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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!!!
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Originally Posted by Scissor Queen
(Post 5774653)
I've been quilting for about a dozen years now. I quit sewing rows. I sew my squares or blocks into four patches and then sew those four patches into giant four patches until I have my top sewn into four quarters. Then I sew the top two quarters together and the bottom two together and I have only one full width seam.
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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
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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 |
Originally Posted by pinkyrue01
(Post 5774503)
Yes, I'm currently working on a charm square quilt. It's supposed to be simple. I'm sewing all of my squares in rows with a 1/4" seam allowance. I even started measuring each square after I sew one on to make a row and see that it is exactly 4.75 inches. My problem is when I sew my rows together. It keeps getting off. Also I am pressing to the dark side, so my seams will nest. The first few are fine, but by the end of the row they are not nesting.
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.
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I have always pined my fabric. Always! And I enjoy doing it. It's a relaxing stretch before the storm of sewing!
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