From – Feb 2, 2010
I often get questions about why the results a student gets aren’t the results that I displayed. The answer is in the care of preparation and execution. I am almost compulsive about the care that I take in cutting straight lines, sewing a consistent seam allowance and lining up the fabrics correctly.
When a quilt is too lopsided, it could be because the seam allowances regularly vary from 1/8 of an inch to 3/16 s and back rather than the consistent ¼ inch required. Not only does this make it impossible to iron out the seams, but building one block upon another this way will take your work into all kinds of awkward shapes. Think of trying to stack coffee cups. If all of the handles are on the same side, the stack lists and eventually will fall over.
As important is the cutting. Someone brought me a theater costume to “fix”. The problem was that the seamstress had not cut the fabric carefully along the pattern. The difference between size 8 and size 14 are not that large along a single pattern line. However, when all sewn together the difference in the final product is the culmination of all of those small variations resulting in a garment that couldn’t possibly fit anyone.
The same can be said for cutting out quilt pieces. Cutting the pieces in a consistent and careful manner and then following the pattern will move you much closer to finishing that perfect quilt design. Do you want a homemade look or a custom made look? Carefully following the quilt pattern, taking care to assemble the pieces properly and taking out mistakes and redoing them correctly will provide you with much more pride of accomplishment and will be much more pleasing to your recipient.
Yesterday I saw a magnificent piece of quilting artwork. Yes, the fabrics were beautiful and the quilt design was lovely, but, you can see that every day. The true artistry was in the workmanship. She had assembled a beautiful quilt masterfully. It seemed to be perfect.
It all starts with cutting and assembling carefully.
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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!
