Matching ends and centers when sewing long seams

I avoid pinning when I can get away with it, but sewing long seams is not one of those times.  

The top or bottom fabric may shift a tiny bit relative to the other fabric every time the feed dogs advance the fabrics.  It's usually such a slight shift that it's not noticeable over short seams.  In longer seams, it adds up so that one fabric seems longer than the other, even when they were the exact same length when you started. 

Even if it's a small difference, it makes it harder to piece accurately when you add this unit to another part of the quilt.  That small shift of layers can also add a slight bend in a strip set, or a ripple in the seam.  Sorry I couldn't get a good photo of that, but I'm sure many of you have experienced that firsthand.

The key to avoiding this is to match and pin the two pieces you're sewing together.  I'll demonstrate with strips, but this works for any two edges that are the same length.  You could be sewing a strip to a larger pieced section, or adding a measured border to the side of a quit.  (Check out this tutorial for more on borders.)

Step 1:  Start with two strips of equal length.

Step 2: Fold one strip in half right sides together and the other strip in half wrong sides together.  Crease the folds to mark the center of each strip.

When you unfold them and look at them both right side up, you will see the creases created a little valley in one and a little hill in the other.

Valley in the top strip, hill in the lower one.

Step 3:  When you lay the fabrics right side together in preparation for sewing, the creases in the two pieces should nest.

Of course you'll also need to line up the edges where the seam will be sewn, but I wanted to show you how the two creases nest so had to pull the top fabric down so you could see both fabrics.

Step 4:  Pin center and ends.  

Pin the centers together by pinning in the nested crease.

Match the right ends of the strip and pin in place.  Repeat at the opposite end of the strips.

Step 5:  Add more pins between these to keep the fabric layers from shifting between the pins.  I like to add a pin every 2" to 3". 

If there's a fair distance between the center and the ends, I start by pinning halfway between the center and end pins, then halving that distance with another pin, repeating until everything is pinned every 2" to 3".

Step 6:  Sew the strips together, taking care not to sew on a pin.  

I don't remove all the pins as they near the needle, because then there wouldn't be anything keeping the layers from shifting.  However, I do slow down when I get close to the needle, and slip the pin out immediately in front of the needle, as close as I can get, if it looks like the needle might hit the pin instead of dropping in front of or behind it.

Here is the strip pair, with a ruler to show it's straight and the ends of the original strips are even with each other.

That's all there is to it.  It's a little more time consuming to pin than not, but in the case of longer strips it really helps me piece more accurately for a tidy result.

I'd love to know your top tips for sewing long seams.  Please share them in the comments.

Happy sewing,

Joanne

Thank you to White Owl Textiles, a division of Lumin Fabrics, for sending the fabrics I used in this tutorial.  These are from the Fundamentals collection "Codici".

City Line QAL - Week 1

It’s time!  The City Line QAL kicks off today.  For the next six weeks we’ll be sewing the City Line quilt.  I’ll break the pattern into six easy parts, one per week, to set an easy pace.  I’ll share tips and tutorials along the way here on the blog.

If you’re already registered and have your pattern, you’re all set.  You can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  If you still need to purchase the pattern, you can find the PDF download version here.  Registering gives you access to the bonus quilt sizes not included in the pattern and adds you to the email list to receive the links to the blog posts and tutorials so you don’t have to look for them every week.  You can register for free here.

QAL Week 1 - Cut fabric

This week, skip over page 1 to the cutting instructions on page 2.  The pairing and numbering of fabrics can wait until next week (unless you have already done that, in which case, yay you!).  The labelling of fabrics won’t affect how many strips of each fabric you need, as you cut the same number from each fabric.  In adition to the instructions in the pattern, read on for extra guidance, tips, and links to helpful tutorials.

Cutting Non-Background Fabric

When cutting the strips of non-background fabrics, pay particular attention to two things.

1. Make sure the strips are straight.

Cut the strips to avoid an angle or bend in the middle.  You need all the strips to fit together smoothly. A bend in any of them would interfere with that.

For guidance on how to avoid the bend, refer to my new tutorial on cutting strips.

2. Cut all the strips to the same length. 

Thank you to White Owl Textiles for sending me
 these fabrics from their Fundamentals collections. 
Scroll to the bottom of this post for additional fabric details.

I know it’s tempting to sew strips together willy nilly, then trim the sewn unit to size, but that could introduce some bowing in the strip set. We won’t be sub-cutting these sets into smaller units, so there will not be any opportunity to mitigate bowing in the strip sets at that step, as there often is when cutting strip sets into smaller units. Starting with strips exactly the same length is key to keeping things straight now so you have have straight units to make your center panel later.   Also, the strip sets will become columns, and you need them all the same length unless you plan to redo all the math for the background pieces.

I prefer to cut the strips to length right after cutting them, before I unfold them.  Refer to my new tutorial about cutting strips longer than your ruler for guidance on measuring long strips.

Cutting Background Fabric

Cut Wide borders (B and C)

The top and bottom borders may be wider than your ruler, especially if you are making one of the larger bonus sizes of the quilt.  This tutorial shares how I tackle those wide cuts.

These come up first in the cutting chart, even though they get used last when assembling the quilt,  because I like to cut the largest parts first.  If I goof there, I can cut smaller parts from the large oops parts, and hopefully be able to recut the miscut part from the remaining fabric. 

