Perfecting the Quarter Inch Seam
What type of quilt PIECER have you become? Are you:
A. “Fast-and-speedy-hurry-up-and-get-it-done-and-on-to-the-next-project” piecer.
B. “I-take-my-time-and-enjoy-every-part-of-the-quilting-process” piecer.
C. “Every-point-must-be-perfect-and-if-it-is-not-it-gets-ripped out” piecer.
No matter what your quilting style, everyone is after THEIR own perfect 1/4” seam. I say “their”, because each person holds the fabric a little different, sews on a different machine, watches a different guide, or has one of many specialty made quarter inch feet. Even rotary cutters, rulers, and pressing techniques can alter the “perfect” 1/4”.
It was a great day when sewing machine manufactures began making the Quarter Inch foot for quilters. Quarter Inch feet are made exactly 1/4” wide. When sewing two pieces together, if any fabric can be seen sneaking out along the right edge of the foot, the seam will be too deep. Sewing this way will be the most problematic when triangles or angles are involved. If a pattern only uses strips, squares or rectangles the 1/4” seam is not as critical. Using a consistent seam allowance guarantees this quilt pattern turns out flat. This is where “Type A” or production quilters shine!
Do you know what happens when the seam is pressed? Part of the seam allowance is used up ever so slightly in the fold of the fabric. On a block with lots of strips, such as a log cabin block, this small amount of lost of seam allowance quickly adds up, shrinking blocks by 1/4” – 1/2”. This is why we hear we should use a “SCANT 1/4”. (I almost wish they would just make us a “Scant 1/4” foot, but they don’t).
To allow for that hair’s-breadth seam size that gets lost in the pressing, it is best to use a slightly-smaller-than-a-quarter-inch seam allowance. Once you figure out on your machine where to guide the fabric for a scant 1/4” you will be in heaven! Corners match up and angels sing! Blocks fit together and a ray of sunlight shines directly on you and your sewing machine! “Type B” quilters, you are here.
If you not getting the results you want and are ready to take your quilt piecing to the next level, it’s time to test your piecing techniques. Begin by cutting precise strips or blocks with new or freshly sharpened rotary cutter blades from Heirloom Creations sharpening service. Use a new accurate ruler with THIN LINES. (Click here to read Sara’s tip on “When to Replace Rulers”.) Sew the strips together with your Quarter Inch foot, press carefully, and measure the finished size. (See Pressing vs. Ironing) If the block is the exact size, then Congratulations – you have mastered your 1/4” seam allowance! If you find the block on the skimpy side, rotary cut another block and try ONE (not all!) of the following adjustments. For “Type C” quilters, this may be your salvation.
1. Guide the fabric slightly closer to the needle, in slightly from the edge of the Quarter Inch foot.
2. If you are not using a Quarter Inch foot, locate one at your local sewing machine store.
3. Adjust the needle position one position to the right. This is an option ONLY on machines with MORE than five needle positions. Check by turning the hand wheel that the needle does not hit the foot.
4. If your Quarter Inch foot does not have a guide, place an adjustable seam guide on the machine and next to the very edge of the foot. Check the manual for proper attachment of the seam guide, and if one came standard with the machine.
After mastering your 1/4” seam allowance, and if some blocks have shrunk slightly, and no amount of pressing will flatten them any further, then here is the answer. When the sides do not match exactly in length, begin by pinning at the beginning and end of the side to be sewn. Place the block/fabric with the excess fabric next to the feed dogs of the sewing machine. The feed dogs will help ease the excess length into the seam. Gently hold onto the pin at the end of the block and apply extra resistance if necessary. Use this method for sewing sashing and borders as well to square up the quilt.
Once I mastered the 1/4” seam allowance on my personal sewing machine, the finished blocks measured their proper size: 12 1/2”, 6 1/2”, 4 1/2” etc. With these accurate finished block sizes sewing the pieced blocks together was much simpler. I no longer had to fight with different length blocks to make them fit. Since they were all the same size, the quilt assembly continued smoothly. No matter what type of PIECER you are, getting the correct finished size block on the first try is quilter’s heaven!
© 2007 SewSara, Sioux Falls, SD. All Rights Reserved.
Sew Fest 2007
Each Fall Husqvarna Viking invites their dealers to a special 2 day event to launch new products, show off new machine features, and excite them about what is coming in the next 6 months. I am writing from Las Vegas where the bright lights and glitter are the prefect background for this year’s fabulous new Husqvarna Viking products!
The Sapphire 830 and Sapphire 850 10” long throat machines are the hottest selling machine since they arrived earlier this year. The third member of the Sapphire family, the Sapphire 870 Quilt, sports an automatic thread cutter and extra built-in stitches. Click here to read more about the new affordable Sapphire Quilting Machines.
The biggest news is the introduction of the NEW Husqvarna Viking Designer SE Limited Edition sewing machine. This sleek new silver and white sewing and embroidery machine houses some of the most innovative technology that truly simplifies the sewing experience.
The coolest innovation is that the embroidery machine now cuts the jump stitches. At first, I was not as excited as I should have been … UNTIL I SAW IT SEW! Wow! When it was done, the beautiful design sitting in the hoop was perfectly stitched with no threads to trim. Halleluiah! The embroidery speed has again been increased giving all of us more finished projects in a shorter amount of time. It also comes with a $2,000 value exclusive gift package! Click here to read about the other new features
For all you who are current Husqvarna Viking Designer SE owners and are drooling over the new “Trim Jump Stitches” feature, you too can upgrade your machine to handle this new feature! Contact our service department to schedule the hardware upgrade on your Designer SE sewing and embroidery machine.
For all who are interested in seeing this brand new machine, I invite you to attend the Husqvarna Viking Designer SE Survey on Wednesday, October 3 at either 9am or 2:30pm at the Sherton Hotel in Sioux Falls , SD. We will offer excellent discounts, special trade-in allowances, and each person who attends will receive a $20 Heirloom Creations gift card. Click here to read more about this special event.
NEW Embroidery Design Website
Everyone who owns any brand of embroidery machine needs to check out this new embroidery website!
This new website will house ALL Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff, Singer and Cactus Punch embroidery designs for immediate downloading. Select from design packs or individual designs. After registering online, you will be notified of website specials and new releases as they become available! There are also beautiful embroidery project pages to print off and save for later use. We do ask that if you make a purchase, that you select Heirloom Creations as your official dealer. That way if you have any questions regarding your order, or need help with your new designs, we can assist you at no charge!
For coming embroidery designs, I am personally looking forward to a collection of designs that create a velvet finish. Image running your hands along your embroidery designs and sensing the luxurious feel of velvet without any work.
OK, this is a picture of me, just to prove I was in class and not out having too much fun while in Las Vegas !
© SewSara, Sioux Falls,
What’s In Your Closet?
Have you heard yourself say, “I have nothing to wear”? As sewers, we have an additional avenue to find the clothes we love to wear. With our sewing talents we can transform any off-the-rack purchase into a one of a kind beauty. Forget starting from scratch, especially if garment making isn’t for you. Start with something already made as a springboard and transform it into your own unique design!
It does not take much to add some simple sewing techniques to UPSCALE an old favorite into something totally new! Use any of the following techniques for show-stopping results: couching, pintucks, applique, binding, eyelets, buttonholes, sewing on plastic, zippers, edge stitching, topstitching, single needle tucks, machine embroidery, needle punching, quilting, decorative stitching, heirloom sewing, and the list can go on and on!
Inspired by this Threads article September 2006, I purchased a cream colored twin sweater set. I left the magazine open for months as I pondered what would be my choice of buttons. Finally I decided on royal blue buttons and ordered the approximate amount I thought I would need.
Using my dress form, the netting was shaped to determine the new shape and to support the buttons. One thing I did not calculate is the total weight of all 518 buttons it took to encircle all the edges including the sleeves.
Hand stitching each button was actually a nice change from sitting at my sewing machine.
To find a place to start your creativity, begin looking through your closet, your husband’s closet, your mom’s closet, your linen closet, and even your friends’ closets. It can be easier to cut into other people’s clothes than your own! If it is intimidating to cut into something of your own, ask a friend and raid her closet, or hit the rummage sales, thrift stores, and garage sales.
In cities around the country exclusive Clothing Swaps have formed. Their motto is: Be good. Be green. Be glam! “Clothing Swaps bring us together to recycle, relax, refresh our wardrobe and relish ‘new-to-you’ items while raising awareness and helping our community. Reinvent your stylish self and SWAP the fun, fashionable, philanthropic and eco-friendly way”.
There are some new words appearing in the sewing world, words like “refashion” “deconstruct” and “upcycle” now describe this new fashion for clothing and home décor.
