I'm doing my first quilt top that has points. The pattern is called "Ribbon" and I posted a picture a while back. In black, white and red. Anyhow, the block isn' to bad to put together but when I start putting rows on top of rows. the pattern takes on a whole new look. There are points I have to deal with. After almost 80 hours of ripping and resewing, I'm crazy. Is there a tuterial(?) or a certain special way to pin or what to look at when pinning? I'd really like to know because my daughter has chosen "Chevron" for my next quilt and there are points there too.
Thganks - Rita

I find that when I have points that need to go together that if you are just to the "right" of the intersecting point when you are sewing it will make the point come out right. many call this a scant 1/4". hope this helps.

Check out this tutorial I made....see if it helps you

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-83439-1.htm

you need to use a triangle trimmer...to square off your tips...I am currently making a quilt with pyramids and points,,,,but am not having the problems I would have if the tips were not trimed correctly

Accuracy in the early sewing, helps the points come together much easier when joining blocks.

Also, have you squared up all your blocks? I trim and square at all stages ... a bit fanatical, it may seem, though it makes for a nice finished job.

Depending on your pattern ... the direction you have pressed your previous seams can affect the ease or difficulty in matching points.

Pressing your seams so they nest together, trimming your points and getting a pin right in the intersection of the nested seams at the point will help. If it's particularly bulky at the seams you might have to go very slow or even rotate the wheel manually to keep the fabric from shifting while you sew over the hump. I have to do that with my mechanical machine.

If your fabrics are moving around on you when you're sewing, you can also glue baste - I put a drop of glue on the point where the seams cross, stick a pin straight through the top seam, push the pin into the drop of glue, pull the pin then give it a shot with the iron.

If you're having problems nipping off the points, then take your ruler and when you line up your blocks to be sewed make sure you have a 1/4" from the x on the back of the block (that's the point) and line it up that way.

Good luck.

you can make your own triangle trimmer from a piece of template material just make sure you trim at the correct angle....Fons and Porter uses this in their Twirling Triangles Quilt, I have made two with no problems....using their tecnique.

Nesting fixes my problem every time. And pinning on each seam before I sew helps too. It was a learning curve for this new quilter and I think 9 out of 10 match now. I'm not a perfectionist so I'm happy with that!