Sister's Choice Quilts

Tips For Accurate Piecing

When it comes to accurate piecing, there is a lot of talk about accurate cutting and an accurate scant quarter-inch seam allowance. It is absolutely true that if you don't have those two things going for you, your piecing will not be accurate. However, there are a few other pointers I'd like to share that have helped me achieve more accurate units for my quilt blocks. Keep in mind, these tips are just things that have helped me. The quilt police aren't going to come knocking if you choose not to do these things. 

I am a firm believer in starching my fabric before sewing. I use Faultless Heavy Finish Starch from Walmart and go through countless cans when prepping my fabric. The idea is to really saturate the fabric, let it dry naturally, and iron it flat before cutting it. The fabric won't be floppy and linty anymore. It will be like sewing with little paint chips or light cardboard. I believe starching really adds to accuracy in sewing.  It also shrinks the fabric ever so slightly in one direction, which isn't really an issue. Just be aware that will happen.

I also think it is important to check the size of your pieced units prior to sewing them into a block. Often they will be "off" just a smidgen, but those smidgens add up. Many people (including me) like to make their block units just a bit too big, then trim down to size. You can use any old ruler for checking size and trimming the unit, but there are a number of speciality rulers that I have collected over time that I really like to use. The hourglass trim tool above is Cute Cuts by Lori Holt. They come in a slew of sizes and I have them from 2 1/2" up to 16 1/2"! Like I said, I didn't buy them all at once, that is for sure. You can line up the corner seams and the center and trim the excess away for a unit that is dead on accurate. There are tools for trimming Flying Geese units and Half Square Triangle units as well. I like the BlocLoc brand, but there are others way less expensive.


Press your seams open for a flat block. Use a wool pressing mat for even better results. Oh, and I am a big fan of steam, lots of it. I never used to bother with pressing seams open, but now that I do it nearly all the time, my blocks are so much more precise.


Use a clapper. No, that doesn't mean to have the kids stand in the doorway and cheer you on. A clapper is a wooden block that you place on a freshly ironed block or block unit. The wood absorbs the heat and some kind of magic happens that makes your seams lie even flatter. I swear by these ever since I discovered them.


Pin. I have always been a pinner. I watch quilters like Jessica Dayon who get great-looking blocks without pinning or even ironing after every step, but I am not that good. I need to pin to get those points to come out and to have my seams line up just right. 

Hope you got something out of this post that might help you with more accurate piecing.


Did you notice that there might be a new project in the works?

 

 

 

Life Changing Binding Technique

Some of you know this about me, but if you are new here, you may not know that I really do not enjoy sewing bindings on my quilts by hand. I know many of you will tell me how much you love to sit in front of tv in the evening and happily stitch away. But with my eyesight failing, combined with the couple of glasses of wine I enjoy after dinner, this kind of sewing isn't for me. I have experimented a couple of times with sewing the binding on my smaller quilts by machine, and it has worked out pretty well. However, I never thought I'd want to tackle a full-size quilt because of the weight and bulk of the piece.

Well, let me tell you, I have a lot of quilts that need to be bound. A lot. One of them is actually a pre-Covid project that has been waiting over 5 years for its binding to be attached. That is ridiculous. Clearly I need an intervention. Or help. Or something. 

With St Patrick's Day approaching, I was reminded of a shamrock-themed table topper (and matching full-sized quilt) that has been waiting to be bound for well over a year. Maybe two. I decided to tackle the smaller table topper and get that binding attached by machine. You see the cute little piece in the photo above. It is all trimmed up and the binding prepared. Yes, I actually found the fabric I had set aside for the binding. 

The first step is to attach the binding to the quilt top as you normally would.

I press the binding down flat, turn it over evenly, and pin it in place. Here is where I differ from most other machine binders: I use pins, not quilting clips. I find them more accurate for holding my fabric in place.


If you prefer quilting clips, go for it. Obviously, whether you use pins or quilting clips, you must pull them out of the way of the needle as you reach them.


Next step is to stitch in the ditch on the top side of the quilt where the binding is attached to the body of the quilt. This is going to be practically invisible when finished. Go slowly and perhaps increase your stitch length a bit.


