I’ve been quite pleased at my early attempts with the neatness of my seams – although puzzled that they look so big. After all, I’ve been working with the fabric edge to the mark just to the left of the ⅝” mark on the base plate of the sewing machine, as this will give me a ¼” seam.Er – no, you nitwit, it won't.
Well obviously this is the ½” mark which explains why my seams look so massive - it is because they are massive.
You all spotted it in an instant, of course, & SewAli’s polite comment, "Generally in patchwork we work with a ¼” seam," should have alerted me too.
But the alarm bells didn’t really kick in until Flum said, “As long as all your seams are the same, it almost doesn't matter what they are.”Ring-a-ding! Hello! Quilters calling Hazel!
Once realisation dawned, I had a crack at proper ¼” seams today – blimey – they are TINY!
More practise needed - & you lot are going to have to be a lot less subtle.
Subtle? Moi? As a ton of hardcore!
ReplyDeleteI found out a lot the hard way - and from library books. Didn't meet any real quilters for ages. They were all kind enough not to laugh, too!
I love blogger!
ReplyDeleteMind you, mum said 'I don't know why you're putting all this down - what if it goes wrong? Everyone will see!'
Well, yes - but then I will learn how to do it right instead!
Not Clang at all. When I first started piecing I just didn't get the ¼" seam thing - looked far too small and I could not believe the pieces would stay together. Guess what - they do!
ReplyDeleteFlum is right on the consistency of seams, but once you start working with triangles you will find things won't match up properly if you haven't got the 1/4" close enough. They do look tiny, but I can assure you after 20 years of quilting, my quilts are all still together :o).
ReplyDeleteI guess that by the time the quilt is sandwiched together and sewn through, the pieces aren't going very far, tiny 1/4" seams and all!
ReplyDeleteBig sister Helen said exactly the same thing about seam accuracy and triangles in an email to me yesterday, Ali - I said to hold her horses with her complicated talk of non-squared quilting - eek!