kittycats

Starch, starch and more starch :lol:

Holice

not necessary if you carefully stack them, pin if necessary and sew SLOW. and watch the beginning and ends of the stitching line.

cmw0829

I took a rotary cutting class where the instructor talked about triangles. She was pointing out that - depending on where in a block the triangles are placed - you should avoid cutting one of the edges on the bias.

Kinda went over my head, but it seems that the stay stitching is trying to achieve what she told us to do without having to be overly concerned about the cutting of the pieces.

dorrell ann

I don"t think so - just be really careful not to stretch edges.

Tweety2911

No :-)

MadQuilter

Never have. Not much on the starching either, but I am careful with the bias edges. When possible, I use the HST method that starts from an oversized square and I cut mine down. No worries about stretching then.

Friendly Quilter

I have never done it or heard of it.

lollygagging

Is "Best Press" a substitute to starching and where do you get it?

bonniebusybee

I certainly agree with Prism99, that stay stitching can distort as much as your final seam. Any stitching on the bias edge needs to be done very carefully. Lay one piece on top of the other without stretching .... rather than starting at one end and pinning to the other end.

I'm just finishing blocks for a quilt today with lots of squares made up of 4 half-square triangles each. To avoid that catastrophic stretch on that final bias seam, I start in the center of the block, turning the finished seams in opposite directions. Stitch from center to edge; then go back to center and stitch to the opposite edge. That way, if I do get a little stretching, at least all the triangles meet at one point and the stretching is equalized on both halves.

Good luck! :)

Jackie D

You can get Best Press at most QS.