Ninnie

When I am putting together a quilt top, I pin every seam that meets and every point that meets up. Square to square, block to block, and row to row.
My question is: How many of you ;are like me, and pin,pin,pin,
Or do you trust your cutting and your self , and don't pin?

[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uAI_9RibNE...0/IMG_0295.JPG[/img]

Ducky

Oh, Ninnie, I am exactly like you! Every seam and every point get "stuck". I have a gazillion straight pins and I have found that I cannot do without forked pins, though, they are insanely expensive. And, yes, it takes longer....and, no, not every point and seam is exactly perfect (but most of them are), but I feel more at ease using them.

billswife99

I do lots of pinning when I'm sewing the rows together. But otherwise I hate pins too, I'm always getting stuck by them in my legs!

Darlene

I pin a lot too and it is worth it. I do not baste though.

mary quite contrary

I do some of both. It depends on how it is all fitting together. I love the needle down position so I can have the needle down and match up my next set of seams.

sidmona

I'm like you Ninnie, I pin my points and seams.

feline fanatic

I am like Ninnie and Ducky. I like to pin everyplace a seam is to intersect or point is to match up. Not only do I match up my intersecting seams with pins but I often put a second pin 1/8 in front of the intersection because I was finding even with matching the seams with a pin my intersections were still often off 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. I asked at a class I took once what I was doing wrong and the quilt instructor told me that the feed dogs will often advance the fabric on the bottom just a fraction of an inch quicker and if I put a second pin just in front of the seam matching pin I will solve the problem. Sure enough it worked. I still get an occasional mismatch but I am much more pleased with the results and find I do MUCH LESS unsewing if I do more pinning as I progress. I am way critical of myself and often want as close to perfect as I can get so I guess that is why I do it and I absolutely hate having to unsew.

I also pin pin pin if I have a bit of easing in to do when matching up those seams.

FF

BellaBoo

I glue pin. I put a drop of school glue on the matching areas and heat set it. I know it's not moving one thread off. School glue is not a glue, it's a heavy starch and dissolves in water. Pins stick me no matter how careful I am.

BlueChicken

I pin, pin, pin, and pin some more! :-)

As the blocks get more complicated, everything lining up becomes so much more important.

I'm tempted to try glue though... does it take long to set so you can move the fabric without it falling apart?

zyxquilts

The first quilt that I drew out the design myself was flying geese in rows...pin, pin, pin! Then I didn't have enough black fabric for the back & I was determined not to go back to JoAnn's to buy more, so I decided I would use some of the leftovers from the geese. I cut them into rectangles, about 1" X 1.5", I made the color pattern match the geese color pattern on the front Can't remember off-hand how many there were, but maybe it was 20" X 24"...lots of them anyway.....and THEN I realized I would have to match ALL THOSE CORNERS! :shock: I didn't know about nesting my seam allowances yet or using the 2-pin method. I sewed & unsewed over & over & got SO frustrated that I finally resorted to hand-sewing EVERY intersection, THEN machine stitching them! PHEW!!!
I have relaxed a LOT since then - I pin sometimes, don't pin at all other times. I try to nestle my seam allowances so that the one on top is pointing away from me as I sew & let the machine do the matching work as the presser foot will force them together! :D