tropit

The last couple of quilts I've made have included many half-square triangles, so lots of points. They all need to match up perfectly, which is no easy task. I'm working on one now, so I'd love to hear all of your tricks for matching up corners and points, especially when you have a lot of them. Here are some of my musings:


- If seams and points don't match up the first time, redo the seams before you try again to match the points. It'll be worth it in the end.

- Pierce a pin through both points and secure to the fabrics before sewing.

- Unless otherwise stated in directions, press seam allowances in opposite directions and butt up the seams before sewing.

- Sew slowly and really make sure you are sewing an exact 1/4" seam allowance.

- Be extra careful when squaring up a block to make sure that you don't lop off fabric too close to a point by mistake.

- If you do have a point that is too close to the edge of the block, put that side of the block on the end of the row, so it gets covered up with the binding.

- Expect some "boo-boo" blocks, so be sure to make extras.

~ C

feline fanatic

My trick for matching several points coming together in the center (like LeMoyne Star, Kaliedescope blocks and even pinwheels) is when joining the units where all those points meet:
Peircing the points with a pin
Glue basting the critical point
Start sewing from the center where all those points meet, sew to the edge (unless I am doing a set in seam like in Lemoyne Star), remove the piece, ensure those critical points did indeed meet the way I expected/wanted them to, flip it and sew the other side, again starting from the center.

This is a trick I learned from Edyta Sitar's book, Scrappy Firework Quilts and it really works well. Another bonus for doing it this way is you can easily swirl that center where you have the bulk of all those seam allowances coming together.

Rhonda K

Great tips!

Another tip is to lock those two intersections together as they go through the machine. Press down on them with your fingers to keep them from slipping apart. Of course, do not stitch your fingers! That little bit of pressure prevents the seams from moving. in other words, "hold onto to the nest".

Don't square up Less Than the 1/4 inch you need for joining.

My machine has the laser light which helps with piecing. Easy to hit those intersecting seams!

Check the 1/4 inch mark on your machine to make sure it is accurate.

May all your seams be true!

Tartan

As tempting as it is to have the seam allowance going away from the foot as you sew, the seam allowance should face the foot, hold it down with a pin to sew over it and it will lock into place with the seam allowance facing away from the foot on the bottom.

JustAbitCrazy

I like to square up blocks with the Quilt In a Day Square Up Ruler. It's fast, easy and accurate. All you have to do is put the correct diagonal line for the unfinished size of your block on your diagonal seam, trim a sliver from the side and top if necessary, turn the block 180 degrees and do it again. The blocks are all exactly the correct size and the seams hit the corners exactly. The reason it's fast is that you don't have to keep hunting for the two unfinished size lines on your regular ruler and lining those up with the two edges of your block. Those lines aren't even on the ruler, only the diagonal line is on it. It squares up blocks from 1"-6.5". Love, love, love it.

JustAbitCrazy

I also highly recommend you use .4mm thick pins when piecing. I use the blue and yellow glass head pins from Clover. Most "fine' or "super thin" pins are .5 mm thick---a big difference. Watch what you buy because Clover also makes the exact same blue and yellow glass head pins in the .5 mm thickness. Those I find at JoAnn's but that's not what you want. The .4 mm thick pins are so fine they cause almost no distortion in the fabric and you can actually sew over them (slowly). They are so thin the machine needle usually just nudges the pin aside if it hits. Occasionally I will hit a pin dead-on, in which case the pin is ruined, but no harm comes to the sewing machine or it's needle. These pins can't be used with silky fabrics because they will fall out!

Jane Quilter

I heavily starch my fabric (Dip in a bowl of 3/4 starch & 1/4 water, let air dry, press, then cut pattern pieces).
I often glue baste tricky joins that must be exact.
I use a thin needle (size 11) and thin lintless thread (like aurifil 50/2).
I draw a thin line exactly corner to corner, and stitch just next to the line on the side I will flip over to make the half sq triangles.
I remain flexible whether to press seams open, to the dark side, or spin open

yolajean

I just started using Seam Align Glue that I bought from The Quilt Show site. It has made all the difference in the world for me. Good luck. We feel your pain!

tallchick

Starch, more starch, accurate seams, I press open all my seams, pin, pin and pin some more, accurate cutting and squaring up each section as I piece. If it’s one thing I have learned in quilting is I take my time, check as I go to minimize frogging, and realize that some days are better than others and to quit while I’m ahead on those days when nothing wants to go right.

feffertim

I use glue basting to get points matching perfectly