First Quilt - Help Please!
 

Hi Everyone!

Okay, so this is the very first quilt that I am making. In hindsight I picked a really challenging pattern (this is what it looks like: http://hoffmanfabrics.com/wp-content...ern-NEW-LR.pdf). So I finally pieced this together and the entire quilt top was finished. Unfortunately, I probably made some newbie mistakes somewhere along the line and a lot of the rows, squares and lines do not match up very well. Some of them are off by more than a quarter inch... I got really frustrated and put it away for almost a year. Well, the fabric was expensive and I would really like to finish it.

Can anyone provide some insight as to why this happened? I think I might have rushed too much through the cutting process. How can I fix it? I am going through and taking apart the blocks now. Should I take it all apart, iron each piece, measure each one and then sew it back together again?

Thanks in advance everyone

Danielle.

You're in this deep you might as well. Maybe it was just the seam allowance? (Hoping you don't have to trim it all is why I say that) I still have to draw lines on a lot of my stuff.

I'm working on a Dresden Plate and just tore through piecing it.

When I was done I realized it was going to be very difficult to turn over the rounded blades so I took all of them apart and sewed them so the point would already be there and then sewed the blades together. I goofed up on my seam allowance and it wouldn't lay flat so I measured 1/4 inch from needle and taped a guide down before reassembling them.

I hope it doesn't turn out to be too much of an ordeal for you. : )

Dresi

OMG that pattern looks haaaard to me!

There are 3 basic areas that can cause your blocks to be mismatched:
cutting, sewing and pressing.
Cutting: need to use the same ruler, or same brand of ruler for the entire project. Don't use the lines on your cutting mat except to square the edge of your fabric. Place the ruler carefully, and consistently. Is your fabric on the right or left edge of the ruler line?
Sewing: Figure out where on your machine you can get the correct seam. Although we talk about seam allowance, you don't measure the seam, you measure the resultant patch. Here's how to check:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...ce-t89997.html
Pressing. Make sure you don't distort your fabric as you press. Also make sure you don't press a tiny pleat into the seam.
And finally, measure each sub unit as you go along. Don't wait until the end to find out something is off.
As far as what to do with your top. If you really, really like the fabric you could take it apart, but it's a lot of work, some of the fabric may be stretched and won't want to go back. Also, if you take it apart and find out you cut something too small, then what? I would finish it as it is. It's probably not as bad as you think and you should see most people's first quilts! Maybe take a step back and try something simpler for your next quilt. Also, look and see if your local quilt shop has a beginner's class. Great place to get the basics!

I agree it's probably not nearly as bad as you think. Our booboos are painfully obvious but to the untrained eye or the person who hasn't lived with it for weeks on end piecing they probably wouldn't even be noticed.

Have you contacted the designer that was listed??

Design and Instruction by Larene Smith
The Quilted Button, Mission Viejo, CA

I am not familiar with this quilt store but Hoffman main office is also in Mission Viejo.

Do you live near a quilt shop that you could ask for help? Yes, you did pick a very difficult pattern. A newbie doesn't always have accuracy with their 1/4" seam so that might be your first problem. Accuracy of cutting may be the second problem.

If you lived near me in So CA, I would show you how to draw the actual size of each section of this quilt so you could check the difference with what you have sewn. If you have a scanner, I would print the quilt pattern finished and then blow up the section if you are not good at drawing. Take each section and finish them. Good Luck. PM (personal message click on my avatar) if you have more questions. Don't feel that you are sinking. We as a board will try to help you. Welcome to the board.

PaperPrincess has given you wonderful information. I might rip apart the worst sections but probably not the whole thing. You're also going to get some distortion during the ripping/resewing process.

If you have some scrap fabric, test some of the info in PP's message...i.e., how have you measured when cutting; how is your seam allowance/resultant piecing.

Are your worst-offending mismatches too large; too small? If they are too large, you could open up that seam and 'ease' the excess fabric over the entire length of the section.

Not meaning to offend here, but you mention this is your very first quilt. When sewing sections together, you want to match your 'points' vs matching fabric edges. Let's say you have two pieces that you are now sewing together that each have a seam through the center. Put the two pieces right sides together and put a pin straight down through the seam on the top piece. Now put that same pin straight down through the seam on the bottom piece. Keep that pin straight up/down. Match up your 'top' edges of the fabric and place pins on either side of the up/down pin to hold those two sections together. Remove up/down pin. Now worry about your side edges. Match up the fabric edges of your two pieces and pin - both sides. If you have a bit of excess fabric say from one side edge to the center where your seam is, you would 'ease' that excess as you are sewing (putting that 'puffy' side against your feed dogs to help). If you are 'short' of some fabric, you can tug on your pieces a bit to stretch.

Press your completed section really well. Measure your new section. Do any trimming if necessary now. If you square up as you go, you'll have fewer issues down the road and overall with your quilt making.

Show us some pics. As others have said, it's probably not nearly as bad as you think!

WOW - a very hard quilt for sure for your first one. I would not take it apart - but go ahead and practice your quilting on it and consider it a lesson in what to do and what not to do. I love a quilt that my very young teenage daughter made for me years ago and no seams matched, etc. but it still keeps me warm on these cold days and I remember her making it one very cold winter.

Whoa! You jumped into the deep end for your first quilt! LOL. That's a pattern that most people would have to "work up to" in terms of skill. I wouldn't advise taking it apart; I would agree with NikkiLu. Every quilt is something to learn from. You could end up taking apart so much that you never want to put it back together.

I would say practice your basting, quilting and binding on it, enjoy the process, use it to keep warm, and move on to the next pattern that is simple, where you can practice matching points. A simple 9-patch would do that and still give you a very interesting
quilt top.

I agree, Paperprincess gave you great advice. I would do what she said:) I would surely not take it all apart, you may just learn to hate it. Learn to love it and its flaws as your first step into quilting. Once it is quilted and washed many of the things that bother you won't be as obvious. Hopefully, you can find a good beginner class to take and you will already be ahead from doing this quilt.