Piecing a perfect corner

Today was yet another great sewing day and a beautiful weather day on top of that. I did some more quilting on the Chinese Coins QOV quilt. It's officially half quilted now. I spent most of the day, however, on the pink and brown Churns Dash quilt blocks. I now have 18 of 30 done and here's a photo of them up on the design wall. I love how this is turning out and have decided that I will work on this to be a show quilt and I've started to think about quilting options. It will still be Kim's quilt, she just won't actually get it anytime soon!

Sewing a 1/4" seam - it's not about the 1/4"

I make a lot of quilts with quick piecing methods - like the foundation piecing that I used in the Chinese Coins quilt. But in the recent Snails Trails (here, here and here) and this quilt I have been concentrating on more accurate cutting and piecing. My favorite resource for learning better piecing skills is Mastering Precision Piecing by Sally Collins. I thought I'd share a couple of tips that I am using in this quilt.

1. Seam Allowance - I did a lot of experimenting on my machines with 1/4" seam allowances. I quickly learned that it's really not about the actual 1/4" seam - it's about the EFFECT of whatever seam I sewed - thread and fabric have a lot to do with the actual effective width of the seam allowance. Garment sewers deal with "turn of the cloth" all of the time and know that a thicker fabric will have a bigger turn of the cloth impact than a fine fabric. For quilters (well, for this quilter), I have found that there is a fabric effect (there are different thicknesses/weights) even in cotton fabrics but there is a bigger effect from the thread. A thicker (heavier weight) thread will effectively create a wider seam allowance than a thinner thread. When you press that seam allowance to one side the top fabric has a deeper fold to fold over a thicker thread. A lot of teachers use this as the excuse to recommend special fine weight threads (Aurafil 60 wt, Masterpiece, Mettler Fine Embroidery). I have some of these threads but I also have some other threads that I refuse to toss out. I use the thread that best matches/blends with the project fabrics. When I start sewing a new quilt I test out my effective 1/4" seam allowance on the fabrics in the quilt and using the project thread.

2. Starch - Any time I am cutting fabric that will have pieces with bias edges (half square triangles) I starch the fabric before cutting. I use a homemade starch of 3 teaspoons of cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup of cold water. I spray the starch liberally over the fabric and let it soak in for a bit before ironing. Letting the starch absorb into the fabric eliminates the problem of the starch flaking off the fabric.

3. Measure at every step - As much as I am careful about my cutting and pressing, the blocks can get out of square. I measure and trim after EVERY seam. Even on this HST block I trimmed off a tiny sliver to square it up. It may not seem like much but over the whole width of the quilt this could make a big difference. Imagine a 1/32" difference on every piece might make a 1/8" difference on this block and that would set the whole quilt width to be off 3/4".

4. When I find that I have cut a piece a little short (even just a thread or two), as I did in the cross piece of this block, I create a template to help me absorb the mistake as I piece the block. In this example, the HST block is 3 1/2" square and the bar block is 4 1/2" x 3 1/2". I discovered that I had cut some of the bar pieces just a hair short of 4 1/2. I created this little template by drawing a 3 1/2"  square and another mark at 1" to the left. I placed the HST block in the square, right side up and them placed the bar block on top (right side down) aligning the block on the 4 1/2" mark on the LEFT. You can see that there is a sliver of the HST block showing in the seam allowance. By aligning to the finished size I am able to absorb my mistake in the seam allowance. Does that make sense?

And that's how I get these pretty points!

I'll be out of town for a few days on a business trip so no more sewing until next weekend. I hope I can get these and the quilting on the Chinese Coins quilt done next weekend before I pack for Houston! I also still have to plan a border for this quilt.

                  

Comments

[Deb Hardman]

The first pieced quilts I ever did were churn dash. I love that pattern. We had an antique display at our show the year I did the planning, & one of the gals brought in a real churn to set by my antique churndash quilt. It was interesting to see where the pattern actually came from, but I realized they should be set on point to look like the real object.

The pink & brown reproduction fabrics are some of my favorite too. I love that era of quilts.

[tracey petersen]

When I work with Half square triangles I cut them as squares, but bigger that they need to be. Then I rule a diagonal line along the back, stitch 1/4 inch each side and cut in half to make two. Then I am able to trim them back to size with the diagonal line on the ruler along the seam. I find this really accurate...fiddly, but worth it.

Churn dash quilt is looking wonderful!.

[Annie]

I love the colors on this churn dash project. And thanks for the piecing tips....nice job!! I also trim up after every seam - makes the matching much easier and things stay square.

[quiltpixie]

thanks for the last tip -- I've often known I need to "absorb" my mistake into the seam, but hadn't figured out how to determine that... I don't do exact piecing often, but when I do, the point is to be exact! :-)

[Sequana]

It's no wonder I'm never really satisfied with my points. I just don't have the patience required.
*sigh*

[Randi]

I love those churn dash blocks!

[Lindah]

Trimming, trimming, trimming is a pain, but it makes piecing so much pleasanter. Thank you for the tips. The discussion of 1/4" seam is thought provoking. I'm going to do some playing around with threads. That perfect 1/4" can be elusive.

Blessings,
Linda H

[Nicole]

One of my first quilts was a green/white/yellow Churn Dash quilt. I made it back in the 80's and actually hand quilted it. It looks so simple and kind of pathetic to me now. I have come to love really scrappy quilts and if I ever do another Churn Dash, it will have dozens of fabrics in it like yours!
Thanks for your interesting tips as well!

[Carla B]

Thanks, Vicki, for sharing your wealth of quilty knowledge! Have a good trip!

[TerriW]

Terrific info! I always enjoy reading your blog. It is full of interesting stuff!

[Yvonne]

I love those blocks. That is a really great tip about the template. I know to fudge in the seam allowance but that is so "perfect" :)

[JulieQ]

How beautiful are these blocks. I love churn dash, but these are especially pretty.

JulieQ

[JulieQ]

How beautiful are these blocks. I love churn dash, but these are especially pretty.

JulieQ

[JulieQ]

How beautiful are these blocks. I love churn dash, but these are especially pretty.

JulieQ

[Tany]

Great set of tips Vicki! Most of them apply to genelar sewing, not only quilting! I wish you a safe journey!

[Alycia]

I love the color Combinations! It will be very pretty when done!