This is a great discussion for me as I was just thinking about this two days ago as I was trimming a couple hundred HST's. The construction method, in my opinion left zero tolerance for variance in seams or cutting. It was 8 at a time HST's from an 8 3/4” block. I ended up having to pick out and re seam several that I could not quite get a 4” HST from and it involved moving my seam over Maybe 2x the thread width. Some came out pretty darn close and some I only had to trim a hair or small wedge on two sides of the HST. In hindsight, I think I’d rather cut the starting square even an 1/8” larger. I’d rather trim than fiddle with trying to take a slightly smaller seam allowance. I take so much time to cut and sew accurately, I feel I don’t get a fraction done that others seem to be able to whip up in no time. I have learned however, as other people have commented, it’s easier to get the quilt together if the units and blocks are put together as accurately as possible. I hate dealing with excess areas in a quilt I’m quilting and It annoys me if I cut off points or mismatch points or seams in the construction of my quilt. So that is kind of my “yard stick” for my level of accuracy. If I think I can get away with a little fudge factor, I roll with it, but I continue to strive for perfection, that will likely remain elusive! I do not strive to be a show quilter, so it’s all good
