Archive for the ‘Seam accuracy’ Category

Piecing One-block Wonder – construction tips


Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Yahoo! My quilt is now underway! After laying out all the pieces, moving the hexagons around until the colors blended and flowed from one area to another.

Here is a preview photo of my design, with the first row (on the left) sewn together. You can see the design shrinks quite a bit once the seams are sewn together!

Harajuku Lady One Block Wonder in progress

When sewing the rows together, I use a slick trick that I developed when sewing a previous quilt−my Indian Summer Thousand Pyramids quilt.

Using an ordinary 1″ wide roll of painter’s tape, begin applying tape at one end of a long row of loose pieces. Press firmly as you apply the tape, securing all the loose pieces to the single piece of tape. Gently lift the tape & pieces, carrying them to your sewing table.

Apply painter's tape to one row of loose pieces

Move the taped pieces to the sewing table

Begin sewing ANY project by establishing an accurate seam allowance. When you resume sewing, double-check your seam allowance to verify you always sew with the same seam. This one step will insure every project you sew will fit together much more accurately. I use one of two seam allowance tools, pictured below.

Perfect Piecing Seam Guide by Perkins Dry Goods

Lower the needle into the scant 1/4″ hole BY HAND. Lower the presser foot. Apply a raised guide such as stacked painter’s tape, or Q Tools vinyl tape to the right edge of the tool.

Apply a guide such as Q Tools vinyl tape

or use the Jan Krentz Corner Marking tool (designed for seam accuracy and marking tips and edges of diamonds for 8-pointed stars).

Pink, Orange and Yellow Jan Krentz tools

Insert the needle into the scant 1/4" hole. Apply guide.

NEXT blog entry >>>> PIECING TECHNIQUE!