finally sewed the blocks

Way to go J!!

well done, J. i have a wee trick to fix those seams meeting up properly. sew the first two pairs of blocks. i'll assume you pressed one to one side and the other to the opposite side so when you lay them on top of one another to join the two patches into a 4 patch, the seams should nestle up agains one another nicely. you can feel this with your fingers. heres the trick. when you lay them on the sewing machine to start sewing... be sure the upper seam allowance faces away from you. you'll have to use something pointy to hold it down as it goes under the needle, bamboo skewer works well for this. this pushes the top seam into the under seam so they should come out perfectly.

doing it the other way, with the upper seam towards you and which appears to be more logical, cuz the seam allowance will just slide under and not need holding will actually push the seams apart when you open it up to see how it sew'd.

oh and some folks pin this, i dont. if you want to pin cuz the first one without pins doesnt work, heres how i think is best. nestle those seams together, then push one pin into the point where they meet, just straight thru, not thru, up and thru to the top, just sticking up. then take 2 more pins, one for each side of the first pin, push those in the usual way so they stick, in, out the back, up thru the top, with the smallest back bit you can manage. the smaller that back bit is the less the whole thing will mush out of alignment.

i do hope that makes sense. holler at me if it doesnt. could be someone else can make a better description of it than i did. off to get some lunch now. i hope that helps. jeanne

Yep - that'll do it.

If your pieces are bigger and you pin at the intersecting seams, make sure you put the pin in the seam line just IN FRONT OF the seams you are trying to match up (so you get to the pin just before you sew over the seam lines). This will stop any "creep" in the fabric as it is sewn.

Well, thank you for that tip about the direction of the seam -- I never knew that.

woohoo.... now you have been a quilt teacher haven't you! It shows!

Kate in MI

my pleasure, elspeth. i'm not all that hot at quilting but i know some of the tricks, which greatly improves my output for sure. have fun, jeanne

oh my goodness, no, Kate. only ever taught my kids all the things moms teach their kids. i'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much. jeanne

Thanks for the tip. I actually didn't pin the first three and I did the last ones and the no pin ones look best. Even have one of them that matches, none of the others do.

I will try that when I sew the four squares to the other four squares, I was going to do a sashing but my dad says to just put a border on it to get the feel of doing things. LOL even tho' his mind is bad, he already has something he wants me to do. I have sewn a few 4 square blocks and he is ready for something big. I will try it because it will give him something to be in tune with and he never sees anything wrong with my work. I will work harder on his blocks though and will probably do a sashing.

I think those doll quilts are getting pushed to the back burner. Those little cousins will be playing with dolls for a few more years where as my dad may not be around then, so I want to do his first. I need to find some more outdoor fabric for his though, you know hunting fishing and green. LOL a mountain or two might be nice too since that is where he would live if I let him.

Jacqueline

Jacqueline

Reality check: apply the galloping horse test! This is you first quilt, and no, not everything will line up perfectly. But, after all, you want it to look *made*, not milled to three decimal places! ;)

Good move! Start small, and let things grow! It is possible to quilt a king-size on a domestic machine, but you will do better with one of the models that has a larger harp area (the hole through the middle).

Now, when do we get to see this treasure? :)

Cats wrote: Congratulations on your blocks, Jacqueline! I still have trouble getting seams perfect, after 3 or 4 years of quilting. Just last night I sewed rows together and am contemplating unpicking them today (if I do, I can maybe get them perfect, but it will be a cold winter if I don't finish it!)

Cheryl and Jeanne, I've heard that before and I don't really understand that nesting trick...is it the bottom fabric that pushes away from you and the top fabric that will creep toward you? It always seems that I've ironed my seams the opposite way for this trick to work, but I was just thinking about it last night, because I couldn't get my rows to go together satisfactorily. I was thinking about posting here with the tips I know on matching seams and asking if I'd missed any others. Ones I know:

-sew matching seams to opposite sides of each other

-nestle them together (as said, I don't really get which one should be on top)

-possibly pin

-in desperate times, sew the seams with a large basting stitch, open to check seams, then resew with normal stitch length if happy (or unpick only the bad parts, baste those again, then once all good, resew).

-maybe use spray starch or sizing (I don't do this but could make too-soft fabrics stiffer which could help)

-maybe use like fabrics together (seems I have most problems when mixing a soft handdye with a stiffer batik, for instance)

anything else?

Lynn

Congratulations on your blocks, Jacqueline! I still have trouble getting seams perfect, after 3 or 4 years of quilting. Just last night I sewed rows together and am contemplating unpicking them today (if I do, I can maybe get them perfect, but it will be a cold winter if I don't finish it!)

