janedee

Also don't forget to sew the strips in opposite directions, otherwise you can get distortion

notmorecraft

Am I having brain freeze? 5 x 1 1/2 = 7 1/2" less 4 seams of a 1/4 " (4x 1/4= 1) this will give a measurement of the 5 strips sewn together of 6 1/2" or is my math totally off ( its 6am in the morning here so forgive me if I'm being blonde)

Peckish

Actually, I've found starching and careful pressing works better than reversing direction. Just yesterday, I sewed a whole bunch of WOF strips together. I starched them first, then sewed them. I did not pay any attention to what direction I sewed them in. I pressed carefully, making sure the strips were even. None of them warped or distorted.

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Peckish

Your math is sort of off. Each seam takes up a quarter inch on BOTH pieces of fabric, so you actually end up losing half an inch on each seam, not a quarter inch. So the finished square is 5 1/2".

notmorecraft

Thanx Peckish told you it was early in the morning, I was having a blonde moment

yadroc

if you make your strip sets first then make your cross cuts (squares) to match the width of your strips. This way even if your pieces are not exactly 5.5 inches they will be squares and they will fit together. This only works, of course, if you are not trying to make the quilt a specific size. However that is what borders are for .

maviskw

Way to go Peggi! I've made a lot of the rail fence type squares using scraps of any width; just adding scrap strips until the square was the correct width.

solstice3

Check width of strips and seams.

Peckish

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

susanwilley

Thanks so much everyone for all your suggestions and help! I swear I have checked all that, but I am surely missing something. I still have figured out what I'm doing wrong. I'm going to try the strip piecing now. Can't or shouldn't go wrong that way since I can cut the strips the same size as the width.
Thanks again, you women are awesome!