Just a Simple Patch Quilt

On Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 1:09:33 AM UTC+10, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrot e:

me time now. I take my left over pieces of material from my made quilts and cut them into what ever size squares the material allows. Right now I hav e only enough 4 inch squares to make a small quilt of mixed colors. I usua lly put a 2 1/2 inch inner border and 4 inch outer border. One of the prob lems I have had with these type squares is when sewn together in rows the c orners do not always meet but off a tiny bit. So this time before sewing I went through every single square and made sure they were exactly 4 inches square. I know material will stretch while pressing, so will wait until th e rows are all sewn together before doing that. If you can think of an easi er way to do these type of quilts better please let me know. I am trying to be as careful sewing as I can.

Hi Sandy,

I used to have a problem with pressing the squares flat until my friend poi nted out that I was actually ironing them instead of just pressing them. Do es that make sense? Now I just press/lift/press move on to next square instead of moving iron o ver the material.

Haven't tried a quilt with small squares but I certainly have enough small squares to try one - I bought a whole lot from a shop closing down without thinking about what to do with them.

Have a Safe and Happy Easter.

Cheers, Di On the beautiful Mornington Peninsula Vic. Australia

If someone gives me guff about having corners that don't match, I just tell them that is my artistic style.

I'm with Brian. A thread or two off doesn't bother me. But if it really, re ally bothers you I suggest lots of pinning. Also, press the seams carefully and be sure that each intersection nests (so that the seams from one unit go in the opposite direction of the other unit, with no twisting).

Nann

On Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 10:09:33 AM UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wro te:

me time now. I take my left over pieces of material from my made quilts and cut them into what ever size squares the material allows. Right now I hav e only enough 4 inch squares to make a small quilt of mixed colors. I usua lly put a 2 1/2 inch inner border and 4 inch outer border. One of the prob lems I have had with these type squares is when sewn together in rows the c orners do not always meet but off a tiny bit. So this time before sewing I went through every single square and made sure they were exactly 4 inches square. I know material will stretch while pressing, so will wait until th e rows are all sewn together before doing that. If you can think of an easi er way to do these type of quilts better please let me know. I am trying to be as careful sewing as I can.

Just out of curiosity, how are you designing it?

Are you just putting the scraps in a big bag and randomly selecting them?

Are you arranging them so perhaps they radiate from the lightest colors in the center to the darker colors on the outside?

Perhaps the darks on one end going towards the lighter on the other?

Dividing them into color "families" such as reds, blues, etc, and making "stripes."

Or what? I am sure there are many ways to arrange even just solid blocks.

Hello Group, So far with all my experimenting as I have pinned, ironed rows in oppo site directions so they would mesh together at seams, then also did not "pr ess" these squares at all because I kept them in boxes for each size. These were already(Brian)flat. Used solids and prints(no stripes) and put them t ogether so the colors would be pleasing and each row didn't have a matching square in front or behind next row. One of my experiments is I found tha t some material stretches more than other material when ironed. I will try just pressing too(thanks for that idea). My best luck so far was pinning a nd sewing together the squares, rows before pressing. Have made 3 quilts t his way so far and have one left which is different prints that I am puttin g together with baby prints and solids. Hope these experiments help you al l. I am sort of a perfectionist and have found that nothing in life is per fect, so why should material sewn together be perfect. Thank you all for your comments. Sandy$

What I meant by "flat" is that each block (4", or 3 1/2 when finished) is a single color or pattern and not some pieced thing like a half-suare triangle or whatever.

-- My Yonkoma:

The E-mail associated with the account is a "spamcatcher" account that I got to every couple of months to empty out, and anything sent to it will not be seen for probably several months, if it is seen at all. Brian Christiansen

Hello Brian, These are just prints and solids 4" that are sewn together to make a c rib type quilt. I think it is the material itself that is stretching as I s ew it but think pinning and checking measurement of each block before sewin g helps. I even tried pressing instead of ironing. All seems to help. Jus t finished the 4th so I will be starting on a regular size quilt next. Sandy$