dixie_fried

I really struggled with 1/4 " seams for the longest time. I just couldn't keep them consistent.
I went to the pharmacy and bought some thick mole skin sheets (at least 1/4" thick this stuff must be...). I used graph paper to find the 1/4" mark from my furthest right needle placement, and I stuck a cut piece of mole skin on that line (I used the outside edge with a nice straight cut towards the needle side). When I butt my fabric to be pieced up against it, it has a nice little quide to keep me from wiggling my stitching line.
This is really the only reason I kept trying to piece quilts. Otherwise, I think I would have given up.

Charleen DiSante

Don't forget, you have to add a whole inch and not just a half inch to come out the same size block. Remember, you add half and inch all around to allow for the 1/4 inch seams. (12 1/2 inch blocks make 12 inch blocks finished as stated above)

fatquarters

I don't understand how it is easier to get a perfect half than a perfect quarter. my quarter is off sometimes too, but I don't think I could get a perfect half. It's not the seam allowance that needs to be perfect but rather the block itself, so trimming the seam allowance won't fix that

EagarBeez

I have a basic sears machine, nothing fancy. I line up my fabric against my pressure foot. Makes a quarter inch seam.

luvrazz

Quarter inch or half inch seam you still have to sew it accurate or your block won't be the right size.

mhansen6

I see nothing wrong with 1/2 seams. If you can figure out the math to make it work then go for it. There is nothing written in stone about 1/4 in seams. No quilt police here. If it makes the piecing process better for you then do it.

craftiladi

Loretta, i did just that when i first started quilting and it works out great if your fabric isn't expensive and you really don't care whether you are wasting but if doing a big project it will add up. Now that being said...my middle name is ShortCut, if there is a short i will find it but sometimes you really need to analyze. In my case I had to force myself to learn that pesty scant 1/4, it really does help to get a 1/4 foot for your sewing machine and practice.

redmadder

My seventy year old Singer only does straight stitch. I put layers of plastic tape as a 1/4 inch seam guide. 100% improvement. The thing is that any machine that does zigzag has all those extra gears and wiggles. For the first time in nearly 40 years of sewing my 1/4 inch seams are accurate and consistent.

Pieces2

On my Bernina I can move my needle position to sew a 1/4 inch seam, this way I can keep the fabric lined up with the edge of my presser foot. 1/4 inch seams are not a problem for me.
I'm unable to grasp why 1/4 inch seams are such a problem.(?)

beadywoman

Hi, Lorettan,

Ya know, I think that we tend to put a LOT of undue pressure on ourselves. I have trouble with the 1/4 inch seam too, and so some of my blocks would be ok and some would just be nightmares to match up and seam that last row. Was it my cutting, I wondered...So I tried to be more consistent in my cutting. And I dug out my 1/4 inch foot.

I bet that if you looked really closely at those heirloom quilts we all rave over, the ones that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers made, our accuracy would beat the pants off of theirs. They quilted out of necessity. Now we quilt for fun and beat ourselves up if it isn't perfect. Bottom line, as my husband keeps reminding me, is that if you are having fun, that's what counts. 100 years from now, nobody is going to stand up and should, "But Lorettan couldn't sew a straight 1/4 inch seam!"

Just keep sewing. Some days everything will come out beautifully, and some days you'll wonder why in the WORLD you took up sewing. Then grin and pick up another one of those hateful triangles!