grammydd

is it better to tear off paper before or after sewing block together, and will material stretch if paper is torn off before sewing blocks together

Tartan

It is easier to pull off the paper before sewing the blocks together but you risk of pulling out some of the edge stitching and stretching the edges. If it a large black, I remove the inner paper leaving the edge until the blocks are sewn together. It is tricky to remove the edge pieces after you have sewn over them but a q tip dipped in water and run along the sewn paper edges will help.

grammydd

Thank you, I figured that was the best thing, the trick with water sounds like a useful tip.

Geri B

Here's another way to treat the paper for tearing. If you've done clothing pattern sewing you probably have one of these: a little wheel with spikes on a long handle - ( don't know it's tech name) -run it on each line - before any sewing - it will make tearing on those lines so much easier. Took me a while to find my wheel, but did and it does work well.

DresiArnaz

When I did mine, I left the paper in until the entire quilt top was done. I didn't want to go to all that trouble and have it get distorted by tearing paper out too soon.

The hardest spots to do were where seams met or lots of points met in the middle. I had to use tweezers to get some of the little bits unstuck.

I did mending and whatnot in between blocks and forgot to make stitches really small again. If you use the tiniest stitches you can stand it's a lot easier to tear off.

If you have a lot of pieces that are cut on the bias maybe you should leave it all in until the top is assembled. The last one I did was nothing but triangles that's why I left it until the end.

mmonohon

Great tip on the water!

Macybaby

I've tried different methods, and for me, once all the fabric is sewn to a piece of paper, I trim them to the seam allowance. I don't trim the outer edges, just the sides that will be sewn together to form the block (like 8 pieces to form a star block) . Then I remove all the paper. I've found I can't always get the lower piece to feed exactly how I want. This gives me a bit of flexibility to match up seams and points where I need them to be.

Once I have all the pieces of the block together, then I'll trim the outer edges to get the correct unfinished block size, being careful about points so they don't get cut off.

Bree123

Another vote for removal before sewing together blocks, but either way is fine. I learned from Jinny Beyer to run the back of my seam ripper along the stitching line & gently tug on the bias. Works every time & so far no distorted blocks since the edges are always SOG.

tessagin

It's a tracing wheel for patterns. You Tube has videos how to use them. I also like to do the no tear paper piecing. http://www.quiltnbee.biz/shop/Block-...5-x7562107.htm

ManiacQuilter2

What I do which I realize is unique but it works for me is to carefully trim off the 1/4"paper seam allowance when starting to sew the blocks together..