Squaring off
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Northern Indiana
Posts: 20,306
Squaring off is making the block completely square - there are special rulers for it- or you can try to use a regular ruler ( i have tried that way can be done but is hard ) what size are you making the blocks ?
#3
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 4,016
#4
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,134
More importantly, is to figure out why it isn't square to begin with....was it the cutting, sewing, pressing? Cause it's one or more of those things.
A great reference book, even though I think she's a tad anal retentive (and I mean that in a nice way), is "The Art of Machine Piecing," by Sally Collins. Even if you don't subscribe to all her methods (and I don't), it at least really explains why you're not creating perfectly square blocks
But if you've got a pieced block with many parts, and don't want to risk chopping off any points or important parts of the design, I'd suggest Sharon Schamber's helpful videos on blocking -
shrinking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aplw_tVZc
stretching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQkF02vpVuw
A great reference book, even though I think she's a tad anal retentive (and I mean that in a nice way), is "The Art of Machine Piecing," by Sally Collins. Even if you don't subscribe to all her methods (and I don't), it at least really explains why you're not creating perfectly square blocks
But if you've got a pieced block with many parts, and don't want to risk chopping off any points or important parts of the design, I'd suggest Sharon Schamber's helpful videos on blocking -
shrinking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aplw_tVZc
stretching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQkF02vpVuw
#7
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,134
Originally Posted by janb
Thanks folks, my squares are a windmill, all meet in the middle just great, but some of the sides are off as much as 1/2" - could I just square them all off to 9"?
#9
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
Hmmmm, if you are off by 1/2 an inch and try to square everything up to the smaller size you may be loosing points. Don't know what your blocks look like though. Might be ok. I would square up the worst one, then attach it with a quarter inch seam to scrap pieces of fabric on all 4 sides to make sure you are not loosing some of your design. Use a long stitch length and just unpick the stitches after the trial joining. This will let you see if it will be OK to proceed with the rest of the blocks!
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