Star centers
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Colden, NY
Posts: 348
Star centers
I need some help. I want to make a pp star block but there are 10 units coming together in the center. How can I piece it so I don't end up with bulk in the middle causing a big bump? I've tried a few times but I can never get the center to lie nice & flat. Thank you all.
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 41,538
In a case like that, I press all my seams open rather than to one side. With that many seams coming together I can see you having trouble and even pressing open may not help much. That sounds like a difficult pattern to lay flat with regular piecing and I think even harder because it's PP. Good luck and maybe someone will have a better solution for you.
#3
first ... consider trimming the seams to 1/8" and even "layering" so that the fabric on bottom (after it's ironed to one side) is trimmed closer than the fabric that lays on the top. This will allow the top fabric to layer over the bottom and lay flatter.
Do they come together in a point, like a Lone Star? If so, I iron all my seams in the same direction so when they meet in the center - they "fan out" and around in a spiral. There is some bulk - no avoiding that, but it's lessened.
Do they come together in a point, like a Lone Star? If so, I iron all my seams in the same direction so when they meet in the center - they "fan out" and around in a spiral. There is some bulk - no avoiding that, but it's lessened.
#4
I need some help. I want to make a pp star block but there are 10 units coming together in the center. How can I piece it so I don't end up with bulk in the middle causing a big bump? I've tried a few times but I can never get the center to lie nice & flat. Thank you all.
#5
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: western Pa
Posts: 4,569
I'm pp the Farmer's Wife Pony Club Quilt. I've found when I have all those points coming together, it's easier if I remove the paper just in the seam allowances. I've still got all the other paper on and can use that as reference points. I don't pin; I use those small red binding clamps (pins seem to distort the seam) to hold it together. I also press all my seams open and have trimmed some down to 1/8". Are they perfect? Nah--but this seems to help them lay flatter and meet at the center. Good luck!
#6
I'm with GrannieAnnie, except I use a regular hammer and sometimes spraying with starch, pounding while wet then pressing firmly helps. I do longarm quilting and know that those huge lumps can deflect the needle and mess up the quilting. I've even pounded some of my customers' quilts into submission before quilting them!!!
#8
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Northern California mountains
Posts: 12,538
Sometimes I take the coward's way and cut out the center, covering it with a yoyo. Otherwise, I trim, starch, press, etc. I generally use a wallpaper hangers seam roller as I go along to ,hand press befoe I get to the final seams.
#9
Have a look at this free pattern Florigia
http://www.anthologyfabrics.com/pages.php?pageid=6
If you scroll down to the contruction of the star, they have an interesting method of reducing the bulk. Not sure if it would work in your case but worth having a look at.
I'm hopeless at trying to explain things, I would just confuse you all LOL
http://www.anthologyfabrics.com/pages.php?pageid=6
If you scroll down to the contruction of the star, they have an interesting method of reducing the bulk. Not sure if it would work in your case but worth having a look at.
I'm hopeless at trying to explain things, I would just confuse you all LOL
#10
I'm with GrannieAnnie, except I use a regular hammer and sometimes spraying with starch, pounding while wet then pressing firmly helps. I do longarm quilting and know that those huge lumps can deflect the needle and mess up the quilting. I've even pounded some of my customers' quilts into submission before quilting them!!!
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