DogHouseMom

That's what I was thinking ... the HST's were off before you even sewed them together. If you make your HST's larger then trim them down ... make sure that the diagonal line on your ruler is over the diagonal line of the HST. If you put the diagonal on the opposite corners you get wonky HST's and lose your points.

leatheflea

I've been quilting for years and sometimes this still happens to me. I've no advice that hasn't already been given. Good luck! Sending good quilty vibrations your way, can't hurt? right? Oh love the fabric in your blocks!

Maureen NJ

The first one looks like you don't have a 1/4" seam. Test your size as others have suggested. Also, I find pressing is most important. When you have many seams coming together as in a star, after you have joined the seams, clip out the threads within the seam allowance so you can get it to lie flat. Check out Eleanor Burns on youtube.

The 2nd looks good to me.

tallchick

Thank you everyone for all the tips!!! I love this place off to practice practice practice.........

AliKat

A lot of good info here.

My questions are do you Best Press or spray starch before cutting your material and what method do you use to make your HST's?

When I treat my material before cutting I get much better sewing results. Also, some HST methods don't work as well for me as others. Personal preference there.

jitkaau

You can cover up those little mistakes by becoming a 'pointless person' as Kaye Wood would put it. Don't agonise. Just put a frame around the mistakes until you improve. Sew straight pieces of fabric across the block so that no points have to meet. You could cover up the odd mistake with appliue shapes or fancy braid.

flybreit

And I make it a goal to have my needle hit 'one or two threads' to the right of the X - that gives me 'turning room' so when I press the block, the very tippy tip of the point is showing. You'll get there, and your attention to detail will set your quilts apart from others :-)

citruscountyquilter

I am obsessive about points and seams matching. I cut slack on this for everyone but myself. I found that if I stick a pin through, starting on the wrong side of the fabric, where my point will match and then put the other piece of fabric on top (right sides facing) letting the pin come through and mark that spot with a pencil. I pin the layers together on both sides of my marking pin and then take the marking pin out so it doesn't get in the way of sewing. The pencil mark gives me a reference point to stitch and the pins on either side hold it in place. You will not always have a true 1/4 seam at the point doing it this way but in the big picture of things what are you going to notice more, a point that doesn't match or a seam that is a hair under or over 1/4 and the point matches? Where two seams come together I try to nestle my seams by pressing the seams of the two pieces in opposite directions. If it's possible I sew so that the raw edge of the pressed seam is stitched first and this nudged the two seams together a little. If not then I pin more thoroughly to make sure the seams stays nestled. If I have multiple seams coming together like in the center of a star etc. then I press my seams open to reduce bulk and use the pin and pencil method I discussed above. It is rare that I don't have seams and points matching perfectly the first time using these methods.

maviskw

Some very good ideas here.
Press after each 'sew'.
Trim the HST's with the diagonal line on the ruler on the diagonal line of the HST.
Nest those seams when you sew one HST to another.
After pressing, nest the middle seams and put a pin here.
Start sewing at one end for a few stitches. Then lift up the top piece and see if the two are really nested the other way. There is a little wiggle room here. The top one can be moved to the right or left a smidgeon to get it right. You can see those peaks under there, and they need to be at the same level.

sew4nin

I use a dot of Elmers right at the place where I want the seams to nestle. I set it with an iron to keep it from slipping while I sew it together.