grr two quarter square triangle borders

I'm doing a JoAnn class, Fons and Porter Framed Star, there are two choices
of star and the only I chose has two quarter square triangle borders.

The centre has come out fine, pretty accurate. I cut the triangles as best I
could, I used their triangle trimmers to match up the QS triangles as best
as possible, I sewed slowly without stretching, but then, putting the
borders on the centre, what a nightmare, it seems like I might have done
better had I been slap dash putting everything together! I've put 3 out of 4
sides on and the blasted thing is not flat.

I'm torn as to what to do, I have the 2nd class tomorrow and I chatted with
the teacher and explained that I want to spend time on quilting, not
piecing. I could press on and have a really wonky top with two borders, or
add the 4th side and have one that I might be able to quilt flat, or I could
undo 2-3hrs work and just work on the centre, which would make a small
wallhanging, 20inches square, which I suppose at least would be easier
manipulate whilst quilting.

What should I do?

And how on earth does one to a QST border, or is that best left to the
experts!

Anne

i had a look online for a pix of what you're describing but couldnt find it,
bummer.
i'll keep looking tho. just makes it easier if i know what it looks like but
here goes anyhow, fwiw. hope it helps.

QSTs can be done without sewing small bias edged triangles.
take the finished size you want of the QST block...
for argument sake lets say 6" finished in the border when all sewn together.
add 1.25" to that so cut sqs 7 1/4" in the appropriate colours.
if there are only two colours makes is much easier but with 4 same technique
but ya just gotta watch you match them up correctly. btdt the wrong way,
oops. oh well.

you know how to make HSTs? draw diagonal on the back of the lightest sq.
with right sides together...
sew 1/4" away down both sides of the line.
press it flat, then cut on the line.
press the two HSTs open as usual.

draw a diagonal line across the back of one HST crossing the seam.
now lay two over one another, with the two colours NOT laying on top of one
another.
lay the seams together. nestle them up real good. you can feel this with
your fingers.
you can, if it worrys you, pin this by putting a pin straight down thru both
seams exactly.
check by looking it is exactly thru the seam of both sqs.
then pin the sqs together, taking as small a bit of fabric up when you weave
thru as you can so it pins. be sure those pins are close as you can on each
side of the upright pin.
then you can remove the upright pin.

with the sqs laid so the upside seam (the one you can see) is laying towards
the presser foot, seems awkward but trust me it works. this is cuz the feed
dogs pull the lower seam into the upside seam while the presser foot is
pushing the up seam down and towards you...effectively pushing the top into
the
bottom.
if you sew with the upside seam laying towards you, you will pull the seam
apart and not have a nice clean cross seam in those QST when its sewn.
now you're gonna sew again 1/4" away down both sides of the line and cut
apart.
sew slow and use a pointy thing to hold that seam down flat as it goes under
the presser foot.
Voila!! QSTs.

i do scant 1/4" seams but that is me. i cut exactly 1.25" bigger than
finished size so i have no margin for error. if this is an issue for you,
cut the starting sqs maybe 1 3/8" bigger to start. then trim the QST when
finished to exact size plus your 1/2" seam allowance.
with the size i was describing, trim to 6 1/2" sq QSTs.

once you've done a few of these it will become clear and easier.
holler if that isnt clear or you need me to explain any or all of it again.
i can do it differently (i hope).
we all see things differently so i could be splain'n it a bit cock-eyed.
fingers crossed in the south pacific,
jeanne
maybe i oughta find that post splain'n it that i did a while back, oh dear
--
Vote B'fly for President '08
san-fran at ihug dot co dot nz
nzlstar on yahoo msg'r
nzlstar on webshots

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
I'm doing a JoAnn class, Fons and Porter Framed Star, there are two
choices of star and the only I chose has two quarter square triangle
borders.

The centre has come out fine, pretty accurate. I cut the triangles as best
I could, I used their triangle trimmers to match up the QS triangles as
best as possible, I sewed slowly without stretching, but then, putting the
borders on the centre, what a nightmare, it seems like I might have done
better had I been slap dash putting everything together! I've put 3 out of
4 sides on and the blasted thing is not flat.

I'm torn as to what to do, I have the 2nd class tomorrow and I chatted
with the teacher and explained that I want to spend time on quilting, not
piecing. I could press on and have a really wonky top with two borders, or
add the 4th side and have one that I might be able to quilt flat, or I
could undo 2-3hrs work and just work on the centre, which would make a
small wallhanging, 20inches square, which I suppose at least would be
easier manipulate whilst quilting.

What should I do?

And how on earth does one to a QST border, or is that best left to the
experts!

