Smooth chain-piecing

How did I come to this? ( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. It will be
glorious gorgeous. However. Somehow. There are 392 HSTs to survive.
Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the HST
and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to put my
antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the knee-lift from the
SM. Strange. No more cramming. Maybe the knee-lift was letting me start a
thread or two into the corner and cause the cramming. Doing without it,
somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
Can't explain that one.
But. If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly

If I recall the block correctly it has rather long narrow points to feed
into the needle?

I cheat! I slightly overlap the points from the ending piece to the
starting piece (about 1/4 in. overlap) which gives extra bulk and stops the
needle from pushing the fabric down into the bobbin area. That point is
just extra fabric that will never be missed when you snip them apart- it
won't bother anything.

And if I am thinking of the wrong block- my humble apologies! ;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
How did I come to this? ( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. It will be
glorious gorgeous. However. Somehow. There are 392 HSTs to survive.
Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the HST
and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to put
my antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the knee-lift
from the SM. Strange. No more cramming. Maybe the knee-lift was letting
me start a thread or two into the corner and cause the cramming. Doing
without it, somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
Can't explain that one.
But. If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly

I like the cheat - hadn't thought of that.

Polly, do you have a single-hole needle plate? When use mine, I never
have this problem, when I don't - ah, sometimes. So, if you have one,
and didn't install it, do that. If you don't have one, maybe see if
you can get one for your machine? If you have one, have it in your
machine, and still have the problem, just ignore me!

Hanne in DK

On Oct 26, 5:32*am, "Leslie & The Furbabies in MO."
wrote:
If I recall the block correctly it has rather long narrow points to feed
into the needle?

I cheat! * I slightly overlap the points from the ending piece to the
starting piece (about 1/4 in. overlap) which gives extra bulk and stops the
needle from pushing the fabric down into the bobbin area. *That point is
just extra fabric that will never be missed when you snip them apart- it
won't bother anything.

And if I am thinking of the wrong block- my humble apologies! *;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

"Polly Esther" wrote in message

...

How did I come to this? *( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). *A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. *It will be
glorious gorgeous. *However. *Somehow. *There are 392 HSTs to survive.
* *Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the HST
and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to put
my antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the knee-lift
from the SM. *Strange. *No more cramming. *Maybe the knee-lift was letting
me start a thread or two into the corner and cause the cramming. *Doing
without it, somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
* *Can't explain that one.
* *But. *If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
* *Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? *Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. *Polly

Well, Polly old dear, since i don't make my HST that way, i can't
advise. But, i know your project will be absolutely
beautiul when you do work out the kinks.
amy in SoCal

First thought, Polly: do you have a single hole plate for your machine?
This pretty much eliminates corners getting stuffed down.
I am so very new to chain piecing that I hesitate to offer any help; but
I spotted your comment about the knee lift and wondered if you were
lifting the presser foot each time? I kept my machine running ( on
pretty slow speed) all the time and just fed each piece in after I had
done a few stitches with no fabric in - no lifting at all. I wasn't
doing diagonals, so it was easier and not strictly comparable, (but the
seams were very short!)
..
In message , Polly Esther
writes
How did I come to this? ( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. It will
be glorious gorgeous. However. Somehow. There are 392 HSTs to survive.
Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the
HST and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going
to put my antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the
knee-lift from the SM. Strange. No more cramming. Maybe the
knee-lift was letting me start a thread or two into the corner and
cause the cramming. Doing without it, somehow, the occasional
ker-splat ceased.
Can't explain that one.
But. If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly

--
Best Regards
Pat on the Green

On Oct 25, 11:33*pm, "Polly Esther" wrote:
How did I come to this? *( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). *A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. *It will be
glorious gorgeous. *However. *Somehow. *There are 392 HSTs to survive.
* * Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the HST
and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to put my
antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the knee-lift from the
SM. *Strange. *No more cramming. *Maybe the knee-lift was letting me start a
thread or two into the corner and cause the cramming. *Doing without it,
somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
* * Can't explain that one.
* * But. *If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
* * Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? *Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. *Polly

