I think I 'heard' Mary Ellen Hopkins advice in Jan's discussion. She was trying to help quilter's understand that we can be successful when there were some small variations in our techniques for achieving the elusive 1/4 inch. There are so many things that cause the variation-thread count of the fabric, weight of the thread you use to piece, fiber content of the thread you use, the direction you press, the machine foot you use, the markings on the machine etc. etc. One of the constants I feel is important is to use a metal tape measure on a flat surface to check accuracy. I have a Craftsman roll up tape I have used for 25 years. The key is to check frequently and learn how to deal with your own small variances to get the near perfect product.

I really don't worry about exactness. I have gone through alot of steps to make a perfect quilt.After my 145th quilt they still aren't perfect. I just accept how they turn out.
I am very picky about everything I do and will redo things three times. If I can get it perfect after that I just move on.
Best way is to cut a bit larger and trim down, looks neater too.
I don't loose my points.
I have my way that works for me.
I never do block swaps, don't want someone else making blocks for me either.

I had always thought that I had a good 1/4 inch seam. I made an illusion quilt that was a large circle made up of 48 wedges. In the center the tip of all of the wedges come together. The class instructor stressed testing you 1/4 inch seam. I like everyone else said "I have a 1/4 inch seam." well guess what I didn't I was 2 clicks of the needle off. The instructor showed us on her class sample the importance of this. Her circle was pretty puckered and would not lay flat. No way she could quilt it.
I checked my seam and checked it often as I made the circle. My circle went together with only a slight pucker in the middle which was easy to fix.
Being off a tiny bit doesn't hurt much on some blocks and you can fudge it to make it fit, but on other blocks it is a huge difference. My quilt guild just made a donation quilt. We passed out 40 block kits ( pre-cut). It was supposed to finish at 12 1/2 inches. Blocks varried from 13 inches down to 10 1/4 inches. We actually did a demo on 1/4 inch seams and passed out how to check it the night we passed out the blocks.

Throw all these rules together and it is a wonder anyone ever got covered in the winter. Our ancestors sewed for generations without all the hullabaloo!!

Afraid I have to agree with AZ Jane. It all depends on why we are making our quilts. I make mine to be used not to be perfect. Guess if I was going to make wall hangings and table toppers I would be more concerned. So far that is not the case and I do the best I can but not concerned about the perfect 1/4 inch. And most of the quilts I make are ones that I design myself. I do care about my points to show properly and also my corners match up - but I figured out how to make that happen and the glue sticks and clover clips help a lot.

I like this. What we tend to forget is the importance and influence of good pressing and the more pieces in a block the more "thread space" it takes.

I don't want a perfect 1/4" seams to make perfect quilts. I want it to save frustration of blocks pieces not matching. It's for me not the quilt.

I find while measuring fabric, if one is starched or steam pressed and the other is not, there can be a smidgen of difference. So, I like to treat each fabric alike to minimize any problems.

Yes, of course Mary Ellen, Bless her heart.:D So sad she has left us. Such an impact on the renewal of quilting industry she made early on. :)

Jan in VA