I'm finding on some pieces that even with a 1/4 inch seem allowance on all sides of the pieces, I'm almost coming up short when I sew down the edges . For example, the dark purple in the upper left corner, just caught the needle as it was sewn down. I'm thinking of increasing my seem allowance to 3/8ths of an inch just to be on the safe side.
After finishing this block I paired it with one of the others I've made. No matter which way the blocks were turned at least 1 color on each block matched up. I'm itching to get more blocks done with different colors to see what I can create.
I've also realized I have to have an appliquéd quilt done by March. I may be doing double duty and working on both projects. Who knows....
As always questions and comments are welcome.
Hey Greg!
ReplyDeleteThis happens to me sometimes too. For foundation piecing, my quick & dirty solution is to do what you've happened upon, and that is to just cut pieces larger than you know you will need. You can always trim later, but adding fabric is challenging. :)
Keep up the good work and show us a few of them next to each other soon, okay?
ReplyDeleteThere are two solutions to the problem of "coming up short":
ReplyDeleteOne answer is to eyeball (or measure) the seam allowance before laying the next piece of fabric on top of it . . . if the seam allowance is "heavy" (wider than you want), don't lay the next piece down with edges even, but "scoot" the new piece of fabric back from the edge, showing the fabric underneath; then, sew . . . if the seam allowance is "light" (narrower than you want), "scoot" the new piece of fabric past the edge of the fabric underneath; then, sew.
"Heavy" and "light" seam allowances only get worse as you go, unless you compensate for 'em.
The other solution is to cut the pieces with larger seam allowances to begin with . . . I used to use 3/8" seam allowances; now, I use 1/2" seam allowances (the excess fabric can always be trimmed to 1/4" before opening the fabric out and pressing).
Even with 1/2" seam allowances, I still "scoot" fabric if need be . . .
I've always heard that with muslin foundations, the seam allowance isn't as important. The muslin will be the one "caught" in the crossing seams and since the feature fabric is stitched onto the muslin, you're still fine. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteOne tutorial I found shows that if you come up with a block that is a tiny bit smaller than your others, rather than cutting all of your others down to the smaller one's size, attach the small one to a muslin block of the right size or just use a small piece of muslin to make the blog big enough. Then your muslin sliver will hide in the seam allowance.
This isn't coming out clearly but I hope you get the idea. :-)