Help with 1/4 inch seam.
 

Help. I am working with a very enthusiastic new quilter. No matter how many ways I've tried to explain any ideas on encouraging her to make a good 1/4 inch seam.
First puts edges together pins , has a 1/4 foot, used beginners and Enders, drawn lines.
By time she has machines, corner chewed, edges not together, no 1/4 seam in some places holding together by threads. Sewn on the line ah.
She is so happy and she can see these mistakes .
Similiar problem. Cut 8, 6" by 2 stripes. The other 9 did it right. .

I am just trying to find some new ideas to help her .

don't put so much stress on it that you take the 'joy of creating' out of the sewing. some people really are not so - detail oriented - and techniques, workmanship will improve over time- if she is happy as a lark with her project/accomplishment its ok- most of us can look back to those first quilts and see how much we have improved over the years. I have a good friend who has been quilting *creates wonderful creative quilts* - every now & then she brings me one to quilt for her- she still has 1/2" seams in spots, & barely catching seams in spots, she just doesn't worry about the technical/precision part of quilting- and she is happy. when she mentioned that she kind of felt *in a rut* always making the same style/type of quilt so fast & being bored with them I 'kindly' mentioned maybe it was time to slow down, and concentrate on improving her techniques/ workmanship- maybe choosing something new that would be a challenge & help her to slow down...her last quilt was the best in years. :) sometimes it's just ok to let the creative juices flow & not stress over the *other stuff* if your 'girl' sticks with it & enjoys it she will improve- if encouraged 'gently'.

I agree with ck. As a new quilter I was thrilled to be able to actually use a machine, never mind actually being able to thread it, lol! Despite having a 1/4" guide with a fence, I still managed to veer off at the end of seams.
I would stick with patterns that would be a quite 'forgiving' until she calms down. After my technique improved I then became a too critical of myself!
Four years on and lots of classes later, I'm now settled and comfortable.
I know, like me, you've retired from education. Resist the urge to make her 'do her best' and think of her as in need of learning support ;)

My only suggestion would be to get a Buggy Barn pattern for her to create. They are forgiving in that basically all you have to be able to do is sew a straight seam. The sizes of the seams aren't as important. If you sew some seams which are more than a quarter inch, then your blocks will all just be smaller but still ok. The patterns are for wonky things like stars, hearts, and baskets. They're wonky, but still very pretty, and totally fun to make. The fabrics are stacked up and then the pattern is rotary cut through the entire stack of fabrics (so there are no seam allowances on the pieces---thus the wonky end result). Then the stacked pieces are shuffled to make each layer into a block ready to sew. After the block is sewn the sides are not straight (since there were no seam allowances in the first place), and the blocks are just trimmed all to the same size. So easy!

I agree with the other posters in that you don't want to squash her exuberance! I'm teaching a friend and was having the same issues. It's been a bit over a year working with her and we are much closer to a consistent seam. I would just have her examine her work for places that almost didn't catch. Try to pull the seam apart along it's entire length to make sure it won't come apart & just have her fix those areas. At this point you just don't want her masterpiece to come apart in the wash. I would steer her toward easy patterns with larger blocks. Have fun!

Is she sewing too fast on longer straight seams? That's when my seams can get a little wonky. She just may need to experience the annoyance of having to go back after washing and fixing all the problem areas. Experience is the best teacher.

I tried to get a 30 yr. old granddaughter to sew. It made her very nervous and hot.LOL. So I said just sit here and sew these 3x42 strips together many times to see what the machine does and how pretty the stitches are. And I left. Pretty soon here she came. Oh, I'm gonna make my girls new dresses. Just so excited. I gave her a sewing machine to use. That did it. I told her if you mess up, just start over. It's okay. Just keep going. Later here she came again. She had sewn right down the MIDDLE of the strip.LOL It takes a long while to impress on the seam allowance I think.

I am laughing because you must be talking about ME, the me who was an exuberant newbie many years ago. I had more fun picking the fabric and sewing seams together. "Quarter inch, shmorter inch, precision is for anal people!" That was how I thought.

It's a personality thing, truly at first, and then one learns that precision in each step--hard as it for some personalities to deal with because it feels like science instead of art, work instead of fun--actually makes the final project a joy instead of feeling like a waste of time when things don't come together as envisioned.

In fact, I am only on my 4th quilt ever, and the first with a teacher. We are doing a sampler wall hanging by Alex Andersen which I think has too many of a certain boring (to me) blocks--the rail fence. It also called for 4 flying geese blocks which I was having a devil of a time with after umpteen wastes of time and fabric.

In my heart I wanted the quilt to have a pinwheel because the darn thing is a story quilt about my childhood in Kansas where windmills dot the landscape. And I love, love,love pinwheels. So instead of 1 of the RF and 1 of the FG blocks I made 2 PW blocks. Teacher was looking at my work and said "These pinwheels are good even though they're the wrong block."

I defended myself. "They're not wrong, they're my choice." And I explained my choice. It just bothered me that she would call it a "wrong" block instead of asking me why I chose a harder block/block not in the pattern" when she had kept saying, "It is YOUR quilt YOU get to decide what goes in it."

And, BTW, I am an art teacher so I understand that need for personal freedom and the students who don't really care about the techniques as much as the fun of creating. Give her time. Her mistakes will force her to get that 1/4" seam
right. She may "zone out" when zipping along with her machine, like I do. My teacher found spots where the seams were about to come apart and she said, "I would fix them now while you can. Ten years from now it would be a lot harder." When I heard that, it compelled me to redo. (Plus she kindly offered to rip out seams for me!)

Find any patterns that are available put there that doesn't require accuracy. If she enjoys it and sticks to simple quilts, she will be fine. Have you tried the post a note or blue painters tape stack next to guide her in a little bit more accuracy in sewing the 1/4" seam??