-1-56477-841-3 p. 13.

I found out even in high end fabric the strips can curve when sewing the longer strips together.

Good luck and have fun

NOT on the list and probably the MOST important one ....

* cut accurately, squaring with the fold .... if you don't you are already creating a curve. Worse still if you fold it twice and have two folds, then you're heading towards a ^^ or snake effect

Hi Carol,
What would cause the 'elbow' to happen? Is it the way I cut the fabric? Am I not cutting it straight in the first place? So curious? Thanks.......Patti

I'm just picking a random video to show how to prevent the V notch in the center.

Watch how she adjusts her fabric before cutting.
You can't just cut straight off the bolt.
I only fold once, but it's for the same purpose.
The important part is the very beginning where she REFOLDS her fabric when rematching up the selvages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwSjN1MB3wI


Here's another explanation (sans video):
http://www.thequiltingcoach.com/public/847.cfm?sd=2


There was another video that I saw a while back - I'm looking for it..........

eta: sorry can't find it now. :roll:
But those links above should give you an explanation of the how the problem occurs, and the solution to prevent it.

Also, you still need to re-true-up after every few strips are cut.

I made a dozen or so Bloomin' 9 Patch quilts several years ago. You find out really quickly how NOT first truing-up the fabric can screw up all the subsequent blocks and sub-units.

I would be careful cutting fabrics at the fold unless I knew I had plenty of fabric strips, but that is just me.

Thanks MTS, I looked at both sites you mentioned and I see what I am doing wrong. I cut from the bolt many times. I should cut off a yard and work with it instead. I will follow the instructions from both of these videos and see if I can do better on my cutting. Saving time is not always the best answer as I have found out. Take the time is better. I have been sewing since childhood and I am still learning from you girls.

That elbow in the strip has always bugged me and I will work harder to do the job right.

Carol J.

Yeaaaa for you Carol J ... we can all keep on learning, can't we?

And believe-you-me, sometimes I feel as though I've learned more since I joined this Board, than I knew before. For sure, it's been the best thing for me in developing my skills!

Thank you. Now how do you press the seams...open or to the side?[/quote]

To the side. Since you are staggering seams anyway in a bargello, you can press them all in the same direction. I just find pressing to one side a whole lot easier than trying to press seams open, looks better too if you happen to have any shadowing in the blocks. When it is quilted, the shadowing goes away anyhow.[/quote]

I heard that pressing the seams to the side strengthens the seam. Quilts take a lot more tugging and pulling than clothes, which always have pressed open seams.

I'm looking forward to doing a bargello. Good tips. Glad I saw these ahead of time.

Reversing sewing seams is correct. The most important way to control the bow is to cut strips running the length (up the selvedge) not crosswise and do not cut long strips. Work with lengths that are no more than 18 to 20 inches long. It may seem like more cutting but it is worth it to have straight strips. This is particularly important when you are working with crosscuts of 1/2" and 3/4"
Happy quilting
Severna

I tend to have a heavy hand when rotary cutting and found that the easiest way to keep everything from going slightly off kilter was to tape a 1" strip of non slip kitchen drawer fabric to the underside of my ruler. this keeps the ruler from moving ever so slightly while cutting...so I don't have to re- square as often

Looks like we all learned and shared our quilting skills on two pages. Learn something new every day, my father used to say and we need each other to accomplish this.

happy quilting, now all we need is more hours in the day, right?

Carol J.

buy a "go" it cuts straight EVERY TIME

OMG!! I learned the lesson of "go up one side and down the other" really soon when I started quilting! The only course for quilting was an advanced one, which I took. (I didn't know ANYTHING about quilting or sewing for that matter. When we were instructed to put the strips together, I rapidly sewed all of the strips starting from one direction!!!OMG!!! Talk about RIPPLES!!! Luckily, I swallowed my pride and took the thing to class! What laughter I got! Such a simple explanation but I will NEVER forget to sew

continued from my last answer....
Sew up one side and down the other....
I will never forget that !!!!!!
You REALLY do learn more from a mistake than if all goes right!!!!

You really have to start with straight strips. Please be very careful while cutting your strips. Then if you reverse ends when sewing together, you should be set to go...
S T R A I G H T to a beautiful quilt.
Charlie

Thanks for this important information. I would never have known about this problem and how to solve it. I love this site. I have learned so much from it!

When pressing your stratas don't lay them the length of the ironing board but the narrow way on the board and press the seams to the side.

Thanks for the question and all the answers, Im currently working on a quilt for a friend and have been having this problem, So I will do this from now on. Thanks.

I've done several bargellos. I tried the method of sewing one direction and the next row the other. I found it doesn't make a particle of difference. What made a difference for me was the pressing. I drew a straight line on my ironing surface and when I pressed each row, I made SURE that the seam lined up to that line. If you can avoid working with width of fabric strips, my suggestion would be to work with 22 - 25" strips, or half the width of fabric. You might waste a bit more, as you won't be able to use the full width, but it won't be much, and the ease of working with the shorter strips makes it worthwhile. And press the seams one way, not open. You may have to re-press when putting them together. Good luck!

i love that pattern.