stretched bias
 

I was given several Drunkards Path quilt blocks. There were 3 very different types of fabric used, all pieces have bias edges and in order to get the blocks sewn together, I've had to "encourage" the fabric into submission. In the process, the more loosely woven fabric has stretched. What's best solution to get the top to lay flat again?
Thanks for you help.

Is it quilted yet, or just the top? If it's quilted, you can block it. If it's not quilted yet, you can try and steam things into submission and choose a quilting pattern that will 'quilt out' the excess. This is a situation where you would probably want to carefully SITD around the blocks keeping this stitching as square as possible, then go back in and quilt the heck out of the blocks.

Your best bet is probably to "block" the blocks. Sharon Schamber has some Youtube videos on how to do this. Basically you spray the block with water or starch, pin it to an absorbent surface, and let it dry. This may or may not work completely, but it should at least help. If you stretched the bias while sewing, those seams may not shrink.

I have been able to camouflage a lot of "wonkiness" in blocks when machine quilting on my frame. I found that using a lot of quilting helped tame the wonkiness (plus there are a few tricks machine quilters can use; for example, using soup cans or rice bags to get the blocks to lay flat enough for quilting).

I made a Paddle Wheel quilt in which all edges of the block ended on the bias. The tips of each corner had to exactly match the next block.

I put my 12 1/2 inch ruler on my ironing board, drew around that with a ball point pen, then drew a one inch line radiating from each corner. I laid the block on that, lined up the corners with the radiating line, starched it in the correct position and pressed it with a hot iron. Then I could go to the cutting board and cut it square; all the seams ended up right in the corner like they were supposed to. The blocks stayed square and the quilt turned out great.

I usually finesse it with water, steam, and an iron; then once I get it where I want it, I starch the snot out of it.

Prism99 - What do you mean about soup cans or rice bags? Could you please explain this? I find the concept interesting and possibly useful for me!

I have done the soup can thing too, it's a long arm work around, if you have some really full blocks. I looked on you tube but couldn't find a video. I SITD first to get everything square. Then center the block under the needle, and put a can of soup on either side of the arm, parallel with the arm. This puts additional pressure on the block so you can more easily quilt the fullness out. the nice thing with the soup cans is that they will roll back and forth with the motion of the arm. I'm guessing the rice bags would also be used for additional pressure, but they don't move and would have to be repositioned.

Paper princess, thank you so much for sharing that soup can tip! Wow, I learn so much from everyone on here.