Anne

I know exactly what you mean, but I couldn't do this for this project, it's
a border of triangles, so two triangles join together to make a diamond, add
another and it's a trapezium, another and it's a long thin parallelogram. So
instead of having them matched when you put right sides together, you get a
shape that looks like a square with the triangle opposite the seam removed,
I'm not sure there is a way to do that without stitching that bias, but I'm
not really sure that's the issue, one of my problems is that my strip, which
is about 21inches long comes out about a quarter of an inch to short, so I
must be getting inperceptible inaccurracies that would usually vanish with
squaring up and what not, becoming a problem.

I also looked online for a picture, but couldn't find one.

Anne

holy smokes, girl.
ya lost me on that description.
not to worry.
those miniscule inaccuracies can sometimes be fixed by 'setting' the seam
each time.
press the seam flat as it comes out the the sewing machine before you open
to press it.
this embeds the sewing thread into the fabric rather than it taking up room
in the fold of the seam.
feel free if you think it will help, draw a pix of the config, scan it and
post it online for us to see.
if its not too much trouble that is.
these mysterys fascinate me, lol.
cheers autumn in the south pacific,
jeanne
--
Vote B'fly for President '08
san-fran at ihug dot co dot nz
nzlstar on yahoo msg'r
nzlstar on webshots

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
I know exactly what you mean, but I couldn't do this for this project, it's
a border of triangles, so two triangles join together to make a diamond,
add another and it's a trapezium, another and it's a long thin
parallelogram. So instead of having them matched when you put right sides
together, you get a shape that looks like a square with the triangle
opposite the seam removed, I'm not sure there is a way to do that without
stitching that bias, but I'm not really sure that's the issue, one of my
problems is that my strip, which is about 21inches long comes out about a
quarter of an inch to short, so I must be getting inperceptible
inaccurracies that would usually vanish with squaring up and what not,
becoming a problem.

I also looked online for a picture, but couldn't find one.

Anne

holy smokes, girl.
ya lost me on that description.
not to worry.
those miniscule inaccuracies can sometimes be fixed by 'setting' the seam
each time.
press the seam flat as it comes out the the sewing machine before you open
to press it.
this embeds the sewing thread into the fabric rather than it taking up
room in the fold of the seam.

this is what erks me, I've done everything by the book, including setting
the seams before pressing!

feel free if you think it will help, draw a pix of the config, scan it and
post it online for us to see.

I'll try do that at some point, not know, the camera is downstairs, I'm
upstairs! Here's another description, imagine 2 right angled triangles join
them short sides together, so that the long sides are on opposite sides of
the finished result and parallel, keep adding triangles to get a strip.

It's a Fons and Porter pattern, but it's not on there website! I bought it
from JoAnns and it's not on there website either! I'm convinced it's the
actual size of the pieces, that 11/4 inch for QST is rounded and that's fine
for joining 4 in a square, but when you are joining 7 in a strip, you only
have to loose a tiny amount for it to not work. The other thing is, the
pattern has you cutting the triangles from a strip, rather than 4 from a
square, so the width of the strip is also going to have a slight rounding in
it, my 7inch QSTs from a strip are a smidgen smaller than from a square, so
it adds up, I'd already noticed and was trying to a scant seam, but it
wasn't enough.

Anne

ok, i drew it, just got up and brain is only on first cuppa and not had time
to get even semi-coherent.
i got the diamond from two tri's. added a tri each end to see where the
strip comes.
looks like hst's to me.oh no, hang on a sec, i added the end ones to the
wrong sides, doh.
ok, got the strip of tri's drawn right now.
hmmm, i see the dilemma now at least.
do you use yahoo msg'r?
this might be easier there.
where a few of us can tackle this in real time rather than waiting for the
msgs each time.
cuz i'm sure between you, jess and me we could figure out what the pattern
is doing wrong.

just trying to work out which side of the tri is the bias edge now. as these
could be either qst or hst, i wonder why they got you cutting from a strip
at all. u guess they're easier somehow for the pattern maker/designer, who
knows, doesnt matter why i guess but hmmmmmm.
need to drink my tea faster so it wakes me up properly.
i'll log onto msg'r now as nzlstar.
if you use it and are online do msg me, eh.
bleary eyed in the south pacific,
jeanne
--
Vote B'fly for President '08
san-fran at ihug dot co dot nz
nzlstar on yahoo msg'r
nzlstar on webshots


"Anne Rogers" wrote...
holy smokes, girl.
ya lost me on that description.
not to worry.
those miniscule inaccuracies can sometimes be fixed by 'setting' the seam
each time.
press the seam flat as it comes out the the sewing machine before you
open to press it.
this embeds the sewing thread into the fabric rather than it taking up
room in the fold of the seam.

this is what erks me, I've done everything by the book, including setting
the seams before pressing!

feel free if you think it will help, draw a pix of the config, scan it
and post it online for us to see.

