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accooper In reply to Daisy-May [2008-03-30 01:07:49 +0000 UTC]

Thanks. I have issues with every quilt I've made, I thought it was just a problem I had with triangles, but it's not. I'm just horrible at accuracy I guess. I double, triple, and quadruple checked the measurements, cut it with like 5" extra for each piece of border and still ended up with the thing being off center (I know how that happened though) and the back being wider than the top. Grrr, I think I may try new methods on the next one. It also doesn't help when the quilt is queen sized and you don't have space to spread it out to line stuff up.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm going to try that on the next one I think.

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Daisy-May In reply to accooper [2008-04-13 05:13:29 +0000 UTC]

hi again, i am terrible with my accuracy too - i'm too lazy and too short of time to be anal about it

the best advice i can offer you, and what i tell my classes, is to make sure that your blocks, each individual one, are the same size. say you are making 12 sawtooth star blocks - quite often they will be different sizes no matter how careful you are. when you have finished the 12 blocks, measure them to find the smallest one, then trim the other blocks to that measurement. fabric is very forgiving, but you cannot make a 12" block join to a 12 1/2" block without warping and over-stretching. sometimes you just have to sacrifice the points. there are other methods for reconcilling your block sizes ie. coping strips/framing the blocks.

for the borders - when you've finished the centre of the quilt and you are at border stage - for the top and bottom border measure the quilt horizontally through the centre from edge to edge. this will give you the true measurement for the top and bottom borders.

after you have sewn the top and bottom borders to the quilt top, then measure the quilt vertically through the centre from edge to edge. this will give you the true measurement for the side borders.

to sew the border pieces to the quilt - fold the border piece in half lengthways and put a pin at the centre of the border strip.

find the centre of the quilt edge and pin-mark this too. match up the pins (on the border and the quilt top) and then pin the border strip to the quilt.

by doing this you don't (most of the time, nothing is 100% perfect) get the ruffling and warping when attaching your borders.

** if your quilt is really out of square and the top edges are much wider than the centre measurement for instance, you will have trouble regardless of what you do. keeping those blocks at the same size is the true secret to a better quilt. and if all else fails, i tell my students that life is too short to be worried about the small things. life isn't going to end and you aren't going to enjoy quilting any less if your quilt isn't perfect. none of mine are!

i hope this email isn't too pompous or you are offended. i just like to help fellow quilters when they are having troubles, and it is usually the easy to fix things that are the problem.

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accooper In reply to Daisy-May [2008-04-13 20:34:07 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much, I'm going to try these tips out next time and be more meticulous about my measurements and making sure things are the same. My thanks again for so much help.

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Daisy-May In reply to accooper [2008-05-16 06:10:39 +0000 UTC]

you're welcome!

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accooper In reply to funkeymonkey22003 [2008-03-27 03:11:41 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much

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