cbonagain

You might have better luck if you left the white background whole (square), instead of trying to sew on and off biases. I've done several double wedding quilts, and always appliqued the rings directly on to a square of background fabric. This way, there's no stretching on the bias of the background fabric to mess up the finished dimension. You could even make the background squares a little big so you could size them properly for line-up with the next one. Good luck - It should be a fun project, not a chore. I hope this helps. Carol

quiltykiwi

Hi have just finished DWR in scrappy rings and you need the corner stones (4) at the junction of the rings. that should fix it.
Quiltykiwi

patricej

that specific pattern does not call for cornerstones. she isn't missing them. :wink:

CathyOh

Your blocks are off center and off grain for the pieces that you are putting together, therefore each block is different. They need to be consistent and the same.

I've made several wedding ring quilts using pieced or templates and/or both. The 1st one I made gave me total fits because of how I cut my rings out on different grains, it was a "scrappy" and my seams were just totally inconsistent. Every block turned out how yours looks.

The fix is to cut your ring template fabrics out on grain (NOT on the bias) then cut your triangle template fabrics ON the bias.

The next trick is to PIN PIN PIN the whole piece in 1/2 increments from the center out to each edge. What I did next, was to find the CENTER of the triangle piece and the center of the ring piece and stitch FROM the center to the end of one side, then the center of the other side. Once I did this, the only "easing" I had to do was between 1/2" segments. This made a huge difference and made my pieces more accurate in the end.

I agree with you that cutting the triangles a lot larger, BUT ONLY ON THE OUTSIDE STRAIGHT EDGES will give you the fudge factor you may need for trimming to size before you sew the blocks together.

The other trick in sewing the blocks together is in the pinning technique the I learned from Eleanor Burns in her triangle work. That is where you put the pieces right sides together, then take a pin in the very point of where the seams meet at the template and the triangle seam to the other one - put the pin in straight down, then only "grab" about 1/8th of an inch. This one is hard for me to describe without being able to show you (I'm so visual).

Another tip with stitching the wedding ring is to make sure your pressing is consistent throughout the quilt so that you can "butt" your seams. For example, I would press the ring seams out towards the triangle fabrics. They will lay a lot flater. This is critical when working on anything with lots of seams that have to meet up (stars work is like this).

I hope this helps. I've made 5 wedding rings and am working on my 6th, which is a paper pieced version that I've decided is much easier and less brain damage. It's giving me the precision that I want. Even though I claim to be a recovering perfectionist, when it comes to the Wedding Ring pattern, I am a perfectionist through and through. Ha!

susan s.

I think you got it figured out and I'm glad to know if I ever decide to do a WR I can learn from you all's experience's :lol:

It's looking good!

BellaBoo

I say buy the book Rings that Bind and make the easy version. :D

Coloradoquilter

Maybe you could make a practice block, where you overcut the straight sides of the piece and then cut off the excess, after the curved seams are finished, to make it the right size and try to piece two or four of the adjusted blocks together. It could be you have fabric that doesn't hold it's space well....spray starch might also be used to 'block' the pieces some if that is a factor.

Cathe

Are there pictures for the tutorial? I saw some for paper piecing the arcs, but none for the assembly.

Baren*eh*ked_canadian

I did exactly this the second time around :) Great minds think alike, I guess, right?

patricej

the tutorial is several pages long. it was split between two chat classes. there are two ways to see the WHOLE tutorial:

1. start on page 1 and read through all the pages to the end.
2. download the word document that shows ALL the steps, offers helpful hints, and incorporates answers to the questions asked during classin the chat room and in the posts others added to the tutorial pages.

naturally, i've kept my eye on this topic. i've been both amused and .... oh ... what's the word? .... not amused .... by the realization that [almost?] nobody who's offering advice or criticism of the tutorial seems to have gone through it completely.

it isn't a fancy shmancy book you'll pay a small fortune for. it's also true that there are many free - and very good - tutorials on the internet for wedding rings done differently. but i'm pretty sure it can be very helpful to anybody who takes the time to read and follow the whole thing.