Honest to pete I do not know why I can’t sew a straight line. At first, I thought it was my ruler, but I think I've discovered the problem. I am the problem. I’ve been working on a new sample for the shop. Above is the block. I love appliqué and thought this quilt was right up my alley. However, I did not realize how much piecing was involved in the various blocks. I think I took the piecing rows apart three different times on each one of these blocks. Things still did not line up exactly, and I ended up slicing some parts off. Maybe I’m too obsessive about this, but I want everything to match exactly. Does anyone else have this problem?
This is another block. I am making the quilt in the black background, but wanted to make this block sample so people could see how it would look made up in the 30s prints. The above photograph better shows you the piecing involved in this block. Gads!
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Reminder: Knotty Girls will meet at the Attic Window Quilt Shop on Tuesday, Dec 1st. This meeting replaces the one missed last week due to the holiday. The group will meet hold their regular meeting later this month.
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Tall Grass Prairie Studio has an excellent tutorial on straight line quilting. Check it out.
4 comments:
What a fun blog you have
Hi Caroll,
I was laughing WITH you (not AT you) reading your post, as I also seem to have trouble being exact in my piecing. And triangles of any sort drive me crazy (they never fit). I must stretch as I sew (or something!)
Are those cute cute blocks going to be part of a block of the month for next year? I suppose I could look at the newsletter and find out, huh?
Vicky F
Oh gosh the more pieces I have the more the size changes!
Well I will add my "what it's worth department" comment on piecing in general.
1. You must be 100% sure your seams are a true 1/4" Some of us think it is, but it also includes the sewing thread. So (ha ha) sew a 1/4" seam, press and meausre with an accutate device and if you are off even a 1/16th or 1/32, your peiceing will not be on and it get worse as you try to add pieces. Believe me, I have found this to be true the hard way.
2. When pressing, press the piece flat on top of the sewing before you press the seams in one direction, and presss after every row, or every triangle...pressing means just that...press, don't iron back and forth. When you press the sewn stitching, it helps heat set the thread and makes a more accurate pressed seam later.
3.Use PINS! I know we all want to hold it as we go, but it is too difficult to keep the seams tight up against each other if not! It takes a lot of time, but is so worth it if you have a lot of little pieces.
4. Finally, square up each round of the block as you go, making sure it is the correct size before adding the borders, etc.
Sorry this took so long. These are what I do, hope they help you.
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