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Will I ever get better at matching seams?
Hi everyone! I'm a beginner but I've been trying to quilt for the last 6 months. Will I ever get better at matching seams? I watch a lot of tutorials and they just speed on through rows and everything looks great. Even if I go super slow my seams don't ever seem to match. Is this just something I'll get with practice?
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It would be good to know how you are now matching the seams. then might be able to give some advice.
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Originally Posted by Holice
(Post 5774430)
It would be good to know how you are now matching the seams. then might be able to give some advice.
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Seams lining up starts with accurate cutting. If your pieces are out even 1/16 th, it does add up over several pieces and before you know it, your seam is out 1/4 inch. It helps to pin your intersections and if you need to ease in extra fullness, put the bigger square next to the feed dogs when sewing the pieces together. The feed dogs will use up a little extra fabric. Some people like to match up the seams and put a tiny drop of Elmer's washable school glue to hold the pieces together. Use a dry iron to temporarily fuse the pieces together with the glue.
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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.
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Sewing machines differ in how accurately they sew two layers together. Mine is pretty good, but I have also sewn on machines that definitely feed the bottom layer faster. With this type of machine, holding your top strip higher helps. Otherwise, using a walking foot helps.
When I want really accurate matching of seams, I glue baste with Elmer's washable school glue before sewing. Works better than pins for me. |
Are you pinning each intersection? Where seams from the charms meet?
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Practice,practice and practice some more!!!:thumbup:
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After ten+ years of quilting and over 50 of sewing, my seams still would not march perfectly without pinning. At first, I thought that "when I got good" they would just fit like a glove. But even a thread or too off will keep that from happening. Don't feel as if pinning is some admission of failure.
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My latest trick is a drop of Elmer's school glue at the intersections. I tried this with my 9 year old granddaughter and she had matching seams, because of the miracle of the school glue. Of course if the pieces are way off, this won't work, but, I cut the squares so they were pretty close.
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