Late last night I thought I'd do some fabric auditioning. The quilt I've been working on will have two different blocks, and each will be framed with a different colour. In my design I thought the sixteen patches would be framed with a natural colour - but last night while looking in my fabric closet, I thought I'd try the fabric you see at left.I'm not going to use it after trying it. I don't mind it, but I don't think it will go well with the other purple colour I've selected. I think I'll audition the biscuit coloured fabric you see there next, and see how that goes.
The fabric selection is not what's bugging me though, I'm thinking there is something up with my quarter inch seams right now. I don't usually have any problems, but my sixteen patches are finishing up just over 1/4" smaller than they should be. I'm using my #57 Bernie foot which I've never had a problem with before, I'm wondering if my needle has moved a scootch over while I was machine quilting. Possibly while moving the quilt around under there? This is something that's never bothered me before, and it was highly annoying when my border pieces wouldn't fit the block nicely. I'll measure my seams when I get back to the sewing room and make any adjustments necessary. Fortunately I've only made 3 blocks so far.
Today is looking like a great day for stitching - I cleaned the house yesterday - so I just need to hang out a load of laundry, and then there will be no distractions. Let's see how far I get :-)
6 comments:
Have a wonderful quiet day!
I prefer the lighter colored sashing. Your quarter inch seam problems remind me why I like wonky quilting so much! Your quilt is going to be beautiful.
Hi, Tazzie! Your 1/4" problem might be that you have so many seams going in the same direction with those blocks that the little bit your allowance is off is adding up. In lots of blocks, the seams go in all different directions and they don't seem to add up as much. I had the same issue in a quilt I made recently. Do you use Aurifil or another extremely thin thread to piece with? I found that it helps, since it doesn't take up as much room in the seam. And I sew my allowances a touch scant of 1/4", which I arrived at by sewing 4 or 5 squares together, measuring and then adjusting until the sewn unit was the correct size. Just some thoughts!
ratherbquilting nailed it. I would be very surprised if your #57 foot is the culprit. (I thought my 1/4" seams were perfect and put off getting that foot for a while. When I got it, I realized how much more accurate my blocks were turning out.) With that many seams in one block, your thread may be the problem. Aurifil is wonderful--just sort of melts into the fabric so there's very little "thread take-up." Hopes this helps.
Hope you had a great qulting day! I like the lighter fabric better too. 1/4" seams can be a problem at times. I have a Pfaff. I have found that sometimes even with my 1/4" foot I need to nudge the needle over to the right one needle position for things to work out right. It depends on how thin or thick the fabric is and the thread used too. Good luck in figuring out your perfect 1/4" seam!
my bernina foot for quarter inch is #37...isn't that interesting you have a different number- good luck with adjusting that difference..what an annoying thing to discover.
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