lwbuchholz

3/8 would be better than 1/4. I make quilts to use and have had seams come apart in the wash when they are used and washed a lot.

lwbuchholz

I have books and patterns that I have used in the past that have pattern pieces in the finished sizes so you can add any seam allowance you want and I love that and have made those with the 1/2 in seams. I think another poster is right the marketed patterns are made for just the 1/4 inch seam. I was hoping there were printed directions on how to change that. I really wasn't too hopeful though.

Barb in Louisiana

I sew my seams with a tighter seam than most do. Normally a 2.0 which is basically 12.5 inches per inch. Since I quit using the 2.5 stitch length, I have had no problems with my seams coming unstitched. And I did have some mending to do when I used the 2.5. This is a good chart for stitch conversion.

Onebyone

I use 1.5 stitch length for piecing. I use a small rotary cutter for a seam ripper. It's fast and I have not cut into fabric at all.

sewingpup

I like using a shorter stitch length also for piecing. I usually use a 2.0 or 1.8. The smaller the pieces, the shorter the stitch. I also like to staystitch around the parts of the quilt if there are bias edges or many smaller pieces and I usually also stay stitch about a 1/8 of an inch from the edge around the whole top before quilting it as it really helps to keep the seams from splitting. I find if I forget and use the default 2.5 stitch length that I do get seams that come apart. The other thing I always do is to check the downside of the seams while i am pressing to make sure that both sides of the seam have that 1/4 inch of fabric. Sometimes I have worked with a wider seam, but that is only when I might have a looser, poor quality fabric that is raveling easy. I try and avoid that fabric if I a making a good quilt as that fabric spells trouble down the road, but I have used that looser weave fabric for things like dog quilts or picnic throws.

FoggyButFocused

I;ve always wondered why the seam allowance was 1/4". I assumed it was to conserve fabric. But, imho, calculations would be a lot easier with 1/2" seam allowance, You would only need to add 1" to the finished size. But it might make matching angles a lot tougher.

lwbuchholz

I had wondered about that too. 1/4 inch seems strange. I like 1/2 inch seams.

WesternWilson

Quilts are quilted, which adds an extra layer of stabilization to seams. That means the 1/4" seam is enough.

When I have seen quilts fall apart after repeat launderings, it is usually because they were constructed with any or all of the following:

-too long a stitch length...use a shortish stitch for quilt seams (on that threshold of "short but I can still rip out stitches")
-poor quality fabric...low cost fabrics have a more open weave (less threads per inch) that does not hold the stitches well
-poor quality thread...there are some really awful threads out there

I had a lovely quilt given to me as a teen, made by a lady who loved to quilt but who was living on a very restricted income. She always used the lowest quality materials because she could not afford higher quality fabrics and threads. It was a real shame as her quilts would not survive laundering.

Making quilts is an expensive endeavour and getting more expensive all the time. But if you are putting all that time into the work, you really need to use the best fabric and thread you can budget for.

lberna

I hand quilt and needling through 1/2 inch seam allowance would be a nightmare for me.