Accurately cutting, sewing and pressing! Sounds doable! Well we shall see! I bought a new rotary cutter last week. They were on sale and I decided my other one has to be close to 15 years old. I like to use old blades to trim my paper pieced blocks so it would be nice to have two and not have to switch out blades. Oh, I am so glad I did. I didn't get anything fancy, just a plain fiskar but it glides so much more smoothly. I think years ago I may have lost a little washer in my old cutter, could that be the difference? So I am hoping the new rotary cutter gives me some new confidence as I approach this adventure.
My first step is to layer a 10 inch white and 10 inch print right sides together. I then give them a spritz of starch and press. I love cutting thru starched fabrics and find pressing them together helps keep the pieces lined up. I used Jenny Doan's tutorial to make the HST's for the last chevron quilt I made. I just didn't like that the outside edges were bias. So since I am using a layer cake, I decided to use the cutting guide on the back of the layer cake to make my triangles. First I marked the layered squares. Four lines, two corner to corner and two across the center of the 10 inch square which gives me 8 half square triangles.
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| Time to start cutting! |
After cutting on those lines, I am marking a 1/4 inch seam line on each triangle. This is something hand piecers to do to insure their seam is the correct size. This is not something I will do for every quilt, but I am using them as training wheels here.
Let the stitching begin! Part of my plan is that I only make 32 triangles at any one session behind the machine. Hopefully, this will keep me focused on doing a great job. I am using my quarter inch foot and turning down the speed on my machine. This is not a marathon, this is about paying attention. So I carefully feed the triangles thru after making sure they are perfectly matched. I am letting the machine pull them thru, trying to avoid any tugging or pulling. I am being careful to keep the piece lined up all the way thru to the end. Once they are stitched, I am pressing the seams open to help with eliminate bulky seams coming together and hopefully help with accuracy. Next, since I used a scant 1/4 inch I can take a ruler with a 45 degree line and line it up with the seam and trim off dog ears and make them a perfect 4.5 inches.
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| Trimming! |
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| Dog ears trimmed a nice looking 4 1/2 inch unfinished block! |
I need 324 of these and then I can lay them out and start stitching them together.
Carla, Sounds like you have yourself set up for success and are seeing that in perfectly pieced and measured hst's! LOVE how you did that using 2 layer cakes too :) Have fun and I am glad you are slowing down and enjoying this journey. I only sit down at my machine to piece and only when I am feeling "in the mood" to relax and I try to remember stretch breaks too! Sometimes I really get into the tunes and the stitches and forget! lol Happy stitches to you... my hand or machine :) Kathi
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a great solution in place. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb! I will just keep at it. I think pressing properly is a lot of my problem too!
DeleteI am with you.....I don't like having the bias on the outside of the blocks.
ReplyDeleteThe same reason I have never tried a lone star and oh I would love to make one.
DeleteCarla, I made a Lone Star using the Quilt in a Day method of strip piecing. With starch, the bias edges didn't stretch as much.
DeleteI am terrible at precision stitching so I make HSTa little larger and trim them down. Takes more time but works for me.
ReplyDeleteYes I did that and it seems to really help! Your right it does take time and those trimmings are messy but I think it does help keep things more accurate! Thanks
DeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts about improving your precision. I have one question for you: do you find that you have any trouble lining up your HSTs when you press open your seams? I find pressing to one side helps me nest my pieces together better and would be concerned about getting seams lined up with seams pressed open - unless there's a trick to that, too.
ReplyDeleteI am pressing the half square triangles so that I can square them up perfectly. Hopefully once I go to sew the seams of the quilt it will be easier to nest the final seam. I like to nest with that seam is facing the needle so that is gets pushed towards the one facing the other direction but that only happens on every other row. Do you have any tips when the direction is in the opposite direction. I would sew with the other side of the foot but pushing all of the quilt thru that small space doesn't sound fun. I am not sure my stitching would be very straight using the left side of the foot. It's definitely a never ending battle, I guess we just do our best.
DeleteI struggle with accuracy and am always trying to improve my cutting and piecing. I have a newer rotary cutter but need to replace the mat. Its probably part of the problem I have of not getting a clean cut. Enjoyed seeing how you make your HSTs!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear I am not the only one struggling. I am happy so far with my progress. It is so much more enjoyable when things fit properly.
DeleteDo you like this method for making HSTs? I've never tried this way but know lots of people make their HSTs this way. I think I read somewhere that there are 8 different ways to make HSTs. . I hate marking cutting or sewing lines. I usually use the Easy Angle ruler and rarely have to trim anything but the dog ears. Good luck however you do it. I hope you can say you enjoy piecing!
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