LAF2019

First off, I need to make it known that I am not afraid of Y seams or partial seams. now, that doesn't mean I'm great at it, but i don't necessarily avoid them.
That being said, is there such a thing as a W seam??
I am making a quilt with "W" edges (or even more mountains a valleys). is it possible to sew those into a matching "M" background fabric? the fabric I am using for my "W" piece (picture a diamond with the top corner jaggedly chopped off) has a pattern/style to it that will lose its effect if I have to cut multiple little diamonds and piece each individually with the background. I want to use just one piece of the fabric.
I know most will say i should applique instead of piece it, and I may end up having to do that, , the question still stands.... I can piece deep curves together, can I piece sharp points???
Thanks!

Tartan

With Y seams, if you mark the 1/4 inch seam corners and stop exactly at the mark and then sew the next seam, you can get a nice Y seam. I would think you could do the same with a W . Good luck

quiltingshorttimer

easiest way to do that would be to paper piece it. I've never designed my own paper piecing patterns, but know that some do.

bearisgray

Try piecing that design by hand. If that works, then - perhaps - you could figure out a way that those pieces could be machine pieced.

dunster

I agree with Tartan. You could theoretically piece a whole quilt using zigzag strips. It wouldn't be easy, but the result would be astonishing.

Iceblossom

In the old days many quilters did resolve this by basically applique combined with folding. That is, you start with a long strip and then you cut down to your seam line at the bottom of each Vs and fold the sides to make the triangle points. The weak point is there at the bottom and fairly easy to reinforce with hand stitching or I used to group with one lady that did the most fantastic machine applique with tiny nylon thread and invisible to me stitches.

My last project was just a small simple baby quilt but I chose to do LeMoyne stars and set in both the square corners and the triangle sides because I felt I could use some practice with those Y-seams. And I did! But I'll go back to avoiding them for awhile again.

I also do origami as a hobby and so do a lot of folding... How big are these points? I wouldn't want to do tiny but I can almost visualize the movements to do what you want. Think of how mitered corners work but that you'd be working from the underside with the outside flipped out instead going around the corner. I know, that is more obscure than a lot of my comments and partly because I don't quite have it yet, but I think it would be doable with say a 3" triangle for the length of a border might stress me but would be doable. Once you had it down, it would probably be worth posting a youtube video on how to do!

juliasb

I too agree with tartan. There is no reason that you couldn't do this I would start with making a sample piece and setting in the pieces to the sample alternating pieces just to see if everything fits correctly.

Barb in Louisiana

Is this picture what you are trying to accomplish? https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FTuaiT4-B...0/IMG_0849.JPG
If yes, you can cut your pieces with this ruler, turning it back and forth to cut each piece. https://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponli...t-in-a-Day/708 It will only work if your fabrics go out to the edge. Won't work if the inner or outer points are floating

LAF2019

I have spent all morning testing out the modified Y technique, like Tartan recommended. it shows potential, but I am still getting those ugly pleats at the top corners. more testing is needed.... how do I avoid those? are my seam allowances too wide or too narrow that leads to that pleat?

Barb - my points will be floating. the picture below is my test piece, but imagine the purple extends much larger and the beige is the background that would encompass the purple on all sides.

EasyPeezy

If it was me I would try to make it with a triangle ruler similar to what
Barb posted but cut the cream pieces bigger to make the points float.