I've gotten so much praise regarding the pictures I posted of my quilts and what "great work" I do, so I figured I'd share my "secret." I can't take credit for this tip, but can't remember where I read it since it's been several years ago. However, I like to pass this on in the hopes of helping others who face the dilemma of having a difficult time getting seams to align. This may sound like it takes more time (an excuse I've heard repeatedly), but it's more efficient than having to rip out an entire row of stitching to fix seams that don't match...

When I have seams to align (in blocks and/or rows), I first pin them, and then I put about 5 stitches at each intersection (if your machine has a thread cutter, it makes it even faster to move from seam to seam). I then open up my block/row and check to make sure the seams are perfectly aligned. If they aren't, I only have the 5 stitches to remove (instead of an entire row of stitching), realign, pin, stitch again and recheck. If they are all aligned, I know I can sew the entire block/row and my seams will be perfectly matched.

I also discovered that the quilt police will NOT show up at your door if you have to "flip seams" to get them to butt up to one another. I had two mysteries started last year that I put off finishing forever; the blocks were done, but my seams were all running in the same direction, which meant I couldn't butt them against one another to get them aligned. They intimidated me, so I set them aside for months! Once I got frustrated enough and started flipping seams, my tops went together quickly and much more easily. In this case, your iron and steam ARE your friends, and your tops WILL lie flat! ;)

I hope this makes sense, but feel free to ask questions if you don't understand. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question :D

What a great idea. Thank you!

:thumbup:

As someone who has done her fair share of seam ripping, thank you so much for sharing this tip :-)

fabulous! next big quilt, I will erase this tip off my forehead ;-)

Thank you for the great tips. I will use them.

Great tip. I also pin, use walking foot, etc, but sometimes the fabric just refuses to cooperate.

Great idea...I use glue in the same way.

I heard a tip like this from one of the Kay Wood videos when she was talking about matching points on Flying Geese.

Well that's a new one for me, but I REALLY like it... especially for long runs! Good one!

Great idea and worth the extra time! I'm starting two very heavily pieced quilts for my GDs and will use this! Guess if you use a little longer stitch for that it will come out easily if needed.

When you say to flip seams do you mean in the middle of it? Say if the first end is correct you just flip the seam in the middle so the other end butts too? I've done it and feel OK about it, not thrilled, but OK.