This is the backside of the piece. All sewn down with room to spare. Once in a great while the fabric doesn't get under the needle right and isn't held down. I don't pick out any stitches; I just go back over that little section and you can't even tell.


And this is what the top side of the quilt looks like. I think that is pretty darn good. For saving me hours of hand sewing, I think it is brilliant.


Here is my finished project. The pattern is an old one by Miss Rosie in her "Little Bites" series, called "Grain".  Great for using up scraps!

I was so happy with how it turned out, that I decided to bite the bullet and try to machine bind a full-sized quilt that has been sitting around waiting for years.


I took it slowly, increased my stitch length a bit, and did one side at a time. It turned out perfectly. What have I been waiting for all these years? This technique is life-changing for me.


Here is my quilt on my bed, done and dusted. I doubt the quilting police will issue me a citation for taking a shortcut. Do you do machine binding, or are you like I used to be, thinking the only proper way to attach binding is by hand? 

If you want a video tutorial there are loads of them on YouTube. I think my favorite is Vanessa Goertzen's that she did for Fat Quarter Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Sewing, Very Little Trimming

I spent some time over the weekend trying to find the Olfa Ergonomic Rotary Cutter I bought in 2014, but was completely unable to find it. Where do rotary cutters go to die? At any rate, I had to purchase a new one since my hand is still hurting me.

Here is a tip that may be useful to some of you who might want to purchase one of these RTY-2/DX model Olfa rotary cutters: the prices are all over the place. Olfa lists them for $34.99. Fat Quarter Shop has them for $30.99. Amazon has them for $17.99. You can probably guess which one I opted to buy.

The good news is, it cuts like "buttah" and is very easy to use. The only trimming I did was to trim down the seam allowance on my paper pieced square in a square units. The final trimming I can do when my thumb isn't so sore.


Part of my problem when using the regular cutter was pressing too hard, and the other thing was the repetitive motion of using my thumb over and over to open and close the blade. I am a stickler for closing it each time and that has taken a toll on my thumb muscle. 

I figured that maybe I couldn't trim much, but I could still sew and work on getting these block units done. I worked on the square and square units, and the flying geese units. 


I got through quite a few units and once my hand isn't so sore I will get them trimmed up and made into blocks. For now, I am stashing the components for each block into a little sandwich baggie.


And I have a whole project box full of baggies!


I actually won't have to make all the blocks because the center medallion I made of the little vampire ghost and witch will replace a bunch of them. All in all, I am getting there!


I will be glad to wrap this project up, because I am very tempted to start something new...



You know how that goes!

 

 

 

Two Notions I Am Loving Lately

Good news. Today I will not be talking about making cushions. Woo hoo, they are finished, and that's all I am going to say.

What I did want to share are two sewing notions/tools I am loving lately. The first is the "needle minder" I mentioned a few posts back. It is a magnetic device used often by cross stitch and hand sewers who don't want to lose track of their needle while they change threads. You all know how annoying that is to have your needle disappear into the cushion of the chair you are sitting on. Ouch.

I use mine as more of a "pin catcher". You know when you are sewing along a seam and you really don't want to sew over a pin? I have broken more needles that way and really don't want that situation in my life anymore. I attached this little magnet to the throat plate of my sewing machine and as I approach those pesky pins I can slow down and swoop them off to the side onto the little pin catcher. Much faster than fiddling with a bulky pin cushion. This is the only one I have so far, but I am definitely going to start collecting some seasonal ones.

The second thing I am loving lately is a tool/method of making half-square triangles that is completely new to me. I have mentioned these little "Cute Cuts" square-up rulers before and how much I Iike them. They have crisscrossing diagonal lines and a clearly marked center which help you square up blocks such as an hourglass unit. I have them in several common sizes (2 1/2", 3 1/2", 4 1/2", and 6 1/2").

Lori Holt demonstrates another way to use them, of which I was at first sceptical, but now think is brilliant. Notice how the diagonal line is positioned right on the seam line of my oversized half-square triangle unit in the photos above and below. Using the trim tool for the unfinished block size you want to make, line up the diagonal line with the sewn seam line and trim. Your block will measure exactly the unfinished size you want, plus you only have to cut around the trim tool twice instead of four times as you do with the BlocLoc trim tool.

How clever is that? I have to make quite a lot of half square triangles in a rather unusual size:  2 1/4". I bought the 2 1/4" Cute Cuts trim tool because it wasn't very expensive  ($5.48) and I wanted to try it out. Using Lori's method of just trimming two sides was so much faster than trimming all four sides of the unit after it has been pressed open, which is what I usually do. 

And check it out. Right on the money. After I had done a few, I got smarter about trimming off the dog ears while the ruler was in position to cut the two sides. 


So there you go. It's always good to have an open mind about new ways to do something, right?

 

Cushions and More Cushions

My son-in-law asked me to make 16 cushions for the outside area of his wine tasting room. He bought the fabric ages ago, and I used some of it to recover the cushions on his own home patio. I have been putting off making the tasting room cushions because the weather has been too lousy for anyone to sit outside. But it is March now and I need to get this project done.

Like many projects that I don't do often there is a learning curve to get up to speed. I needed to figure out how to cut two-inch foam pads the size needed. I needed to refresh my memory on how to calculate the size of the gusset/box corners. And I needed to figure out how to do a zipper that wraps around the top two corners of the cushion covers for easy removal. 

I spent half the day watching YouTube videos. Most of the instructions for making your own box cushions were horrible. One woman had her long hair hanging over the pieces she was demonstrating, so what she was doing was completely obscured. Not too useful. A couple of professional upholsterers recommended basting your seam allowance closed and sewing your zipper over it. Then removing your basting stitches, revealing the zipper, but leaving a gazillion little threads to pick off. No thanks, that sounds like extra work. 

The most useful and easy to follow YouTube video was Steh Hiesher's DIY Easy One Piece Box Cushion Cover Tutorial. I highly recommend it if you have any cushion covers to make. Her method of making the boxed corners and the wrap around zipper were both great. 

How about that zipper? It is a nice feature to have it wrap around the sides of the cushion. It makes it a lot less of a struggle to get the foam pad in and out for laundering. 

Now this might surprise you. The foam cushions I am working with are two inches thick. My good Gingher scissors weren't right for the job, and the rotary cutter wouldn't work at all. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, the item that was recommended most often for cutting foam was an electric knife. My dad used to have one he used for carving the Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't want to touch it for fear of cutting off my fingers, but my husband is experienced with using one and he cut the first cushion for me. 

One down and 15 to go! I tell you after making four cushion covers I am done for. Ryan has 16 seats he needs cushions for, so that is what I will be working on for the foreseeable future. I've got a system going now, so my pace should pick up!

Etoile Rouge and Hourglass Units

I mentioned that I am participating in a sew-along called Etoile Rouge, hosted by Kathryn Kerr. You do have to pay to join it, and it started at the beginning of January. She isn't taking any more signups for now but runs the same sew-along every year starting in January. So, if you like the looks of it, mark your calendars to sign up in November or December for next year. 

The idea of the weekly blocks is that each one will be a variation of the Ohio Star block. Which of course, means lots of hourglass blocks (also called quarter-square triangles). 

In today's post, I wanted to discuss two things. One, make sure you have the right fabrics lined up when you sew your hourglass units together. Notice in the photo above, my hourglass units have two red triangles and one triangle each of two different light prints. 

Oops. You see that I combined same light fabrics together rather than one of each light per unit. I'll use them somewhere.

All is not lost, however, because now I want to talk about making the hourglass unit and trimming it down to size. Typically this unit is not made of triangles. Rather, you put two squares right sides together and draw a diagonal line down the center, sew a quarter inch on each side of the line, cut on the line and end up with half-square triangles.  

For the next step, repeat the process with two different half-square triangles.

And there you have your quarter square triangle units or hourglass units. Obviously, if you had combined a red and white hst with a green and white hst, your hourglass unit would have a green and a red triangle rather than two of the same color. 

These images are from The Seasoned Homemaker blog, where she offers a free pdf with instructions.

The thing I wanted to talk about was making the units slightly larger and trimming them down to the correct size after sewing. Kathryn calls for cutting your initial squares one inch larger than the unfinished block unit. My units need to end up 3 1/2 inches unfinished, so I cut all my squares for the hourglass units 4 1/2 inches.  I have heard of cutting them slightly less than one inch and also of cutting them 1 1/4 inches larger than your desired unfinished size. 

After some experimentation, I found that Kathryn was right and that cutting one inch larger was sufficient. 

In the photo, I am using my 3 1/2-inch Cute Cuts trim ruler to cut the hourglass block down to size. You can see I am getting plenty of excess fabric when I trim and that the lines on the ruler are lining up perfectly with the center and the seams of the block unit. You don't need this special ruler, any ruler with diagonal lines could work. What I like about this tool is that the center is clearly marked for the size I am cutting.

This may seem like a long-winded explanation, but for a perfect finished block, the corner seams on the hourglass units must be perfect or things will not line up and will look wonky on your finished block. Notice on my first photo how the inner light triangles are perfectly aligned with the corners of the center block. Making the units larger and trimming carefully allows that to happen. 

Design Boards Part Two

The design board saga continues with my second method for finishing off the raw edges. This time I used duct tape (duck tape?) to finish the edges of the design board. It worked brilliantly. It was fast, it was easy, it wasn't messy. Pretty much an all-around winner, if you ask me.

One reader indicated that she didn't see the need to finish the edges of her design boards in any way, but I tend to think it is more pleasant to use a nicely finished board than one without finished edges. Lori Holt says "If it's worth making, it's worth making it cute". She does have a point. At any rate, the duct tape-finished boards aren't nearly as "cute" as the fabric-finished ones, but they are both finished and functional. I have one more method I am going to experiment with, that involves iron-on adhesive interfacing, but that is for another day. For now, I am totally satisfied with the duct tape method.

I had a busy weekend, with family projects and the Super Bowl, so no sewing got done. Friday I managed to get the fourth Mercantile block done. All four that I have made thus far are pictured above. I think trimming those low-volume blocks down to a uniform 13 1/4" is going to work just fine.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I am a 49s fan, but how about those Chiefs?

Foundation Paper Tip

While working on my Designer Mystery 2015/Snowman Gatherings project over the weekend, I ran into a problem. I needed to make some square in a square units in a size for which I did not have foundation paper.

When making this fussy unit, I have found that the only way I can get good results is to use foundation paper. I have been purchasing the little pads of foundation paper sold on Fat Quarter Shop's website. The typical sizes that I have used are 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch unfinished units. But this project was calling for something that I definitely did not have on hand.

I needed to make 2-inch and 3-inch unfinished square in a square units. I was stymied for a bit because I wanted to get those blocks done and not have to wait a week for an online order to FQS to go through. Plus, I wasn't even sure if they made foundation paper in those unusual sizes.

So, I went to Etsy.com and started searching for foundation papers in those odd sizes.

The Quilted Story is an Etsy shop that sells pdf files of foundation paper patterns in multiple sizes. You can make your purchase, download it, and print your foundation paper patterns within minutes. The price is great as well. For $6 you get the download which you can use multiple times to make hundreds of blocks. Also (and this is a BIG deal), in your download are included 5 different sizes of square in a square units!  In comparison, the foundation paper pads sold by FQS cost nearly $10 and you get 40 papers in one size. 

I need to say that the FQS foundation paper pads are of excellent quality and have never steered me wrong. And if you are not sure that your printer will print out to the correct scale, this do-it-at-home process may not work for you. My printer works great and prints things right to the correct scale, so this worked brilliantly for me. 

You also need to have the right type of paper to print on. I had a package of blank Carol Doak foundation paper on hand, which is crucial for sewing. It is lightweight and tears off easily. 

Next up were 40 3-inch unfinished square in a square units. Easy peasy. I printed out the number of sheets that I needed, made my block units and trimmed them to size.

Finding this online source of accurate pdf files for square in a square units was a real time and money saver for me. I wanted to pass the tip along in case you ever need it!

