When I am putting together a quilt top, I pin every seam that meets and every point that meets up. Square to square, block to block, and row to row.
My question is: How many of you ;are like me, and pin,pin,pin,
Or do you trust your cutting and your self , and don't pin?

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Oh, Ninnie, I am exactly like you! Every seam and every point get "stuck". I have a gazillion straight pins and I have found that I cannot do without forked pins, though, they are insanely expensive. And, yes, it takes longer....and, no, not every point and seam is exactly perfect (but most of them are), but I feel more at ease using them.

I do lots of pinning when I'm sewing the rows together. But otherwise I hate pins too, I'm always getting stuck by them in my legs!

I pin a lot too and it is worth it. I do not baste though.

I do some of both. It depends on how it is all fitting together. I love the needle down position so I can have the needle down and match up my next set of seams.

I'm like you Ninnie, I pin my points and seams.

I am like Ninnie and Ducky. I like to pin everyplace a seam is to intersect or point is to match up. Not only do I match up my intersecting seams with pins but I often put a second pin 1/8 in front of the intersection because I was finding even with matching the seams with a pin my intersections were still often off 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. I asked at a class I took once what I was doing wrong and the quilt instructor told me that the feed dogs will often advance the fabric on the bottom just a fraction of an inch quicker and if I put a second pin just in front of the seam matching pin I will solve the problem. Sure enough it worked. I still get an occasional mismatch but I am much more pleased with the results and find I do MUCH LESS unsewing if I do more pinning as I progress. I am way critical of myself and often want as close to perfect as I can get so I guess that is why I do it and I absolutely hate having to unsew.

I also pin pin pin if I have a bit of easing in to do when matching up those seams.

FF

I glue pin. I put a drop of school glue on the matching areas and heat set it. I know it's not moving one thread off. School glue is not a glue, it's a heavy starch and dissolves in water. Pins stick me no matter how careful I am.

I pin, pin, pin, and pin some more! :-)

As the blocks get more complicated, everything lining up becomes so much more important.

I'm tempted to try glue though... does it take long to set so you can move the fabric without it falling apart?

Use a fine line of glue or dab with the glue stick and then press. It holds very secure but pulls apart easily. I like Roxanne's Basting Glue for the thin tip applicator. A tiny drop and it's stuck. It holds very securely and washes out when heat set.

I too, am a glue baster!! Every intersection and a spot or two inbetween on some blocks. A few tiny drops, heat set with a dry iron to the count of two and that intersecting seam is not going anywhere... After you buy the first bottle with the neat applicator tip, refill it with Elmer's Brand glue...for some reason they don't recommend the off brands...
Bonus is you can peel back your blocks and make sure that you have glued it perfectly, if not, gently peel the pieces apart and glue it again...
I can now glue pin as fast as regular pinning :wink:

Thanks for the info on the glue. I'm going to have to try that!

I would love for you to show us how this is done! I am always up for a new idea!

I pin, pin and pin even more.....all my quilt buddies laugh while I'm sticking myself with all the pins, but guess who has the matching seams and points!!!! (LOL)

I pin, pin, pin just like you.
It's going to be the end product & what you see is what you get.
This is where I get really fussy!!

I do not pin at all when I am stitching blocks and matching up seams. I just press my seams to oppose each other, snuggle them up and sew. I have no problems with mismatched seams.

I do pin when I am stitching on a border. I fold my border in fourths and press it to "mark" it. I do the same with the quilt top. Then I pin at the matching quarter marks and in between to keep my fabric from slipping.

Depends on the pattern for me...lots of blocks I don't pin..just nestle and sew...but others...I pin, pin, pin, pin and more pins! Always for borders!

I'm gonna have to check into this glue pinning though...that sounds more like it!

I pin, pin, pin. My philosophy is pin once and avoid the seam ripper. My kids laugh about all my pins, but they work for me.

oh ninnie i pin pin pin i afraid to trust any other way

I usually just but/nestle my blocks together - usually they turn out okay enough.

However, I always measure my quilts in a couple of places to get an average length before I put the border on. (Never on the edge)

Sometimes my edges ruffle or stretch a bit from handling or ironing or whatever.

Then if my blocks are averaging 12 inches finished (for example) I will make a mark 13 inches from the end, and then 12 inches for however many blocks i have on a side. Then I pin at each intersection. I sew with the border on top (if it's a strip - then it's easier to ease those slightly larger pieces in - if necessary)

I pin everything!! I can't bear to unpick and redo...have used glue when doing tricky applique...use acid free in case it gets put aside for a while.

Wow, I don't guess I don't suffer from OCD after all. It seems that most of us do pin , and for the same reason wanting to make sure and then double sure. I too want to check into the glue thing, that does sound interesting and less dangerous! LOL

If I have to piece I pin. It is about the only way to be accurate.

It depends on the project.. sometimes I pin sometimes I don't. But yes I do find myself pinning at the seams, especially if there is easing involved.

I pin when I match seams and points. Sometimes I just sew the intersection to see if it's right on before I sew the whole thing. I don't pin when I'm just sewing two fabrics together.

I pin too. If I don't, I find I will not be as accurate.

I try to press my blocks so they "nets" and I try to eliminate the pinning. That usually works until the points or corners don't match to my satisfaction and then I do pin.

I try to avoid pinning, as much as possible. But when sewing diamonds together, I pin the heck out of it. :-)

I pin everything. I tried the school glue in my last project for a few rows then went back to pinning. I use the very thin applique pins from Chlotilde.

CindyBee

Why did you go back to pinning? Did something not work for you with the glue? Would love to try the gluing myself, but would like to know if there are pitfalls.

Thanks!

I learn so much on here. I always pin at seams but sometimes my corners would be just a hair off. Thanks for the tip of pinning a little before the seam as well. Put some 9P together and only had 1 corner that was just a tad off.
Think I might try the glue next.

I use lots of pins! I pin, pin, pin! :lol:

I don't like to pin, but if I see I have issues (like I need to ease fabric ) then I pin to help. Am really interested in the glue method. Do you just go to the school supply area and buy Elmers School glue and use that ? Would love to hear more about this method, as I REALLY hate to pin :twisted:
Sharon

Well, mostly I found the glue icky to work with, LOL. You also have to wait a short time for the part you just glued to set before you can continue. I got the glue idea from Sharom Schamber's site. Now I have two large bottles of it I'll probably never use. But you should try it if you like. It's seems as accurate as pinning.

I like the glue idea.

The trouble I have with pinning - even at right angles to the seam, is that it can sometimes move the fabric a tiny bit and distort the join.

When I join the rows in my OBWs, I'v started using little appliqué pins. I stick pin straight through the points of the triangles (leave them poking up) then as I'm sewing, just before the pin reaches my foot, I take it out. That way there's no distortion and I can pretty much whip the pins out with my right hand only slowing down rather than stopping completely the machine. Hope that makes sense! :D

In normal piecing, I don't pin square patches (4p, 9p etc) but do the seam nestling thing. For HSTs and pointy things, I pin vertically as Ninnie shows. I haven't tried my OBW stick pinning method on regular blocks yet. And I'm very naughty with borders - just slapping them on, no pins! Which is why I guess they're always waving at me! I MUST start pinning from the centre out, like Marcia says! :D