Denim jeans are a perfect (and forgiving) place to start. If you don’t know if you have the creative bug, try cutting up a pair of blue jeans. Remember, if you just look at them, creativity is less likely to begin than when you actually start cutting. (It’s an odd concept to explain, but it’s true)! The act of “doing” connects with the brain and the creativity starts flowing. If you have to force the creativity the mind may not quite be ready to perform. This is the time to have another mind-relaxing project to work on.
Take before and after photos. For friends, 
and for your self, to really appreciate the work that has gone into the deconstruction/upcycle, take a few pictures before it is all cut apart. Then take a few pictures of the different stages of the project.
At our recent “What’s in your Closet” workshop, we had a couple finished 
projects. Tanya took a plain brown suede skirt and added a lace trim as a belt, and added lace and beaded fringe to the top of the back pockets.
Barb took a black cotton jacket with ornate embellishments and used the cut up yardage to make the perfect bolster pillow for a chair.
And as a closer, I had to put this picture in, which I found on this website: http://www.doreenmolloy.com/cats.html
Healthy Sewing Habit – September 2007
Look for new ways to be inspired – nature, architecture, weather, music, food or any of the five senses.
The Taming of the Serger
Sergers truly are one of the wonders of the sewing world, yet most people don’t know why they need one. If you look inside any of your store-bought clothing and see all the thread encasing the seam allowance, it was a serger, sometimes called an overlock, that sewed the seam. Sergers make seams look professional, as well as make beautiful rolled hems and edgings. They sew knits and stretch fabric without stretching it out of shape like a sewing machine might. Best of all it cuts sewing time in half!
Just looking at a serger frightens many people. It looks nothing like a sewing machine. There are two needles, not one. They see four cones of thread with FOUR tension settings, and right there it looks too complicated. It has a knife that cuts the fabric, which sounds like a good idea but makes the machine seem that much more intimidating. When properly “tamed”, people may love their serger even more than their sewing machine!
After years of being told that sergers are hard to thread, one of our customers recently stated after purchasing her new serger, “People who say sergers are hard to thread are giving sergers a bad name! They are not hard to thread at all!”
Now that you have a serger there are a few guidelines that can help you and your serger have a peaceful sewing experience together. I have narrowed the “taming of a serger” down to four MUSTS. If you focus on the following four points, you and your serger will live in perfect harmony forever.
#1 – Clearing the Threads
This is the term that means that when you are rethreading the serger or changing threads, be sure that the needle threads are not wrapped around the lower looper before beginning to serge. Serger books will state, When rethreading, remove the needle threads from the needles, rethread the serger, then thread the needles last. This does make sure the machine is threaded correctly, but who wants to have to thread those two needles again! If you do not take the time to “clear the threads” before starting to serge, you WILL have to rethread the serger again.
Solution: Take a small screw driver, tweezers or a piece of fabric and drag it under the raised presser foot from front to back looking for the needle threads to be drawn out of the lower depths of the machine. The threads should flow from the needle eyes directly out the back of the serger.
#2 – Always Leave the Knife in Place
The knife is the key to perfectly even seams because it trims extra fabric down to the exact size of the seam. There may be an occasion where you think you might not want to cut the fabric and the knife may be rotated out of the way. Many publications will state that if you do not want to cut the fabric to remove the knife. Unfortunately, both novice and experienced serger owners are taking their serger’s health in their own hands by not leaving the knife in place.
Here is what happens: The cutting knife is a visual guide as to where the fabric needs to run into the serger. Without the knife in place once fabric is moving through the serger, it can easily drift too far into the moving upper and lower loopers. If this happens, the loopers will be on a crash course with the fabric at a very high rate of speed, usually ending with an impaled looper through the fabric. This horrific event can cause the serger bodily harm and sometimes lead to broken loopers, bent needle plate, and the machine is thrown out of time. The only fix is to head to your local serger surgeon for new parts and complete timing adjustment.
Solution: If the fabric edge is not to be cut, simply guide the fabric edge next to the cutting knife.
#3 – Needles Heights
Sergers have two needles which are at different heights when properly inserted into the machine. The left needle is HIGHER than the right needle. We often see sick sergers arrive with their needles positioned at the same height. Opps!
Solution: Always make sure the needles are inserted as high as they will go into the shaft. When changing needles, or switching between 4-thread and 3-thread settings, keep one needle in the serger rather than taking both out at the same time. This makes it easier to put the needle back in and will provide a visual confirmation that each needle is in the correct position.
#4 – Quality Thread
Sergers do have different thread tolerance levels. Some sergers are picky about the thread quality, meaning that it may be more difficult to adjust the tensions to get the perfectly balanced stitch. The biggest problem with low quality thread is the excess thread lint build-up in a serger’s tension disks. The build-up can cause horrible tension problems that can’t be adjusted by turning knobs or dials. Low quality red or black thread leads to inconsistent tension settings and stitch formation due to the harsh dyes used in these colors.
Solution: We love to use the Isacord embroidery polyester thread for its lint free qualities and the large range of colors available. For those of you who own embroidery machines, you already have all the thread you ever would need for your serger!
Did I say four points? There is one more.
#5 Serger Mastery Class
When you purchase a serger take the Serger Mastery Class. You will learn the above four points first hand. If you have a serger hopefully these points have been a reminder for getting the most from your machine. If its been a while since you last saw your serger maybe its time to take it out of the closet and re-introduce yourself. You might be surprised how your relationship will grow. If you are thinking about getting a serger come and try one and see how easy it can be to get along with a serger. With these simple serger solutions, there is nothing you and your serger can not accomplish together.
© SewSara, Sioux Falls, SD. All Rights Reserved.
Choose the Best Quality Fabric for a Quilt
How do you choose the best quality fabric for your quilt? Quilt shops, magazines and patterns will always recommend “quilt shop quality” fabric, but what does that mean exactly?
To understand the term “quilt shop quality” fabric, is to learn how fabric is made. The number of threads, the quality of cotton used in the weaving process, and how the fabric is finished makes the differences in fabric quality.
Quilt shop quality fabric has a thread count of 68 threads per inch or more. It is made with long staple cotton, meaning the fibers of cotton that are spun into the threads used for weaving are longer, stronger and more durable in the long run. The more threads per square inch means the fabric is denser. This prevents the fibers of the batting in quilts from poking through the fabric, or “beard”. If you have ever seen this, that is a clue about the quality of the fabric.
Higher thread counts make fabric feel a little softer and accept dye better. It will shrink a little in the wash, but not as much as lesser quality fabrics. PFD (prepared for dying) and batik fabrics can have up to a 200 thread count and generally don’t shrink at all
Average cotton cloth has a thread count of 60 threads to the inch, and use short staple cotton.
The fabric may be thin or feel stiff, and it shrinks a lot in the wash. Expect the batting to beard through these wider spaced fibers over time.
The printing process manufacturer’s use can be quite complicated. Fabric designers work about a year in advance to come up with the concepts, which are then converted into colorized designs. The first time a mill prints cloth, they will usually do so on lesser quality goods in order to test the colors and the placement of the designs. Look at the selvage of purchased fabric and you will see color dots. Quilters like to use them to help choose coordinating fabrics. Their real purpose was for the manufacturer to make sure the color and alignment of the print was correct.
In the 1920′s – 1940′s, mills would test their prints on low quality fabrics. These low quality goods later became feed sacks. In today’s market, these first run tests often become the flat folds that are available at discount stores. These flat folds may be printed on lesser quality fabric, which will not last, or they could be printed on good fabric but the colors and/or designs were not up to the manufacturer’s specifications. Some fabrics are printed as deliberate knock-offs of popular designs. If compared to the original design, you may see that the colors are bit off, or a part of the design, like a leaf or a vine, is missing.
Quality quilt fabric also goes through a multi step finishing process, which sets the dyes and makes the fabric softer. Inexpensive fabric skips the last couple of steps, resulting in stiff fabric that wrinkles easy and is very susceptible to bleeding and/or sun fading. Fabrics that are quickly printed to take advantage of a trend often skip those last few steps making it is less expensive. Manufacturers believe people would buy it without planning on a long term use.
When you go to a quality quilt shop you will not have to ask whether the thread count of the fabric is 68 or higher. A quality quilt shop will only carry the best quilting fabric. You will not have to wonder if the batting will beard through in time. You will know that there will be minimum shrinkage and you may not even have to pre-wash to shrink the fabric. Do not frustrate yourself by using second or third best fabric. You will be happier with the process and prouder of your quilt knowing you cared enough to shop for the quality at a quality shop.