Quilter's fabric and pattern helps

[mame1616]

Oh, I don't have a block I'm working on right now - this was quite some time ago. But I remember how frustrated I was with those.

Right now, my issue is the regular borders around my daughter's quilt. I measured several places along both the width and the length and took the average, but the border is still wavy. I have to remove it and try again. It's a fairly wide long twin, for college, so I dread having to wrestle with it right now. It's very annoying when I've done other quilts with no problems, and then this one doesn't turn out although I followed the same steps.

Thanks for your help! This thread isn't busy, but I enjoy it quite a bit!

Here's pics of a couple of my quilts I wish I had the time to do this everyday!

The Rutgers Quilt

The Crazy Chicken Quilt - basted sandwich - Confusion pattern from Maple Island Quilts

The border is all the snippets from trimming the blocks, plus some other scraps - it's fairly heavy, but very cool!

 

[NanaKat]

Great quilts!...Love the border idea on the chicken quilt.


Quote Mame1616
"Right now, my issue is the regular borders around my daughter's quilt. I measured several places along both the width and the length and took the average, but the border is still wavy. I have to remove it and try again. It's a fairly wide long twin, for college, so I dread having to wrestle with it right now. It's very annoying when I've done other quilts with no problems, and then this one doesn't turn out although I followed the same steps"


Some blocks even though you iron and trim to size just seem to invite uneven sides. To avoid it, I make sure the blocks are the same size before sewing the rows. Then I only sew 1/2 a row and measure all again. It is easier to fix a 1/2 row than a whole row....

When I have sides that are uneven, I measure each and determine the difference.
Example Side 1 is 97 inches and the opposite side is 100 inches. The difference is 3 inches.
To "fix" the problem:
I cut the border for side 1 at 98 Inches and the length for the opposite side at 99 inches.
This leaves only a difference of one inch...not as noticable when finished. To attach the border, I pin the ends on to the quilt top, and then find the middle and pin it.and so on. One side will be slightly eased and the other side will be slightly stretched. One inch over the entire length of each side is not going to be too wavy.

 

[Balefire]

If you Ladies need some more insparations...http://www.floridacabinfever.com/activities_bom.html .....

 

[NanaKat]

Balefire...That is a really neat site. love thei diversity of the blocks.

 

[NanaKat]

Simple way to make a pinwheel... I was looking over this thread and realized I had deleted the picture that went with the instructions. here are the instructions to go with the picture. 1) match two squares right sides together and sew a 1/4 inch margin on all four sides leaving the corners clear. 2) cut the square diagonnaly into four half triangles. press open with seam to darkest fabric. 3) arrange and sew the four together TIP I sew together leaving the inside point open. I back stitch 1/4 inch from the center point. Thus when I press the seams, a flat rosette is formed.

 

[katsdar]

nice tip thanks

 

[NanaKat]

Thousandsofbolts.com is having a sale on their dots and stripes fabrics for prices beginning at $4.95.....so hard to resist!

 

[NanaKat]

Thousandsofbolts.com has been running some nice sales lately.

 

[NanaKat]

Speckledhen mentioned these two fabric sources today on her great thread about her quilting love.....

There is a small business that is run by one woman in South Carolina called Handful of Fabric, limited selections but you might see about her quilt backs--only $8 /yard and a flat rate shipping on everything. If you sign for her email updates, she sends you a 10% off coupon on your first order, too. http://www.handfuloffabric.com/ Most others are $4/yd. Haven't ordered from her yet, so can't really say about the quality but might be worth checking out.

I have some fabric from Fabrics.com and the ones I've gotten have been of good quality, but it's been awhile since I purchased them.


NOTE: I should add that in checking some of the sites listed early in this thread, a few now post error messages. Dont be discouraged by the first few listings....there are many good connections for ideas, patterns, as well as fabric sources.

 

[NanaKat]

Fabric sale thru March 12 at Www.thousandsofbolts.com and prices are as low as $3.59 a yard on great name brand quilting fabrics.