Cheryl and Jeanne, I've heard that before and I don't really understand that nesting trick...is it the bottom fabric that pushes away from you and the top fabric that will creep toward you? It always seems that I've ironed my seams the opposite way for this trick to work, but I was just thinking about it last night, because I couldn't get my rows to go together satisfactorily. I was thinking about posting here with the tips I know on matching seams and asking if I'd missed any others. Ones I know:

-sew matching seams to opposite sides of each other

-nestle them together (as said, I don't really get which one should be on top)

-possibly pin

-in desperate times, sew the seams with a large basting stitch, open to check seams, then resew with normal stitch length if happy (or unpick only the bad parts, baste those again, then once all good, resew).

-maybe use spray starch or sizing (I don't do this but could make too-soft fabrics stiffer which could help)

-maybe use like fabrics together (seems I have most problems when mixing a soft handdye with a stiffer batik, for instance)

anything else?

Lynn

Well done! Finished really is better than perfect. :-) And when that frog starts hopping, nobody will see its hairs! Roberta in D

"Jacqueline" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Off by a frog's hair is pert-near perfect, since frog hair is so fine. Have some fun sewing. Debra in VA See my quilts at

WHOO HOOO!

Way to go! It's a great feeling to finally get started on something new and prove to yourself you can do it......

Sew some for me (since I can't right now) 'kay?

Tricia

Jacquel> Well, yesterday I decided I was going to quit procrastinating and sew

Tricia, I will sew some for everyone in the group but I am keeping the sewing, I will say OK this stitch is for Tricia and this stitch is for Polly Ester, and this stitch is for the Troll and this stitch is for Pat in VA and of course there has to be one for everyone. :) I might leave the troll out though.

It really was a good feeling to prove I could do it. I was disappointed big time today though when I went to the eye doctor. I was in hopes of getting some new glasses but the pressure was so high in my eyes that he would not make the glasses at this time. I had surgery for the pressure in January and March, at first it seemed to have worked but today's visit the pressure was 33 in both eyes, that is terrible, but better than the 50 before surgery, but not good enough to keep me off drops that do not really help it, so we are back to you will probably be blind in so many years if we don't find something to help this problem of your's. I have been living with that since I was about 40. So far I can still see and I thank the Lord daily for that gift.

Need to go and rest my eyes, dilated them and they hurt looking at this monitor.

Jacquel>WHOO HOOO!

Jacqueline

I was hoping you'd realize I meant *stitch* for me not stitch something

Sorry to hear about your eye troubles but thankful you can still see and there is the some improvement.....

Tricia

yes, lynn, i read that back to myself and theres a couple of not as clear as mud places. oh boy, hmmmmmm. lets see if this helps.

feed dogs rise, the move backwards, then lower.....dragging the lower fabric back pulling everything thru as it sews but pulling is stronger on the under fabric. the presser foot holds fabric down...a constant unlike the feed dogs up, back, down. so..... if upper fabric seam allowance goes thru first, it is pushed down as the lower fabric is dragged back and they shove into one another at the seam. this at first looks wrong because you must hold that seam flat(with stilleto, seam ripper point or bamboo skewer thingy) as it passes under the presser foot. this way you have control over the upper seam and the lower seam will follow thru on its own.

if the lower seam allowance goes thru first it, it pushes back on the lower fabric and away from the upper seam. this at first 'appears' right because all you need do is guide the fabric thru, no holding seams under as they pass under the presser foot. but this way you have 'no control' over how the lower seam allowance (cant see or get to it when sewing) as it passes first under the needle.

the first way will nestle those seams together, the second way will pull them apart, leaving a gap in the + seam on the middle of the 4 patch.

that is my best second try. i think. tis dinner time now so i'll check tomorrow and see how this one worked. i'm happy to keep trying a new way to splain it til it is clear tho. eh. so holler if this one doesnt work, lol. we all learn stuff differently, the trick is trying to find the right way to splain it. did you run any of this past G to see if he can make head or tail of it? just a thot. hugz, jeanne

Well, well, well ...

So, this explains perfectly why some of mine are just fine, and others have a tiny difference. Amazing! Thanks Jeanne. It isn't always possible to get all the seams going the 'best' way; but I will bear it is mind from now on. Fascinating fact (and, although I did understand your first explanation, this one is terrific. Thanks for taking the extra time). . In message , nzlstar* writes

Thanks Jeanne I always wondered why sometimes the seams matched up perfect and sometimes they would be just a smidge off. I'll watch for that next time. I did catch what you meant with the first explanation but this one was much more entertaining! (g)

Marilyn in foggy Alberta