I'll try do that at some point, not know, the camera is downstairs, I'm
upstairs! Here's another description, imagine 2 right angled triangles
join them short sides together, so that the long sides are on opposite
sides of the finished result and parallel, keep adding triangles to get a
strip.

It's a Fons and Porter pattern, but it's not on there website! I bought it
from JoAnns and it's not on there website either! I'm convinced it's the
actual size of the pieces, that 11/4 inch for QST is rounded and that's
fine for joining 4 in a square, but when you are joining 7 in a strip, you
only have to loose a tiny amount for it to not work. The other thing is,
the pattern has you cutting the triangles from a strip, rather than 4 from
a square, so the width of the strip is also going to have a slight
rounding in it, my 7inch QSTs from a strip are a smidgen smaller than from
a square, so it adds up, I'd already noticed and was trying to a scant
seam, but it wasn't enough.
Anne

Anne, one of the ways to deal with bias edges is to starch the dickens
into your fabric before you cut. The starch helps to control the
stretch. And you can starch more heavily than you can "size". G (I
make a spray starch with liquid starch and water, so you can make it as
heavy as you wish. and it is a lot less expensive than the canned stuff.)
If your borders are too long, try steaming them in a bit. If they are
too short, look for a seam or several that you can let out a bit. Sew
the new seam first. Then carefully snip the stitches on one side of the
first seam. Just snip about every inch or so. Gently, from the right
side pull the seam apart at a snip. that should loosen the unsnipped
thread side enough to pull it out. By stitching the new seam first you
won't stretch the heck out of the seam when you unstitch.G

Hope this helps some, at least for future projects.

Of course you could also just use part of the triangle border, cut it
and finish with solid fabric around 2 opposite corners. That might work
rather well. G

Pati, in Phx

Anne Rogers wrote:

I'm doing a JoAnn class, Fons and Porter Framed Star, there are two choices
of star and the only I chose has two quarter square triangle borders.

The centre has come out fine, pretty accurate. I cut the triangles as best I
could, I used their triangle trimmers to match up the QS triangles as best
as possible, I sewed slowly without stretching, but then, putting the
borders on the centre, what a nightmare, it seems like I might have done
better had I been slap dash putting everything together! I've put 3 out of 4
sides on and the blasted thing is not flat.

I'm torn as to what to do, I have the 2nd class tomorrow and I chatted with
the teacher and explained that I want to spend time on quilting, not
piecing. I could press on and have a really wonky top with two borders, or
add the 4th side and have one that I might be able to quilt flat, or I could
undo 2-3hrs work and just work on the centre, which would make a small
wallhanging, 20inches square, which I suppose at least would be easier
manipulate whilst quilting.

What should I do?

And how on earth does one to a QST border, or is that best left to the
experts!

Anne

Good tip about sewing the new seam first, Pati!
..
In message k.net,
Pati Cook writes
Anne, one of the ways to deal with bias edges is to starch the dickens
into your fabric before you cut. The starch helps to control the
stretch. And you can starch more heavily than you can "size". G (I
make a spray starch with liquid starch and water, so you can make it as
heavy as you wish. and it is a lot less expensive than the canned stuff.)
If your borders are too long, try steaming them in a bit. If they are
too short, look for a seam or several that you can let out a bit. Sew
the new seam first. Then carefully snip the stitches on one side of the
first seam. Just snip about every inch or so. Gently, from the right
side pull the seam apart at a snip. that should loosen the unsnipped
thread side enough to pull it out. By stitching the new seam first you
won't stretch the heck out of the seam when you unstitch.G

Hope this helps some, at least for future projects.

Of course you could also just use part of the triangle border, cut it
and finish with solid fabric around 2 opposite corners. That might
work rather well. G

Pati, in Phx

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

Something I learned when doing a lot of intense alterations in various
shops. BG It really does help to keep the fabric "neat".
Pati, in Phx

Patti wrote:

Good tip about sewing the new seam first, Pati!
.
In message k.net,
Pati Cook writes

Anne, one of the ways to deal with bias edges is to starch the dickens
into your fabric before you cut. The starch helps to control the
stretch. And you can starch more heavily than you can "size". G (I
make a spray starch with liquid starch and water, so you can make it
as heavy as you wish. and it is a lot less expensive than the canned
stuff.)
If your borders are too long, try steaming them in a bit. If they are
too short, look for a seam or several that you can let out a bit. Sew
the new seam first. Then carefully snip the stitches on one side of
the first seam. Just snip about every inch or so. Gently, from the
right side pull the seam apart at a snip. that should loosen the
unsnipped thread side enough to pull it out. By stitching the new seam
first you won't stretch the heck out of the seam when you unstitch.G

Hope this helps some, at least for future projects.

Of course you could also just use part of the triangle border, cut it
and finish with solid fabric around 2 opposite corners. That might
work rather well. G

Pati, in Phx