As promised in my previous progress post on this quilt, here is a picture of butting the seams together instead of pinning. Yes, I said instead of pinning, as in in place of pinning. I am a diehard fan of pinning for accurate piecing, but this method is working like a charm. The trick is to begin with accurately cut material, to sew accurate seams, and to ironing accurately as well. The careful attention to detail at every step up until now has paid off, and these 225 9-patch blocks were sewn together in perfect precision without a single pin!
This is how I placed the fabric on the machine. The seam is facing up toward the needle, and the pressure from the presser foot subtly pushes that first seam into the opposing seam on the bottom fabric. When I put the two segments of the block together, I first butt together that first seam, focusing on this seam and not paying attention to where the fabrics meet at the very beginning of the segments {except keeping the edges together, of course}. I keep a finger on this seam until the presser foot is over it. Then I stop sewing and butt together the second seam and keep a finger there until it is sewn, then I make sure the last edges line up and finish sewing the segments. This is done in chain fashion, of course, one after the other without stopping, except to scratch my ear with my foot {see below}.
Sew, did you notice something funny about that picture above? What kind of dork sews with the fabric on the right side of the needle? I have never seen anyone, right- or left-handed, sew in this fashion. But alas, I had to in order to have the seams facing up toward the needle. No matter how I turned, flipped, and turned them again, the only way to have that seam up toward the needle was to put them on the right side of the needle. Groan!! I will have to do some scientific sleuthing to figure out the proper way to press seams and the order in which to sew them together to prevent this from happening in the future. I know there is a way because this has never happened before in all of my years of quilting. I sure felt like I was sewing left-handed with one foot over my shoulder while I sewed this last segment on ... 225 times over!!
Next update on Monday will show the 225 9-patch blocks completed and pressed!
3 comments :
I was wondering why you were sewing on the "wrong" side! (I've been known to resort to this on occasion for varying reasons - it's not easy!)
I 'think' if you turn the whole gismo over, the new piece on the bottom and the sewn pieces on the top, you will have the seams facing the right way... Not sure unless I go in and try this out.
@ Helen - I tried every imaginable way and couldn't get it to work. I believe this is because the last segment with two white squares had to be added to a certain side and was not interchangeable to the opposite side ... ? This did not happen the last time I made this quilt block, and since this is a custom quilt that I will likely be making on a regular basis {I have a lap on order, and the lady who ordered the queen wants another queen after this one}, I will have to get it figured out. It is likely that I sewed the first two segments in the "incorrect" order and this is the result.
If you have any luck, please let me know. The layout just has to be the same with one segment with one white square, another segment with two white squares, and the third segment all colors.
Mrs.Hearts
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