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Quilt Construction: Brush Up on the Basics

© Jeanne Walsh

Three years ago (March 1999) we began this monthly series on quilting, articles written mainly for beginning quilters. That means there are at least 37 articles on quilting, most with photos, that you are free to download, index and use as your personal quilting guide.

If you have been with me for these three years,you are probably so confident now that you are sailing through your quilt making with nary a problem. But wait - - - you say your last wall hanging has ripples on the sides? What could have caused that?

And the last baby quilt you made didn't come out even, one side is longer than the other by about 1 1/2 inches? Now, what caused THAT? And the binding - how in the world to turn a square corner with the binding!

Maybe it's time to "brush up on the basics." It IS tempting to take a few short cuts here and there, but it really pays off to stick to the tested methods so that these bits of fabric turn into a beautiful quilt.

Accurate cutting and 1/4 inch seams are the foundation of each block. If you don't have a 1/4 inch foot on your machine, try to find one. Yes, I know, you have a pretty good eye and can get a 1/4 inch seam "most of the time." But the 1/16th of an inch you are off on several seams adds up to a lot when you go to putting the blocks together.

And for the rippling edges? Are you cutting borders cross grain? Cut the borders on the "straight of grain". There is no stretch in the straight of grain, and borders cut on the straight of grain will control that rippling.

Now to the quilt that is longer on one side than the other. I'll bet you forgot to measure your pieced top down through the center when you measured for side borders, and across through the center for the top and bottom borders. If the pieced unit is longer when you sew on the borders, ease the pieced section to fit the cut border. (refer to the article Mini Quilt in Nine Patch to brush up on these basics.)

The article on binding Sept 1999 is another one to read again to refresh your memory on how to get those perfect mitered corners. A 2 inch strip of fabric cut cross grain, then folded, will work for binding most any quilt edge. Referring to grain in the section on binding in the book, The Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide (Rodale Press 1997) the author says that she finds bias cut bindings difficult to handle even on curves, that a cross grain binding has enough stretch to handle "all but the sharpest of curves."

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