I've found that even pinning can give me wonky seams but since I've begun using Clover Clips, I'm more successful. I clip at each seam intersection. When I've sewn to the clip, I stab my seam ripper into the seam and slowly sew until at least one half of the seam is secure. As others have stated though, the more accurate my cutting, the more accurate my seams and the less I iron and the more I press the more accurate my seams.

If I'm having an especially difficult time, instead of sewing from one end of the blocks to the other, I will start by sewing over the seams first. I open it, and if it is lined up, I can finish it up. If it's not lined up I don't have too much to unsew.

I will tell you this, the more you practice, the better they get.

I love Clover Clips! Did you know they have a larger size now?

Jumbo Wonder Clips! 2-1/4" long Made to hold bigger bindings easier! A great alternative to pins, especially when working with heavy weight fabrics, piles, and vinyls. Wonder Clips can hold layered sections of sewing projects such as handle connectors to handbags and piping without distortion. It holds quilt binding while sewing and it is easy to see and easy to find when dropped on the floor. Clip base is flat for easy feeding to presser foot, and is marked with 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" seam allowances.

This is what helps me, in addition to the excellent tips I've read on this post (haven't read them all tho) - match your seams up and pin your fabric, except align the pins to where you will be sewing, so the pin acts as the seam. Now unfold your fabric and see how your seams match. It's a lot easier to unpin and repin than to unsew and resew! Good luck, welcome to the quilting world, and enjoy your journey!

I agree with the pinning to make it work.

I pin at the intersection and always use my walking foot.

A friend of mine told me a trick that she learned from a quilt teacher. Match up your intersections, pin, then sew about 5 stitches just over the intersection. Check. If its off, rip, and do over. This saves you from sewing the whole row and it coming out off. When you are happy with your intersections, sew the row.
Also, you will get better with time. It just takes practice, and one day you won't have to sew those 5 stitches, you will just have to pin, and sew the row. Keep at it.

It could be your feed dogs too. Some machines actually can pull enough to cause the material NOT to match up due to the feed dogs gradual pulling and stretching the material underneath so it doesn't match material on top.

I agree, I have her DVD and it's wonderful. I learned so much from her

I used a stack of post-it notes placed at 1/4" from the needle for almost a year to make sure I sewed at that measurement.Helped soooo much! All the straight cutting in the world won't help if your 1/4" seams are off! Good luck..hang in there!!!

I do the same thing and it really makes things easier

Take your time and lots of practice. Don't settle for seams that really don't match up. My seam ripper is my friend.

I've been working through Harriet & Carrie Hargrave's Quilter's Academy and my piecing has really improved (except for when I get lazy and accept a mismatch).

Cheers, K

I think you need to pin, and be sure that your seams are nesting. Do a whole row at one time. Takes an extra bit of time, but really works

Don't feel bad, I have been quilting for several years and sometimes my seams still don't match, when that happens I put a dot of elmers school glue where the seam should match and press the two pieces together with my iron. This works like a charm, it is school glue and it washes out and if you want to move your fabric for any reason just touch it with the iron again and it comes up like it was never glued . Sometimes pins can distort the fabric and cause the seams to be out of alignment even though they look aligned before you sew them together.

Good Luck

I wonder if the pressing is some of the problem.
Pressing to the dark is NOT always the best way. Press for ease of construction!

If you're making a charm quilt, then the seams probably should go in one direction for one row and the opposite direction for the next row. THEN the seams "should" nest together (making them as close and as flat as possible). Pinning is essential.

Do you have a walking foot? that attachment helps by NOT pulling on the fabric. When you get to the end of a row, the top AND bottom should still be together (not one longer or shorter than the other layer.)

Lots of other good answers/solutions on this board...

Practice, practice, practice is always a great tip. The other is: keep that seam ripper handy! HAhahaha Good luck.

Lots of good tips and some that I will use. Especially slowing down as I am more like my friend that calls herself a "slap dash" quilter. But it doesn't bother her.

I want to do the Harriet Hargrave exercises. Have not tired the Sally ones but will be on the look out for that book.

Only new thing I can add is the size of your pins. Invest in some silk pins, they have a thinner shaft and distort the fabric less where you are pinning.

Last Summer I dug out a pack of charm squares... and after piecing discovered they were anything but square... I am still unpicking and to be frank, cussing a tad... they are are at the bottom of one of my scrap bags for when I am in a better humour, six months on it is still not happening.

Am definitely going with squares and leaving the stripping behind!

You can sink a pin at each intersection through the seams themselves. Then, pin on either side of the seams far away enough for the presser foot to miss the center pin. That should prevent movement.

