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A Successful Quilt Starts with These Tips!

You are piecing your quilt blocks and, eventually, your quilt together and things aren’t going smoothly. Seams don’t match… blocks are different sizes, etc. You feel like tossing the whole project into the UFO bin. What went wrong? The tips I will share in this week’s post will guide you through steps you can take to not end up with another lost project. Let’s get started on important steps I think you should not to skip if you want to end up with a quilt you can use and be proud to show off or give away as a gift!

Cutting the Fabric

All successful quilts start with cutting your fabric. Yes… it’s starts that early! Do not rush through cutting fabric even though you are anxious to head to the sewing machine. I recommend cutting the entire project out at one time to ensure you have the right amount of fabric. Once you are done cutting, organize the cut pieces in the order you will be using them. This is a second chance to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

Tip #1: The most important tip: use the same brand of ruler when cutting out the pieces for your quilt. I use Creative Grid rulers. 

These rulers have really clear markings in both directions so no matter which side of the ruler you are using, you can find the measurement you want. They also have a slip resistant back. If you use rulers of different brands, the slight differences in markings may cause cutting errors on your part.

Tip #2: If you have to cut a lot of strips the same width, I recommend using painter’s tape to mark the width on your ruler for a guide. That way if you are cutting a lot of 2 1/2″ strips, you won’t accidentally cut one too wide or too narrow, which would waste fabric.

See how the line of tape will make it hard for you to miss the mark? I like doing this when I am cutting a lot of strips mainly because fabric is so expensive and I don’t want to make a mistake!

Tip #3: Hold your ruler firmly and hold your rotary cutter correctly. A shifting ruler can send your rotary cutter “off course” and cause an inaccurate cut. Even pressure from your hand holding the ruler keeps it from shifting.

Tenting your hand (left photo) keeps the pressure going downward and holds the ruler in place. A flat hand, like on the right, can push the ruler off the mark. Also, hold your rotary cutter correctly:

The way the cutter is positioned in the photo on the right can cause it to push against the ruler sending it off course.

Piecing Your Units & Blocks

When you are done cutting everything out, it’s time to start piecing. You can’t start this without making sure your machine sews an accurate 1/4″ seam.

Tip #1: Use a 1/4″ foot made for your machine. If it didn’t come with one, I recommend buying one. This is not a wasted expense. Even with a 1/4″ foot, be sure to sew a test seam with scrap fabric and measure it before you begin your project. Things like needle position or thread weight can effect a seam width.

Tip #2: Pin! Even the smallest pieces that are to be joined should be pinned. 

I’ve been tempted to skip pinning when it’s a very short seam if I am in a hurry, but this leads you into a habit of not pinning at all. Not using pins can lead to fabric edges and seams shifting out of alignment while stitching. Then it’s time to pull out the seam ripper, something we all want to avoid!

Tip #3: Measure units as you go so you won’t be frustrated when you are piecing the final block together. For example, if you are piecing a star block that is made up of squares and flying geese units, measure the geese units as you go to make sure they are the size they need to be for the block.

By measuring all the geese units before piecing them into the star block, you will save yourself a headache later on because all of the block pieces will fit together smoothly.

Pressing Units and Blocks

Finally, pressing plays a big role in easy piecing. If a seam is not pressed flat, whether you press seams open or to the side, it can effect the accuracy in piecing that unit or blocks to one another. I like to press my seams open, I find it gives me more accurate measurements. Either way you choose to press your seams, make sure no fabric is bunched up anywhere and the seam lays flat on both sides of your piece.

The seam on the left was not pressed so it lays flat on the bottom and the top. You can see the red strip is creased a bit over the seam. The photo on the right shows the seam pressed correctly. That red strip is now flat with no fabric creased. Now this block will measure correctly.

Tip# 1: The most important thing I can stress is … to PRESS, do not iron. Ironing back and forth over a seam can distort it and stretch your unit or block out of shape, especially if it contains bias seams. Here’s a mini video I did on this subject:

Tip #2: Consider using a wool pressing mat to help with crisp pressing. The heat from your iron penetrates these 100% wool mats. Because of that, it works to press your unit on both sides at the same time! No flipping of your piece is needed.  It also helps to reduce stretching or distorting of seams because of the cushioning provided by the mat.

So that’s it for this week! I hope these tips guide you to smooth piecing of your blocks and quilts. And helps you have fewer UFOs!

Happy quilting!
Deanne

Quilting Tips & Mini Videos

Hi everyone! This is my vacation week blog post. I’m going to review some quilting tips that I have shared in the past and have made into mini video tutorials. I get asked questions about these things I’m covering here the most. That’s why I made a lot of these tutorials to begin with. Since I’m heading out for a few days, I thought this would be a good time for a refresher. Enjoy!

Pressing v. Ironing

We all know how to iron clothes. You run the iron back and forth across the item to remove wrinkles, sometimes using steam. Well, when it comes to quilt blocks and pieced quilts, we need to press not iron. The difference is not moving the iron back and forth across your seams (whether you press open or not). Ironing can distort your seam and end up distorting your unit or block(s). Here’s my mini tutorial:

A cool trick I was shown by a student who was a Home Ec. teacher is to to press a piece of wood down on the seams after pressing. It holds in the heat and creates flatter seams.

Looking at my ironing board pad in photos shows me I need a newer, cleaner one… yikes!

Stitch & Flip (or Folded Corners)

This technique is used to create angles in block designs, like the snowball block. It’s important to do this accurately because picking out a bias seam can distort the pieces you are working with since the bias of the fabric is not as stable as the crosswise and lengthwise grains.

The key to making these units successfully is careful stitching and measuring as you go. Here’s a unit I was working on recently.

Once you stitch the unit on the diagonal, flip the corner open and see if it matches up with the corner of the larger square.

Once you visually see that it matches up, measure the whole unit.

For this unit, it was a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2″ square made of strips to start. After I stitched the smaller square and flipped it open, it still measures 4 1/2″. That means my stitch and flip was a success and I can now cut off the excess fabric in the seam allowance. Here’s my mini tutorial on this:

 

Crisp Points and Matching Points

A few of the problems encountered by quilters when piecing blocks and quilt tops are getting crisp points, aligning seams and matching points. All of these can be solved by carefully pinning units together and also using an accurate 1/4″ seam when stitching.

How do you avoid cutting off points? Here’s a few handy steps:

Tip#1: If you are joining a unit with a point to another piece without a point, my first tip is to keep the unit with the point on top when you pin them together. This way you can see the point as you are stitching the units.

Tip#2: Keep your eye on the point as you are stitching. I am using a pin as a pointer in the photos below to identify where the point is as I stitch. You want the seam that you are stitching to pass right above the point.

The photos below show how the seam looks on the back and how your point looks on the front once you press the unit open:

Now that you know how to achieve crisp points, what happens when you join two units or blocks together that have points you need to match up? Here’s a few tips before you watch my mini video tutorial:

Tip#1: When pinning the units together, you want to start by lining up the points of each unit and pinning there. Once you are confident the points are matched, you can pin the rest of the unit. 

Tip#2: Like in the tip above on crisp points, keep the seam above the point as you are stitching. Since you took such care in aligning the points, the seam should be above the point on the back unit too.

Below is my video on matching points. You’ll notice that aligning your block seams also helps in matching your points when joining blocks.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll see you next week with more fun tips that are hopefully useful to you! If you have any questions, ask away!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne