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From: rachaelchiz
Date: 08-04-2006, 10:09 AM (1 of 14)
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Hey everyone - I'm glad for this opportunity to join you. This is my first time on the boards. I am in the process of making my first quilt. I am using paper piecing and a machine to pull all the pieces together. I am currently having a lot of trouble getting the seams to match up as I sew the blocks together. The book I am using to get me started suggests "machine basting" the blocks together before sewing the seam. The book says that doing this will save a lot of frustration - which I have right now - a lot of frustration. Only problem is, is that I am brand new at this. I feel dumb, but I don't know what "machine basting" is or how it's generally done on a sewing machine. If anybody can indulge my ignorance, I'd be greatful! Rachael |
User: rachaelchiz
Member since: 08-03-2006 Total posts: 6 |
From: HeyJudee
Date: 08-04-2006, 10:32 AM (2 of 14)
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Hi Rachael...Welcome to SWN. I'm a quilter but have never tried paper piecing so I can't really help you much. But machine basting generally means sewing with a very long stitch length, e.g. 4.0 instead of 2.0 or 2.5. A "basting" stitch is generally used when you want to take it out later on. It is easier to remove stitches with a longer lenght. Others will probably be along to provide some advice for you. All I can do is give you some beginner sites that I found and planned to use when I try to learn how to pp. Maybe some of these will help you figure things out. http://www.winnowing.com/ppp.html http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingthree.html http://www.paperpanache.com/howto/howto.htm http://www.stitchersneedle.com/article1009.html Again welcome! TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366 
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From: Patty22
Date: 08-04-2006, 11:10 AM (3 of 14)
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I am currently having a lot of trouble getting the seams to match up as I sew the blocks together....... Rachael, the paper piecing method is an adaptation of what was historically known as foundation piecing. This would be in crazy quilting where scraps of fabrics were added to a foundation piece of fabric and then later embellished. I'm not sure what you are using in your paper piecing as your foundation. Are you using paper, a stabalizer that is later torn away, or fabric? However you choose to do your blocks, it is still necessary to get them uniform before they are joined together in units or rows to create the quilt top. What I can suggest to you is that before you tear away your foundation piece, run basting (or long stitches) just outside your seam line. Let's say your block is suppose to be 6 inches finished - your block should be 6 1/2 inches allowing for your seam allowances on all sides. Hence, the basting stitch will be about 1/8" from the seam line. You should then take your block to your cutting mat and square off your block to an exact 6 1/2" taking away any excess fabric, dog ears, or foundation material. These steps should aid you in getting your top to go together. Personally, I have found that using muslin is great in foundation piecing. This is especially true when my scraps are on the bias, my foundation piece will ensure that the finished top will hang properly. A word of caution though, foundation pieicing is not necessarily the best option if you want to hand quilt later because you have added an extra layer of thickness to needle. Hope this helps you. If you're having problems, take a picture of what you are questioning - a picture is worth a thousand words! Check out Judy's sites she has posted. Judy is the Queen of Internet information! Patty
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User: Patty22
Member since: 03-29-2006 Total posts: 1194 |
From: plrlegal
Date: 08-04-2006, 01:09 PM (4 of 14)
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Patty: Paper piecing is exactly what it says it is. The paper has a quilt block pattern printed on it and you stitch pieces of fabric to each section of the block to create an entire quilt block. It is essentially a flip & sew method on paper which is later removed before stitching the blocks together for the quilt top. If you square all of your blocks up to the same size (i.e., 12-1/2", 10-1/2 inches, etc., you shouldn't have any trouble getting your corners to match when you stitch your blocks together. Also, are you sashing each block, or anthing like that or just stitching the blocks together? However you're doing it, you should use a 1/4" seam. Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: Patty22
Date: 08-04-2006, 01:48 PM (5 of 14)
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To be more specific....even if a pattern says paper piecing.....one can use fabric as a foundation if they want to. That is what is so great about quilting, there aren't any rules written into stone tablets.
Patty
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User: Patty22
Member since: 03-29-2006 Total posts: 1194 |
From: rachaelchiz
Date: 08-04-2006, 02:03 PM (6 of 14)
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Thanks for the help everyone... I've got all the blocks done. They are all sewed onto regular copy paper, not fabric. I may regret that later, I'm not sure how easily it will tear away from the blocks. But thanks to you all, I have a lot of great ideas for making this work when I get home today. As far as I can tell, you guys are just telling me to baste the pieces together by extending the length of my stitch - so that means fewer stitches per inch - which are easier to take out as I am trying to get everything to fit together the way it's supposed to be. The websites you told me to look at are pretty helpful for the most part. I printed out a lot of pages  .Thanks again. I'll update you tomorrow. |
User: rachaelchiz
Member since: 08-03-2006 Total posts: 6 |
From: HeyJudee
Date: 08-04-2006, 04:31 PM (7 of 14)
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Just to clarify about basting... "Basting is used to temporarily hold two pieces of fabric together so you can make sure that the fit is correct." But usually after you baste and check, you need to sew a regular seam with the regular stitch length. There should be something in your instructions to indicate this. Hope this helps... TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366
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From: rachaelchiz
Date: 08-04-2006, 08:06 PM (8 of 14)
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Again, thanks for everybody's ideas! I feel so loved!!!! I sewed the first two horizontal rows in my quilt together and started on the second two rows. Everything is matching up pretty good, I guess I just shouldn't expect absolute perfection for my first quilt. I ended up matching important matching points together, then BASTING - which is a new term I learned thanks to you guys - starting with the inner two most blocks and moving outwards, then sewing the seam. Everthying looks pretty good. Thanks again. Rach |
User: rachaelchiz
Member since: 08-03-2006 Total posts: 6 |
From: swartzrn
Date: 08-05-2006, 11:42 AM (9 of 14)
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HI Rach--trust me when I say that nothing is going to be perfect anytime. I just started quilting too and I didn't paper piece. I used an irish chain pattern I found on the internet that is really easy. It has 7 blocks across and nine rows. I put 3-2 1/2 inch borders around it which was really easy and a nine-patch block in each corner. I'm in the process of finishing up the hand quilting. I really like everything to match up perfectly but I think with these kinds of projects it just isn't going to everytime. One hint my grandmother gave me is that when you get done putting everything together and get ready to lay it all out to put the batting and backing on (getting it ready to quilt) to spread it out on your bed, pinning the corners very taut. You can go through and baste everything (meaning the 3 layers.) I had originally tried laying it out on the floor. I have a 2 yr old that thought that laying a quilt out on the floor meant time to jump around on it. By putting it out on the mattress of the bed, I wasn't leaned over on the floor and the 2 year old wasn't on top of it!! hehehehehe!! I pinned it with big quilting safety pins and then thread basted it by hand. It worked really well. I'm glad I"m not the only one working on a first quilt. Maybe we can learn together!! It's addicting, isn't it! Julie Julie
"To see the future, look into a child's eyes." |
User: swartzrn
Member since: 02-17-2006 Total posts: 436 
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From: HeyJudee
Date: 08-05-2006, 02:48 PM (10 of 14)
Rach & Julie....being beginner quilters you probably haven't heard of the 3 and 6 foot rules. When putting your blocks together and things don't match up exactly...most quilters apply the 3 foot rule. The "3 foot" rule is to stand back three feet and see if you notice that things don't match. If you still notice, then apply the "6 foot" rule!!! 
TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366
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From: DorothyL
Date: 08-05-2006, 03:15 PM (11 of 14)
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Judy -- There is also the "You can't see it from a racing horse" thing. Does that apply here? Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: HeyJudee
Date: 08-05-2006, 11:32 PM (12 of 14)
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Gee Dorothy...I've never heard that one before, but what the heck...why not!
TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366
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From: swartzrn
Date: 08-06-2006, 07:23 PM (13 of 14)
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Those sound like good rules to me. I actually had ordered a book about paper piecing and got it today. I haven't had much time to flip through it but it looks like a good book!
Julie
"To see the future, look into a child's eyes." |
User: swartzrn
Member since: 02-17-2006 Total posts: 436
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From: rachaelchiz
Date: 08-07-2006, 11:53 AM (14 of 14)
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Julie - sounds good that we can learn together! Congratulations on almost finishing your very first quilt, that's awesome. I was looking in a quilting book the other day and saw the Irish chain pattern (or one of them). It is so pretty! I was actually thinking of doing thaa pattern for my next quilt. Well, now that I've got all my pieces sewn together and am now working on the border, I'm enjoying quiliting very much again. It is addicting! Rach |
User: rachaelchiz
Member since: 08-03-2006 Total posts: 6 |
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