I have always pined my fabric. Always! And I enjoy doing it. It's a relaxing stretch before the storm of sewing!

If I dont pin each intersection, my seams are off. That is really the ONLY time I pin. Good luck!

Another way to get the seams to match is to nest them together like normal, then pin ACROSS the seam. Let's see if I can explain it, lol Nest the seams, come down JUST PAST the 1/4 mark, enter your pin IMMEDIATELY ON the right of the seam and come up IMMEDIATELY to the left, using only the tip of the pin to hold it in place, open it up and check if it's straight, sew at the 1/4 inch. As you sew over the seam, your pin will be under the left side of the foot. As you go over the seam one or two stitches, pull your pin out. Try it, it works for me. Syl

Thank you to everyone you commented! I have a lot of ideas to try!

I glue baste when I really need accurate matching. I put a dot of glue on the intersections. Then, I measure each piece as I finish it and measure again when I sew pieces together.

I saw Mary Ellen Hopkins several years ago on Simply Quilts and she said that you should never sew long strips together because you are more apt to get things wonky. She suggested to make them into large squares then sew the large squares together. That way you only had one or two long seams to sew. I do this whenever possible.

I generally pin on both sides of the intersection, particularly if there seems to be a bit of unevenness. I try to press the seams in opposite directions between rows so they nest. If the pieces are large, I generally pin more than just the intersections. AND YES! you will get better with practice.

It is probably that stinker "the scant 1/4 inch." If you sew your seam the same size, every time, your seam will match. I measured a scant 1/4 inch and taped one of those plactic cards (like a credit card) in place so my seams are the same every time.

When I discovered fork pins, they made all the difference for me. The end is in a "U" and you place the pin straddling each side of the seam. That way the fabric cannot shift. Be careful, though -- these are very sharp pins!

That Elmer's is wonderful. I use it also. I also pin my seams when they need to match. I make sure to stick the needle in right on the seam and check the backside of the other fabric. If the needle did not come out exactly on a seam them I repin until it does. That is the best way I've found. Then don't remove the needle until you are right at the place as close as you can get.

Get the video by Sally Collins on PRECISION PIECING. All her suggestions improved my piecing tremendously and I find I go back and review occasionally as bad habits try to creep back in.

Accurate cutting, and 1/4 seams, and pressing seams in different directions will give you a perfect seam.

It takes a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time to get good at everything about quilting. Do you have a guild in your area? That helped me more than anything except the qb. Guild is a big help because you can talk with other members who maybe are suffering the same problems as you. Maybe find one who is further along, and she will help you.
One thing I learned on the board that helped me on matching seams was this; lightly bast the seams together before sewing. Then the drops of school glue came along, and haven't had a chance to try it. Looks like a workable alternative to me. Good luck!
Mariah

There are several guilds in the surrounding area, but they are all at least 40 miles away. I wish I knew of one in my small town. I've just been reading a lot and watching videos. I'll keep trying and just learn to accept my mistakes as part of the learning process. :)

It does get better over time in my opinion. Being a still relatively new quilter (even though it's has been 5 years) I have seen it get better for me over the years. Because, ultimately, you get better at cutting, get better at having correct seam allowances, and then you have an easier time matching up the seams. It's just something you practice with each quilt you make and the next thing you know everything looks much better!

Accurate cutting is a must. Accurate seam allowance a must. Opposing seams pressed a must. For me, using a stiletto (Brass for me) is a must. And practice does help a lot...don't give up!

The glue does work, but another trick is to watch which side is "longer" and put that on the bottom. The feed dogs work to help even it all up. Sometimes it could mean switching sides from intersection to intersection, but it you do it when first sewing 2 blocks together, it could go a long way in making the seams more even. Clear as mud?

On my first quilt, the seams did not match up very good. Then, I took a beginners quilt class, and the hands on experience made all the difference. Now my seams line up very well. Maybe not perfect all the time, but the difference is obvious. So I would suggest, if you can, to take a class. By the way, the tutorials are great and I have learned so much from them, but nothing quite matches up to a good teacher in a class room environment.

I feel your pain! This is why I choose a lot of scrappy type patterns.:) I had a lot of problems with matching seams, too. You have received great advise. A couple of things that have helped me is to stitch at the seams. That's right. Don't take on the long seam, first stitch at every seam intersection. Then, you can sew the long seam. The other thing that helped me was to make sure my fabric is going in opposite directions. By this I mean that if your top fabric seam is facing towards your machine, the bottom fabric seam is facing away from it. This helps to match the seams. Several of the top quilters taught me to do it this way.
Good luck with your future quilts. I look forward to seeing what you do.

practice and patience, and did I mention practice?