 

 

A Tip to Speed Up the Block Making Process

As shown in yesterday's post, I have been working on the Granny Square blocks for the Family Reunion sew-along from the Rollin' Along book. For my first block I got up and pressed my seams open for every single seam in those blocks. It took F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

For my second block, I pulled out my old-fashioned little wooden seam presser. I used to it flatten each seam to the side rather than open. I paid attention to the direction my seams went, alternating the direction for each row so that the seams would nest. That little stick did a great job of pressing those seams down.

I used it again to flatten the seams after sewing the block rows together. Honestly, it worked fine. And it was so much better than getting up and going to the ironing station so frequently. The block with opposing seams went together in half the time of the block with the open seams.

After a final press with the iron, to my observation, there was no difference in the flatness of the blocks when comparing open seams to nesting seams. In my book, the time-saving factor of using the little wooden seam press and having the seams nest/oppose wins.

I have had my little seam presser stick for years, and do not recall where I got it. I checked on Fat Quarter Shop and they did not have that exact one, but had some in wood or plastic that would achieve the same results.

Current Favorite Sewing Tools

I thought it might be fun to talk about some quilting/sewing tools I have been using lately. I truly believe they are responsible for making my sewing more accurate.

First up is starch. I buy it by the half dozen cans or more at Walmart, where I have found the best prices. If you haven't discovered the benefits of starching your quilting fabric before cutting it out, it might be time to give it a try. I go through two or three cans of it when I prepare my fabric for a new project. There are loads of YouTube tutorials that extol the benefits of starch and explain how to do it. I like the ones by Kimberley Jolly and Lisa Bongean. Starching gives your fabric a body that really enhances cutting and sewing accuracy.

My new CHI iron. Oh my goodness, I love this iron. It supposedly has 400 steam holes. I didn't count them, but I can tell you that it puts out a lot of steam. And the 30-minute-auto-shut-off feature is easy to love too.

These funny things are called tailor's clappers. Mine are made by Riley Blake and are some kind of hardwood. After pressing a seam you lay one on top of the seam and the heat from the pressed fabric passes to the wood and back to the fabric and somehow all that hot goodness makes the seams lie flatter. It really works. I liked it so much I bought another one. And you know something? One of them is noticeably heavier than the other. Bummer, right? I want two equally heavy clappers.

Some of my favorite quilting tools are trim tools. This clever device is a "Cute Cuts" trim tool by Lori Holt. I bought a set of them in various sizes and don't regret the expense one bit. This little tool is perfect for hourglass blocks or blocks such as the one in the picture above. Those blocks come out wonky 100% of the time unless you make them larger and trim them down. With the center, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines clearly marked on the trim tool, your block units will now come out perfect without fail every time.

Any BLocLoc tool you buy is worth it. Flying Geese, Half Square Triangles, Strip Cut Ruler- they are all excellent. They come in many sizes, but for half-square triangles, you can use a larger one and use the markings on it to trim your unit down to the right size. I am using a 3 1/2" tool to trim my HST down to
2 3/4". For flying geese, it is best to have the exact size you are making.

I love my BlocLoc rulers for half-square triangles, but I use triangle paper too.  Back in the 90s I purchased a ton of Thangles triangle papers, because they were new on the market and I wanted to try them. I have since purchased Star Singles triangle papers and Kimberly Jolly's Triangles On A Roll papers and think I prefer them to the Thangles. However, I have a drawer full of Thangles and decided to use them up on a project I am working on that calls for a lot of 3" hsts. I'm sure they are still sold in stores, but you won't get the price I paid back in 1996!

You know how sometimes when you are making a project, you find yourself repeatedly cutting the same size strips of fabric over and over? These Creative Grids rulers come in 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" widths. There are more sizes available, but those are the two that I got, and I love them. No kidding, I grab either of those rulers non stop when I am cutting out fabric for block units. Of course, you can use a bigger ruler, but I love the accuracy of these that are the exact size I want.

You know those projects where you have to trim dozens of corner triangles? It gets tiring to snip each one individually. So, a little trick I learned is to place a number of them on your cutting mat, and with a ruler with the quarter-inch marking clearly visible, line it up and use your rotary cutter to trim a bunch at once. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the tools I have been reaching for a lot lately. If you have a special tool or sewing aid you like, please share in the comments! And if your favorite sewing tool is M & M's, that's fine too.