Cut setting pieces (D to J)

As much as possible, I cut pieces in decreasing size order, but there are exceptions.  To make most efficient use of fabric, I cut as many large pieces as possible from a strip, then find smaller pieces that can be cut from the remaining strip length.  Sometimes that means skipping a few in-between sizes, or cutting lots of smaller pieces individually here and there instead of all at once from one strip. To save you the trouble of figuring this out, I have added a cutting diagram to the cutting instructions in the pattern showing which pieces D to J can be cut from each background strip.

You’ll notice that it ends up skipping from D directly to F in one strip, and from E to H in another, and that not all H are cut at once.  It’s not a problem.  The important part is to end up with the correct number of each piece in the end.  

Also note that my cutting charts and diagrams are based on 40" width of fabric.  If your fabric is wider, you might be able to squeeze additional parts from some strips and reduce the total number of strips you need to cut.

I recommend labelling the different size setting pieces for quick identification when you need them later. You can use fancy alphabet clips.  You can grab a sharpie and label some wonderclips.  You can do what I do and just cut up squares of scrap paper, write the part labels on them, and pin them to the top of each stack of parts. (Now that I've thought of the sharpie/wonderclip combo, I might do that next time.  It's not like I can't use the clips for binding just because they have letters on them!)

That’s all for this week.  Go forth and cut fabric!  We’ll reconvene next Monday to start sewing.

Happy sewing,

Joanne

Fabrics from White Owl Textiles

Cutting wide strips with a narrow ruler

If you piece quilts with wide borders or large areas of negative space in the background, you have probably encountered the need to cut a width-of-fabric strip that is wider than your widest ruler.  Cutting large squares to cut setting triangles when setting blocks on point also often requires wider cutting.  What's a quilter with narrow rulers to do?

I have two methods to share with you.  For either method you'll need to start with a straight edge.  

Note:  I'm right handed so these instructons are right-handed.  If you are left-handed you'll need to reverse left/right directions.

Straighten the cut edge of the fabric

Fold the fabric in half along the length, selvedge to selvedge. 

Position the fabric with the edge to straighten on the right.

Lay your ruler over the fabric to extend across the entire width of fabric, from fold to selvedges, lining up a horizontal measurement line with the fold (highlighted as a red line in picture below).  The precise measurement doesn't matter.  You just want a straight line aligned with the fold.  That will give you the 90 degree angle at the corner where the fold and the ruler's side meet.

Trim along the right side of the ruler.  You should now have a cut straight edge that is perfectly square with the folded edge.

Turn the fabric or rotate the cutting mat 180° to position the straightened edge on the left.

METHOD 1

In this example, I'm cutting a 11"-wide strip.  The 6" width of my 6" x 24" ruler is clearly not wide enough.  I can turn the ruler 90° and use the 11"  measurement.  (You may notice I swapped my 12" ruler for the 24", because it's less cumbersome but still long enough.  If I needed to cut a strip wider than 12", I'd stick with the longer ruler.)

As always when measuring strips, I make sure a horizontal marking aligns up with the folded edge, and the measurement I'm cutting (11" in this case) lines up with the straightened cut edge.

The ruler doesn't span the distance from fold to selvedge.  That's OK.  I cut along the right edge of the ruler, stop before I run out of ruler, move the ruler up, again measuring 11", and cut again.  I repeat that until I've cut all the way up to the selvedge.

I now have a 11" strip, ready to use for borders, or subcutting, or whatever the pattern calls for. 

What if you don't have a ruler long enough for the width?  See Method 2 below.

METHOD 2

This method pairs multiple ruler to add up to the required measurement.  In this example I'm cutting an 8.5" strip.  I could have cut this using Method 1, but I wanted to demonstrate Method 2. The smaller scale is easier to photograph to show detail, so I'm demonstrating with a 8.5" strip width.  This method would be most useful when you don't have a long enough ruler to use Method 1.

There's a tiny bit of math next, but it's simple arithmetic so even if you're not fond of math, don't panic.

Subtract the width of one ruler (let's call this Ruler #1) from the required strip width.  In this case I'm using my 6" x 24" ruler to span from fold to selvedge, so the width is 6".

8.5" - 6" = 2.5"

The resuting number, 2.5" in this example, is the measurement to use with Ruler #2.  I position my Ruler #2 to measure 2.5" from the cut edge.

Next, I tuck Ruler #1 up against this one, on the right, over the fabric.. The measured 2.5" on Ruler #2 plus the width of Ruler #1 on the right add up to the required 8.5".

When using a longer ruler on the right, I have the option of sliding the left ruler up along the right ruler before I cut, making sure to not move the right ruler, to double check that the edge is square and the width measurement will be accurate all the way up to the selvedge.

Uusing a 24" long ruler on the right I can cut along the right edge and be done.

If my ruler was shorter I could cut, move both rulers up, and cut again, as in Method 1.

Which method do your prefer for cutting wide strips?  Please share your tips and suggestions in the comments!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

PS: This fabric used in this tutorial is "Smoke" from the Codici collection, one of White Owl Textiles' Funadamentals collections, their colour basics.   I love the Codici dots!