Sunnye

I've never found a panel that's not crooked. Good luck!

susiequilt

You might consider doing them like the happy scrappy houses and deliberately make them wonky like the houses.

http://quiltville.com/happyscrappyhouses.shtml

Val in IN

I had the very same problem with the Boy Scout quilt I made for my grandson (see the picture section of the board). The only thing that I could do is sash them. Yep, they were still off but the sashing helped make it not so noticable. My first and last project using cut-apart pre-printed panels.

sewmany

Starching is supposed to help but I have knowdest that when you do starch and iron the fabric does seem to shift more due to the moisture. You might want to watch how you iron (more of a pressing movement of up and down. and not a back and forth glide).

Holice

block them as you would a sweater. Wet the blocks and pin onto a square, stretching to make them square. This is the only way I know to square up the fabric that has been printed crooked. Let dry and if still not squared you might want to discard. Or cut the printed border off and add another. There is less notice if the printed border is cut off.

ArtsyOne

I would set them deliberately off-kilter in the corners of your design and have a straight center block achieved by sashing it. I love your fabric - good luck!

donnalynett

Me either and it is sure frustrating. I make a lot of Hospice lap quilts from them and just do my best to make it look good.

jcrow

Yes, I would cut the whole border off, too, and make a new border. That would work.

mom-6

In my HS home ec class eons ago, when we started with a piece of fabric that was off kilter, we stretched it both ways on the opposing corners until it was straight. It should not hurt it to do that unless the printing is all on top of the fabric and might crack (I've encountered some like this - more of a decal than printing). Most panels are printed in such a way that the color penetrates the fabric about half way rather than just sitting on top of the fabric.

AnitaSt

I had the same problem with a large patriotic design panel....I cut off some sections and tried everything everyone has suggested, but still ended up doing what Val in IN suggests. I used sashing that subtly creates a "squared" look. When the quilt is hanging on the design wall, it definitely still looks a little off. But once it's a quilt in someone's lap, who will notice?

BTW, what I had the most success with was pinning the wet panel to a board that my mother used to use to square her needlepoint. It was sort of like an extra-thick fiber board. Got it as square as I could then sprayed starch on it and worked it in thoroughly. Took a couple of days to dry in our humid climate, but it definitely helped more than anything else.