Oh, yeah, it happens. Problem comes not just in a quilt you are finishing, but when you are going to send a block to a swap. Must admit I'm paranoid about one of my blocks going to someone who is super finicky about it. Love it when someone send me a block that isn't absolutely perfect. I relate to that.

Happens to the best of us! Just be careful with that finger, I used to think it couldn't happen, until the needle went clean into my fingernail and out the side of my finger! YIKES!

Here are a couple of things to try:
1. press well using starch
2. use the double pins (they look sort of like the letter U with a squared bottom...you put them in and both seam allowances are caught) I think Clover calls them fork pins
3. take a seam ripper and release 1 or 2 stitches and the seam allowance will spring back to where it's supposed to be
4. keep a seam ripper by the sewing machine; try to sew so that the seams on the underside are pointing toward you and the seams on the top are pointing away from you. If you can't do this, as the seams approach the needle, use the ripper to guide the underside in the the right direction.
5. piece with your walking foot if there are other seams that get sewn over
6. if all else fails, just press the seam allowance hard with the iron and/or snip the offending seam if it looks lumpy on the front!

The secret is the plate on your sewing machine. There is a tiny lip where the metal throat plate meets the machine. If the seam is laying toward you it will feed through this area fine. If the seam is laying toward the needle, when it hits that lip it will catch just enough to turn the way the seam lays and you end up with the seam (or sometimes just half of it) sewn wonky.

The fix is to put a piece of tape over the edge of the throat plate to smooth out and eliminate the little lip or bump up.

I had this problem because there was a "lip" between my sewing machine and the acrilic table, so now I just tape an index card there so the material slides over a flat surface and does not get caught on that lip.

I just take my smallest scissors and cut the seam to the stitches and let each side lay in the direction it needs to. I'm sure this isn't the "right" way, but it works for me.

When this happens I just rip the few stitches, flip the way it should go and re sew. Only takes a few seconds.

The harder I try to keep this from happening the more it happens, so now, I just sew and forget it. As long as my points and seams match I am happy.

Love all the tips! Especially the one about sewing so that the feed dogs do most of the work in keeping the seams aligned. Never thought of that before! I told my husband that I've done more ripping out since taking up quilting than I ever did sewing garments. Will give these tips a try.

I seem to do better with pressing my seams open & using a pin thru the seams! 90% better than before when I pressed to the side!