Well, I'm with Amy - I don't normally make my HST that way either.
Except the last (thankfully) very small wall hanging I just
completed. Didn't really look at the completed quilt - just started
reading directions and cutting. Don't know how many 1.5 inch HST's I
did. But it was ALOT. Anyhoo...when I do triangles, I usually just
start at the fat end vs the pointy end. I don't have a single-hole
needle plate for my machine. Sometimes I need a scrap starter and
then can just feed in however many I have and keep going until 1)
needle breaks; 2) thread breaks; 3) run out of bobbin or thread; 4)
run out of pieces to be chained. So, if you haven't cut all the
triangles, make them using squares and cut into triangles after - much
easier. I have learned to cut about 1/8 in. larger than called for
and trim after. Can be very tedious when there are gazillions of them
but for me - much more accurate. Don't know why this makes a
difference when my seams measure accurately as well as the cuts but it
consistently does on HST's more so than anything else.

Good luck!

Polly Esther wrote:
How did I come to this? ( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. It will be
glorious gorgeous. However. Somehow. There are 392 HSTs to survive.
Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the
HST and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to
put my antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the
knee-lift from the SM. Strange. No more cramming. Maybe the knee-lift
was letting me start a thread or two into the corner and cause the
cramming. Doing without it, somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
Can't explain that one.
But. If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly

If I have no choice but to start from skinny points of triangles I
support the fabric with a piece of paper - paper piecing offcuts or
other thin paper is just as successful. It is a bit of a pain, but less
so than digging fabric out of the works.

Lizzy

I think that's the trick, Pat. When I keep running, it goes much better.
And, yes, I was lifting each time and that does not go well with chaining.
Polly


"Pat S" wrote in message
...
First thought, Polly: do you have a single hole plate for your machine?
This pretty much eliminates corners getting stuffed down.
I am so very new to chain piecing that I hesitate to offer any help; but I
spotted your comment about the knee lift and wondered if you were lifting
the presser foot each time? I kept my machine running ( on pretty slow
speed) all the time and just fed each piece in after I had done a few
stitches with no fabric in - no lifting at all. I wasn't doing diagonals,
so it was easier and not strictly comparable, (but the seams were very
short!)
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly

--
Best Regards
Pat on the Green

I sort of do what Leslie does with just a touch of overlap if I need to and
also go over to the machine with the ss
plate in it. Fresh needle wouldn't hurt either. I find something on tv
that I can just listen to and get or music.
Talk radio works too. Sometimes working other small projects in between
helps. I was sewing along last night and listening to Dr. Oz and felt
guilty and got up and walked on the treadmill for awhile. You gotta be
careful of distractions while you sew. Some are too distracting.
Taria

You have long-ish strips with a HST at each end, right? Don't use
triangles, use squares instead. Takes more fabric of course. But after
you sew your perfectly-measured diagonal line of stitches for the
"real" block, just turn it around and sew a parallel line, 3/8 to 1/2"
away. Cut between the stitching lines, and you will have 392 "free"
HST squares to use somewhere else. Maybe a sawtooth border, if they're
big enough?
Roberta in D

On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:33:23 -0500, "Polly Esther"
wrote:

How did I come to this? ( me with the 9 block maximum mentality). A
Hunter's Star quilt has taken over my sewing room and heart. It will be
glorious gorgeous. However. Somehow. There are 392 HSTs to survive.
Now and again, the SM needle would stuff the leading corners of the HST
and cram them down in the hole. And - I realized that I was going to put my
antique back into permanent warp and actually removed the knee-lift from the
SM. Strange. No more cramming. Maybe the knee-lift was letting me start a
thread or two into the corner and cause the cramming. Doing without it,
somehow, the occasional ker-splat ceased.
Can't explain that one.
But. If this Hunter's Star is going to become a quilt, I need help.
Do you have any suggestions on chain-piecing? Please get me through
this before I die of hum-drum. Polly