Your quilt patches are all cut. (If not, go back and read Indispensable Tips for Precision Quilt Piecing, Part 1: Cutting.) Now you just grab those patches two at a time and sew them together. Simple as that.
Well, not quite. Before you can sew them together, you have to line them up, and exactly how you line them up before sewing can make a big difference in how well they are lined up after sewing. Here are my top 3 tips to help:
Well, not quite. Before you can sew them together, you have to line them up, and exactly how you line them up before sewing can make a big difference in how well they are lined up after sewing. Here are my top 3 tips to help:
1. Align the Whole Patch, Not Just the Edges
Sitting at my sewing machine with a stack of strips to sew, I used to just pick up a pair, hold them up in front of me while lining up the seam allowances, then sew. It was simple. It was fast. It was not particularly precise.
Until they are actually sewn together, locked in place by a line of stitching, two pieces of fabric can, and very often will, move. Pinning can help, but seriously, we all know that nobody wants to pin every seam.
My preferred solution is to use the friction of fabric against fabric to help prevent slippage. So put those two patches down on a flat surface, line them up nice and square, and smooth them together. Less slipping is guaranteed.
Until they are actually sewn together, locked in place by a line of stitching, two pieces of fabric can, and very often will, move. Pinning can help, but seriously, we all know that nobody wants to pin every seam.
My preferred solution is to use the friction of fabric against fabric to help prevent slippage. So put those two patches down on a flat surface, line them up nice and square, and smooth them together. Less slipping is guaranteed.
2. Cut Corners
We all love a good shortcut technique, but this isn't one of them. The corners we're cutting here are the excess points on triangular patches, what are commonly called "ears."
When you're sewing half-square triangles (HSTs) together into squares, there's no problem: the whole patch lines up. But if you're sewing a square side of just one triangle to a rectangular piece, there's that ear sticking out. Not such a big deal, but it gets more complicated. Think of the diagonal piecing of a long border strip.
We all know that HSTs need to be cut 3/8-inch larger than the square they will form after sewing. (And if you didn't know that, now you do.) So trimming off that 3/8-inch triangle tip will square up the seam. The trick is knowing which direction to cut. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some diagrams to make it all perfectly clear.
When you're sewing half-square triangles (HSTs) together into squares, there's no problem: the whole patch lines up. But if you're sewing a square side of just one triangle to a rectangular piece, there's that ear sticking out. Not such a big deal, but it gets more complicated. Think of the diagonal piecing of a long border strip.
We all know that HSTs need to be cut 3/8-inch larger than the square they will form after sewing. (And if you didn't know that, now you do.) So trimming off that 3/8-inch triangle tip will square up the seam. The trick is knowing which direction to cut. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some diagrams to make it all perfectly clear.
3. Match the Fabric Grain
Picture this: you're seaming two identical quilt patches, nothing tricky here, just plain ol' rectangles. You feed them through your sewing machine with the edges perfectly matched at the start, but somehow, in that 4 to 6 inches of stitching, something has gone wonky, and the edges are not perfectly matched at the end of the seam. What happened?
Chances are, this is a case of mis-matched fabric grain. As I described in Part 1: Cutting, the cross grain of the fabric will have a bit of stretch, while the straight grain will not. Often, this difference in fabric stretch is enough to make two fabric edges distort at different rates as they pass under the presser foot. Two edges that were exactly the same length before sewing no longer match after sewing. The longer the seam, the more pronounced the distortion will be.
You can avoid this effect when sewing strips together, by making sure to match edge grain. That is, sew two straight-grain edges together, or two cross-grain edges. In cases where matching grain is not possible, there are some simple ways to minimize grain distortion while sewing.
Chances are, this is a case of mis-matched fabric grain. As I described in Part 1: Cutting, the cross grain of the fabric will have a bit of stretch, while the straight grain will not. Often, this difference in fabric stretch is enough to make two fabric edges distort at different rates as they pass under the presser foot. Two edges that were exactly the same length before sewing no longer match after sewing. The longer the seam, the more pronounced the distortion will be.
You can avoid this effect when sewing strips together, by making sure to match edge grain. That is, sew two straight-grain edges together, or two cross-grain edges. In cases where matching grain is not possible, there are some simple ways to minimize grain distortion while sewing.
Coming Up Next ...
I'll talk more about sneaky cures for grain distortion, how to get perfect points, and the pursuit of the elusive 1/4-inch seam in my next post, Indispensable Tips for Precision Quilt Piecing, Part 3: Stitching.
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