Can I stretch it square?

Yes. You're exactly on the right track. I've never done it but saw Alex Anderson demonstrate it on Simply Quilts and that's what she did. Go for it. We are eager to see your watercolor. Betting it's a beauty, Polly

Jerry - that's called "blocking" and it's what knitters do to the individual pieces of a jumper before it is sewn together, and somethimes do again after assembly (depending on the pattern). I often do it to blocks and to finished quilts. I don't have the patience (or eyesight) to be precise any more so I don't unpick/resew anything that can be fixed with steam! lol

BTW - spray starch can help too!

Just be careful not to put too much pressure on the outside seams. If your watercolour is lots of small squares you might want to think about stay stitching in the seam allowance all the way around the outside. I do this to all my quilts. It stops the outside seams from unravelling before the quilt is bound.

Quilting should hold the finished quilt square as long as it is not horribly distorted to begin with (and having seen the precision in some of your work I can't imagine that it is anywhere near "horribly distorted")

Thanks for the replies.

When you steam and stretch, how do you hold the project square until it dries?

Stay stitch sounds like a good idea. Do you do the stay stitch before or after the squaring up?

Jerry in North Alabama

Can you pin it to something? I usually only do this with blocks, and my ironing board is wide, so I pin the block to the ironing board, spray with water and press. Then leave it in place until dry.

Hanne in London

If it's not off very much, gentle stretching as you press with a steam iron might do the trick. Stretch, press, let it cool, then measure to check for squareness. Or if you have a design wall, pin it in place and mist with a little water.

Blocking the quilt will help with the borders, but again if it isn't off by very much, you can use the borders to square it up. Measure through the center in both directions and use that measurement to cut your border strips. Mark half and quarter measurements on the borders and pin to the top, easing as you sew.

Don't skimp on the quilting, because all the stretching and blocking will vanish when it's washed. Plenty of quilting will keep the top properly distributed! Roberta in D "MaleQuilter" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@q66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

If you can leave it overnight, Jerry, I suggest you pin it to the carpet

• underlay (if you have any in any of your rooms). The pins should just go straight down into the pile and beyond. If I were you I would somehow mark a true square so that the inner dimensions of the tape (perhaps tape of some sort on the carpet?) are the size the quilt should be. Then you will have a true square to gently pull the quilt towards. Then pin firmly, mist/damp again, and leave it. Should be OK in the morning. . In message , MaleQuilter writes

I learned for small projects/blocks to use a permanent marker on some cheap muslin or other plain fabric and draw a square the exact size I need. So say, for you a 30" square. Lay it on a pressing surface (or carpet or whatever you have large enough) and then place your piece on top. Pin your piece to the lines - center of opposite sides first, then corners then fill in the gaps. Pin, pin, pin into the ironing board cover so everything stays flat and square. Then spray the block with sizing (in a spray can available in the store where the starch is) and gently press it into shape. Leave it there until it is dried and cooled.

After unpinning it should stay in its nicely flat and pressed shape.

marcella