katie1

I'm making my first bed-sized quilt - a king. the design is a square in a square - The inside square is made of 3 approximately 21/2"x 10" rectangles set on point, the 4 corners of the block are half square triangles. It finishes to a 10 inch block. It's not a very forgiving pattern because there's only the 1/4" between the tip of the on point inner square and the side of the block which of course is the seam allowance. Any more taken up and I lose the tip of my on point square. I wish I had made the 4 half square triangles which are in the 4 cornes of the block a bit bigger so I would have something there to be able to square my blocks, but I can't because if I cut even a sliver off, it comes out of the 1/4" seam allowance making for a really skinny weak seam or I lose the tip of the points. I've sewn the squares in a 9x9 arrangement. The border is basically another pieced block - three 3" x 10 1/2" rectangles (the math may not be quite right here, but I'm writing from memory). I basically then end up with a 10 block by 10 block quilt. I've joined all 81 blocks together and the sides and top and bottom aren't 100% even. If I cut anything off now to even anything, I'm still going to lose my 1/4" seam allowance and the inner block on point will lose its tip pointing to the outside. Is the best thing to do now is to sew on the blocks for the border one side at a time going around the quilt? And then straighten the sides by lopping off however much I need to by taking it out of the border "block" which consists of the 3 rectangles sewn together? I don't need to cut more than 1/8" to 1/2" in order to make the sides/top/bottom completely straight and square. Its too much to ease in. I don't think it would be that noticeable since each border 'block' is 10" and the 3 rectangles making these border blocks just run parallel to the quilt sides. Does this make the most sense? Since it's such a huge quilt and my first bed sized quilt, I don't feel too bad having 1/2 inch hanging out here and there. At least I was able to sew the whole thing together. Any suggestions welcome. Picture below from a book that shows the type of on point square in a square that I'm talking about, not the actual quilt that I'm making. (If I can get it attached that is.)

jljack

I couldn't open your picture, but from your description I would suggest that you put the borders on and then trim them as little as possible to make the quilt as near square as you can get it without major cutting.

It is so very important that you sew exactly 1/4" seams on every seam. That is the only way you can be sure that everything is going to come out square, and you won't lose your points. If you are a little off, you can fudge a bit on the seam so you don't lose your points, but I don't recommend doing that throughout the block, because it will cause the whole thing to be off.

Good luck, and I hope you post a picture without the "save source" or whatever that option is when you attach the photo. I would like to see the block!! :-)

gal288

Can't open pics,, repost them

dkabasketlady

I couldn't open the pics either!!

Cyn

ditto

katie1

I can't get the picture to upload. The basic block is a 10 inch square with a pieced 7" square inside, tilted 45 degrees so the points of the inside square are pointed north, south, east,and west. That 7" square is made of three 2 3/8" rectangles. The 4 corners of the 10" square are 4 half square triangles joined to the rectangle/square/diamond on point unit. the tips of the on point inner square (the north, south, east, and west directions) which is now a square diamond shape, are only 1/4" from the side of the block, so when the blocks are joined with the 1/4" seam, Each pointy tip of the square on point touches the tip of the adjoining 4 squares up down left right, theoretically perfectly. There is no wiggle room to true up the blocks because it would come out of the 1/4" seam allowance. i've gotten all of the blocks sewn together, but the quilt's sides and top and bottom are a little wavery, not by much but some. Again, if I true it up at this point, I'd be cutting off part of the 1/4" seam allowance and sewing part of the tips of the inner square off into the seam allowance later when it's joined to the pieced border. I think I'm going to draw a line down the sides and top and bottom where the sewing line should be and use that as my guide, and ignore whether a row is a bit too long. If it's too short, don't know what I'll do except maybe slightly skimp on the 1/4" seam or just pull the border over a bit and leave the final squaring off until after the quilt is quilted. I assume that having it quilted will create a big a of waviness in the sides anyway and it'll have to be squared before I bind it. Does this seem reasonable?