Piecing Tips – Achieving Sharp Points and Aligned Points & Seams

We all can be perfectionists at times and want points in our blocks to be sharp and have those points align perfectly. Well that doesn’t happen without a little practice. This week I will share some of my tips on achieving sharp points and aligning them. These are simple steps that are easy to do. But… go easy on yourself if you have the occasional point that is cut off a bit. Once an entire quilt is pieced and quilted, I guarantee that you’ll be the only one aware of it. Let’s get started on my tips.

Sharp and Crisp Points

 When joining pieces like HSTs or flying geese into a block, the goal is to keep those points from disappearing into the seam allowance. Here is an example of what can happen to your points:

Where my finger is pointing above, you can see that point is cut off unlike the one next to it. It’s frustrating when it happens. Like I said above,  a few cut-off points in a large quilt may not be noticeable to anyone but you. But if it’s a smaller quilt, like a wall hanging or table runner, it may be easier to notice. So, here’s some tips to practice getting sharp, crisp points.

Tip #1: When you are joining a unit with points to a plain unit (like a flying geese unit to a  rectangle) stitch with them together with the unit with the points on top. This way you can watch your stitching as you go to make the seam doesn’t cut off that point. Pinning is key also. That keeps the pieces from shifting when you are stitching.

Tip #2: Measuring the seams as you go when you are piecing flying geese to make sure the top of the point is at least 1/4″ from the edge of the unit will save you from having cut off points. If the point is less than 1/4″ from the edge of the unit, your point is definitely going to be cut off.

Tip #3: As you are stitching the piece with the point to another unit, watch the point to make sure the stitching line passes just above the point. This guarantees the point will not be cut off when you press open the unit. See the photos below and where my pointer is:

In the photos below, you will see how the finished seam passes just above the point and how the point is not cut off when the unit is flipped over and pressed open (photo on right):

Aligning Points

Now, what happens when you have to join two units that both have points and you need them to align to create the design you want? Here are my tips on how to match up these units so the points align.

Tip #1: When pinning the units together, you want to start by lining up the points of each unit and placing your first pin there. Here are my steps (photos below illustrate): I lay the units right sides together and then pull the top unit down to get the point lined up with the point of the unit below. I slowly inch the top piece back, eyeing the points the whole time to make sure they stay lined up. Then start by pinning at that point before pinning the rest of the unit.

Then you simply follow the stitching tips from above to keep your seam line just above the point. When the unit is pressed open, the points line up and are not cut off. The first two photos below show the seam passing over the point on both sides.

Aligning Seams

Aligning seams is important to create a design in a block and a quilt. If too many of your seams are not lining up, it will effect the impact of your design.

The steps to aligning seams are similar to aligning points except when you are piecing together two blocks or an entire quilt, you may have a lot of seams to line up accurately to keep your design flowing. For example, when joining these two Jacob’s Ladder blocks (below), I have squares and the diagonal lines of the half-square triangle blocks to match up.

Start by lining up the center of the blocks, like you did when aligning the points above.

Pin the center so those seams don’t shift away from each other while you are pinning the rest of the blocks together. Once that seam is stitched and the blocks pressed open, see how everything lines up in the photo below (where my finger is pointing)

The corners of the squares and the diagonal seams of the HSTs of each of the blocks match up, all because you carefully lined up the center seam. Perform these seam alignment steps for as many seams as there are in the blocks you are joining. A challenging design could have many seams and points to align at the same time, so it’s a good idea to practice this skill.

One of the main tips I want you to take away from this piecing post is this: use pinning to assist you in achieving the sharp points, aligned points and aligned seams. All the matching and maneuvering  you do will be wasted if you do not pin things in place before stitching. Secondly, like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, measuring units as you go to make sure they are the correct size is also helpful in getting sharp and aligned points and seams. 

I hope this little lesson will give you more confidence when piecing your next quilt. That’s it for this week.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne