Seams standing up

I would go ahead and assemble your sandwich, pin carefully to avoid any stretching, baste it rather closely, and then quilt in the ditch right into those seams. That will certainly hold them down, and then you can do the other quilting you have in mind.

Hey Neighbor:

Have you thought of using a glue stick. There are the expensive fabric glue sticks then there are the cheap washable glue sticks the kids use as school. I've use the washable sticks the kids use and find it holds well and when washed well it all comes out. Its light purple in color but the color won't show up on your work. Oh and the fabric does not get stiff.

I tried the washable liquid glue and believe me that stuff is better left for gluing paper.

Kate T. South Mississippi

Jerry, as strange as it sounds--take a hammer to the seams. Tailors have been doing that for years. Whack them a few times without stretching the fabric. That should make them a little flatter. Gen

That's why I always press my seams open. I don't make regular bed sized quilts, I guess if I did I would have to re-think it. I don't know if it would stand up to a lot of heavy use, although clothing doesn't seam (ha) to have a problem.

I hate that ridge that you get when seams are pressed to the side and this is the only way I can get around that.

Cindy

I think that would work well. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Thanks Gen. Great to hear from you.

I would "whack my seams with a hammer", but my wife took our anvil on quilting retreat. I'm afraid our concrete driveway or brick steps might be too rough.

I'm sure we will come up with something soon.

Jerry in North Alabama

Find yourself a length of 2x4 or other unfinished, non-staining wood -- should be about 6-12" long.

Sand any rough spots.

Find a new paintbrush... big artist's brush or small trim brush. Or a nice clean sponge.

Place the blocks on the ironing board (or better, a sheet of plywood covered with muslin). Dab along the seamline with the paintbrush... you just want the seams damp, not wringing wet. Press with your iron (no steam).

Immediately after pressing, pick up the piece of 2x4, and whap along the seam you've just pressed. You're not trying to drive nails, but you are trying to get the area cooled and dried. Think about firmly patting a big dog or a horse, not trying to knock them off their feet. Leave the fabric in place (do not move it) until the seams are cool and dry. Proceed to the next section/

If your seams were not well-pressed before the cross seams, you may have a bit more difficulty getting them flat. If they're still sort of springy, re-press and use your 2x4 again;, this time after clapping the seams, put a weight on the seamline (2x4, magazines over a sheet of tissue paper, etc.) and let the weight remain for several minutes after the area is cool.

The hunk of 2x4 is a stand-in for a "tailor's clapper", which is usually a piece of maple or other fine grained hardwoood.

You can avoid some of these issues in the future by carefully pressing the seams along the way. I find it most accurate to press the seam as sewn (flat), then open the seam (spread the seam allowances out, like a dressmaker would), and then do a final press with the seam allowances together. Then go ahead and sew the crossing seams, and give them the same sort of press. If you do this as you sew, and you use a piece of wood covered with a single layer of wool blanket and then a piece of muslin, you probably won't need the tailor's clapper to get a nice, sharp seam that lays down. Pressing on a heavily padded surface won't give you as sharp a press as on a nearly unpadded surface. I often press small quilting seams on a new wooden cutting board.

Howdy!

It's twill; pressing open won't make the seams much flatter for Jerry.

Jerry, how about basting them down, kind of tacking them here & there, w/ pins, thread or washable glue? When I've had unruly seams (someone slipped me a partially-poly top w/ "challenging" seams) I've done a little more quilting over the seam lines, a zig-zag back & forth, so the quilting looked fine and really kept those heavy seams *down*. (Will you be using twill again? Without meaning to sound rude, why'd you embroider on twill?)

Good luck! And enjoy the quilt show. Please feel free to send us samples of any really wonderful goodies you pick up.

Cheers! R/Sandy -- watching Erin disappearing, waiting for Dean to push up some more rain from the south.,,

Sandy said, " (Will you be using twill again? Without meaning to sound rude, why'd you embroider on twill?)"

Not likely that I will be using twill again, especially with 1/4" intersecting seams. The embroidered blocks are white and the sashing is red meaning I needed to press all of the seams to the sashing side.

I used twill because this was my first embroidery project, had no idea what I was doing, and took the advice of some lady working in the embroidery supply shop.

I've learned a lot.

Jerry in North Alabama

I've hand sewn through fusible and glue stick glue. I'll never try to sew through fusible again, but the glue stick was easy to sew through. I use glue sticks to position my applique pieces for both hand and machine applique. I love that I don't have to worry about pins anymore. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Problem solved. I did not try the hammer or the 2x4 tricks but opted for the glue. It worked!

Thanks for the help.

Jerry in North Alabama