sharrel

I am new to chat boards and new to real quilting. I live in east Texas. I have 1 son and 2 grandsons. I retired 2-1-2001. I have always wanted to make a quilt so, I got some paper and started drawing. Four months later I had a pattern to make a denim quilt. My brothers-in-law gave me all of there old jeans. All I can say about it is "It will keep you warm." Then I started another quilt and I have been working on it for 2 years. I hope to learn the correct way to put a quilt together. I have a question. How do you hold a small piece of material to keep the end of the seam straight going in the machine?

Knot Sew

you can use long pins and pull them at the last minute, or have pins to the left. some people use little sticks. I'm sure there will be more answers for you. there are a lot of great quilters here and some of the friendlist people anywhere. A big welcome to you :P :lol: :) :-) :D :wink: :roll: :lol: :D :-D :thumbup: ;-) :) :D :-D :lol: :lol: :roll: :roll: :wink: ;) :-P :P :-o

lin

Hi and welcome sharrel. :) It might help to put a pin right near the bottom of the two pieces you're putting together. Sometimes the top fabric will "walk" forward a little and cause the top and bottom to misalign right at the end of the seam. When I put a pin at the bottom and "ease" the seam as I go down, it usually helps alleviate that problem. I also check often as I'm going down a seam to make sure that the edges are staying together. Nothing worse than having the bottom layer slip to the left!!

All I can say about my first few quilts is "It will keep them warm" too. LOL You just stick with it and before you know it, you'll be an old pro! :D

Minda

Welcome, Sharrel. I'm sure you will love it here.

annmarie

Welcome! We would love to see a picture of that "warm" denim quilt!! And your WIP (work in progress) too. We love seeing everyones' quilts. Not too many people can say they designed their first quilt. That's GREAT! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

mimisharon

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I'm envious of you, designing and making your own first quilt!! Brave woman you are! You'll find lots of answers if you do a topic search by clicking on the search button at the top of the page and, we are a group that will give you answers or questions galore.

Welcome to the happiest little group on the internet!!

amma

Welcome to the board, a lot of us here are beginners and there is a wealth of knowledge and experience here. I have found everyone to be very helpful and kind.

In answer to your question, I like to put a starter scrap through the machine and run my small piece close in behind it. I get a better start that way, it is almost makes it like a larger piece of fabric. I also use a wooden shish kabob skewer to help guide pieces through and find I can hold down the fabric with it and that helps keep the seams straighter, too.

Minda

Sharrel, I use a Sixth Finger Stiletto. It is great for holding pieces while sewing, and I also use it to hold small pieces when ironing. It's one of my favorite sewing tools. I bought mine at a local quilt shop.
Look at this site for a picture:

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog_o...&PRODID=165572

vicki reno

Welcome! I have use a seam ripper just like you would the wooden skewer to hold the pieces in place for the last few stitches. Or I also have some of those ral long straight pins and have used one of them also. good luck :!: :-)

sharrelg

Thank you to all for the kind words and all of the ideas to try.

Sharrel