Lone Star
 

I've been watching the tutorials on YouTube by Jordan Fabrics. One of my favorites is the Lone Star, so I decided to give it a try. I picked the fabrics and decided that I would make it smaller than their tutorial and use it as the center of a medallion quilt. It came out bigger than I intended, so that may be my first issue. Second issue is the center. I plan to pick out the center seam and redo it, but I'm not sure it will look any better. Any suggestions on that?

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This is the center. I know it looks horrible, but the other diamonds are lined up pretty well. The spot on the purple diamond is just water from the iron.

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Here is the whole top. It's about 36.5 inches "square." I started with 2 inch strips instead of 3 used in the tutorial.

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This is the left side. When I redo the center seam this will be closer to matching.

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The right side is not quite as bad.

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The individual diamonds look pretty good, but they obviously are not all the same size.

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I think the back looks pretty good.

TIA,

Darren

Your top is stunning!

The only suggestion I have is that, since there is so much bulk coming together at the center, to pick the seams out to make 4 quarters, then as you put those together, press the seams open rather than to the side. And pin, starting at the center, and work outward.

I love how well it turned out. Not sure I would take it apart.

Is it laying flat?

If so, I would leave it alone and just "square up" the outside edges and go from there.

If not laying flat, then maybe think about adjusting whatever needs to be adjusted to make it lay flat.

The over-all impression from your photos is of a very good construction.

Good Job!! Very vibrant & pretty!
I agree with bearisgray - being flay is important if you are using it in the center for a medallion to build on.

First, let me say that you did a great job with what most people consider a difficult quilt. Your color choices are great and so cheery and your ironing of your seams is first class. From what I have heard, getting these type quilts to lay flat in the center is the biggest problem. If yours is laying flat, I wouldn't mess with it too much. Once the top has been quilted and washed, it should be all crinkly and that center may not be noticeable at all. I can't tell that the center is off a bit when I look at that picture of the whole Lone Star. Another thought. If you are using straight line stitching to quilt it, then put your stitching so that it looks like everything lines up perfectly and the off-set seams should become invisible. I'm not sure how good that would work, but I think it could.

Hopefully others will have better suggestions. Now, I am going to have to make one of these quilts, just to test my theories. "smile"

Great looking Lone Star quilt!

I agree ... if it is laying flat, leave it alone. Depending on what you plan to do with this quilt, I would put a button, yo-yo, applique, or some such appropriate thing stitched down in that middle so it won't be seen and therefore not bother you or the quilt police. But as someone else mentioned, it is not noticeable from afar because your fabrics and colors are so wonderful and it appears to be very flat. So now you get to decide what you want to do.

The only thing that might cause you problems is retaining the points of that star out on the edges. You need at least a quarter inch of background to keep those points from disappearing and that may be difficult since those seams at the outer edges don't line up. Hopefully, someone will have an idea on how to "fix" that.

I understand your frustration. I think your problem may be the direction that your seams are ironed. If you look at the back in photo no. 6, your seams are not nesting and that can cause your sewing machine to push the seam out of alignment. You could iron the seams open and try again or you could pin pin pin--one pin thru the exact spot the two seams should meet and another pin about 3/8 inch on EACH side--then sew very very slowly.

To get rid of some of the bulk in the center, swirl the seams. It really does help.

You have been given some good suggestions to help without restitching, I would be very concerned about creating bigger problems if you tried to redo it. With the center star being one color nothing shows unless you're right on top of it, and quilting it can correct that. You did an amazing job on this, absolutely wonderful!!!