Group sewing projects are fun. My bee group has made a handful of quilts to donate to our guild’s community service in the two years our group’s been in existence. We work on blocks independently, then schedule sew-ins at a local quilt shop 2-3x per year to lay out projects and assemble the top(s). We get to use their big classroom space for a modest fee of $5 per person.
Today’s quilt top was made from alternating 9 patch and snowball blocks. The blocks were suppose to be 6-1/2″ unfinished. Some had to be set aside because they were either too small or too large. Many others had to be “stretched” or “centered” with the adjacent block so the two blocks could be sewn together. We all started with the same 2-1/2″ and 6-1/2″ squares. The differences are basically attributable to varying 1/4″ seam allowances and pressing with steam.
So how can you consistently make your blocks the correct size?
- Starch, Best Press or Magic Spray fabric before you begin. Allow it to cool and dry before cutting.
- Cut accurately. Use a nonslip ruler and rotary cutter with a fresh blade. Use a die cutting machine or specialty ruler such as the Shape Cut by June Tailor.
- Use a fine piecing thread like Aurifil 50wt with an 80/12 Microtex needle. Wonderfil’s Efina 60wt and Hobby Lobby’s 50wt cotton thread (on the cross-wound spool) also work well.
- Sew with a scant 1/4″ seam. I have to move my needle position 1 or 2 clicks to the right to get a scant 1/4″ seam allowance. Test your machine with your preferred piecing foot.
- Sew a sample block before cutting everything out. It’s okay to have to trim it down slightly. It’s even okay to come up occasionally 1/8″ short on a side. This variation can easily be worked into a row of blocks. Anything more and you’ll need to make adjustments to your piecing process.
Making snowball blocks here. I trimmed the corners using my Simple Folded Corners Ruler from Doug Leko. Stitched seams using O2 Janome 1/4″ foot and my needle position one click to the right.
Before leaving our sew-in today, I made a sample block for our next collaborative quilt – Puzzle Box. Used the same needle position as I did for the snowball blocks, only my block was a tad small. I made another one at home. The second sample block using a needle position of 3.5 yielded a near perfect 8-1/2″ square with only slivers needing to be trimmed away. Winner!
Come Stitch With Me 