Help--My Quilt is Crooked!
 

Hi everyone! I’ve been sewing on and off for over 40 years but only quilting for the last few months and loving it! However, I think I might have been overly ambitious in a recent quilt project. The quilt has 18 10” square blocks with sashing in between them. The blocks are made of ¼ HST (I hope that makes sense). I just finished the quilt top and although the measurements are perfect both vertically and horizontally, it doesn’t fold or lay square—it’s somehow crooked. Out of desperation, I laid it on my tile floor which I know is square and sure enough, about half way down, it starts to migrate to the left. What in the world did I do wrong??

try best press and iron with seam

If all your longer sashing strips are the same measurement, I would think that you had sewed all beginning at the same side and the fabric is stretching a little.

Ohhhh, I have. This is crooked beyond pressing it out....it looks like my dog's hind leg. It's swooshed to the left side by about 1.5"

Did you use corner squares with your sashing strips? If not, it's possible that's where the quilt went off kilter. Corner squares actually keep everything in line when adding sashing, because you match the corner points of the squares on each block. Grab opposing corners and pull it into square to try and block it.

If it's beyond squaring up, the solution may be as simple as taking off the sashing strips where it all starts to go wrong and re-sewing them on. Before sewing them on, put little tick marks on the edges where the corner squares would be if there were corner squares, and let those be your guide to matching to the ends of the blocks. That technique should keep it all straight the same way corner squares do. Good luck, good question here.

Ya know what? Although I haven’t made many quilts, every time I finish one, I realize I’ve learned something. Sometimes I learn something noticeable and sometimes I learn something no one will ever know but me. But I learn and this time is no different.

With this quilt, what I’ve learned is:

1. Just because fabric is in the quilting section doesn’t mean it should be used for quilting
2. Don’t buy fabric just for looks

I think both of those might be my problem. The quilt is for my future son-in-law, a former marine. It’s a patriotic quilt with red satin, deep blue cotton (with little silver stars) and a white fabric with a silver thread running through it. That fabric is a bit stretchy and we know that satin and cotton is not.

I’m going to apply the outside border and finish the quilt anyway and hope that I don’t find a burning rotary cutter outside my front door from the quilt police.:o It isn’t terribly noticeable unless it’s pointed out and I know he’ll love it because so much love went into it.

But I’ve learned!

You can straighten it before you add the border. You've been sewing for years
so it should be easy to do. Just like you make a sleeve fit in an armhole...
baste along the long side (small stitches) and then pull the thread until it
is same length as the other side...even out the excess and add the border
and voila. Hope it's clear.

I made the same decision today with a quilt that turned out less than satisfactory. I don’t think the recipient will notice.

What I learned is that I’ll never make that pattern again. LOL