Lorettan

Good Morning ladies! (and Gents)!

i primarily rag quilt. that is because trying to keep that infamous 1/4 inch seem is very stressful to me and im sure for alot of others. so here's something to ponder...why not 1/2 inch seems which to me, seems so much easier. now i know what the problem is there....bulk. so why not trim that after you sew? just a little waste but it is so much easier. alot of times you can use the edge of your presser foot to get that 1/2 inch. what are thoughts on this?


-Loretta

lfletcher

On my Janome, I have a 1/4" foot with a lip on the right side. It is very easy to maintain the 1/4" with this foot. I know they make this same style foot for a variety of machines so you may want to check on that. However, with rag quilts, I think you're suppose to do 1/2" or larger aren't you?

AprilG

I'm with you. I use the same blocks but take a 1/2" seam. It is easier to press the seams open (which reduces bluk). I adjust the sashing and borders to make the same size quilt. I really have trouble with the 1/4" seam and keeping all my blocks the same size! i just ordered a 1/4" presser foot. Maybe that will help. We'll see!

Lorettan

yes, i have that foot. but still dont get that "perfect" 1/4 inch seam allowance. maybe it's just me...i don't know.

and yes, with rag quilting, you take 1/2 seam allowance.

Lorettan

so, you have to look at the instructions for a block and add that extra 1/4 inch to make it 1/2 right? how do you do this?

Tartan

You hit the nail on the head, how to do this? All patterns are made for the 1/4 inch and I'd rather get my 1/4 inch right then do the math to figure out the changes. If you like to use 1/2 inch seams than go for it just use graph paper to draw out the block pieces plus 1/2 inch. Good luck.

garysgal

I'm with Lorettan-how would you do this? If you didn't add something when you cut, the blocks would come out smaller than the pattern calls for. I like the idea of a 1/2" seam. I think it would be better for a lot of us (me included) and a lot easier. I know a lot of times I have to rip out a seam because my 1/4" wasn't 1/4"....

Lorettan

i actually started paper pieceing because of this. it was just too stressful. there's got to be a possible way to add this addtional 1/4 inch to the already 1/4 inch that is on these patterns.

Lorettan

of course, one way would be to make templates for each piece of a block and add your 1/2 inch seams...would be extra work though. just a thought

Scissor Queen

My thought is it is going to take a lot more fabric to do 1/2 inch seams. Just for a simple 12 inch 9 patch you need 13.5 inches of fabric if you use quarter inch seams and 15 inches of fabric if you use 1/2 inch seams. And that's just the width down the selvedge difference. You'll also get fewer squares across a strip too. Multiply that by the number of blocks you need and it'll really start to add up. I definitely don't want to spend $10 bucks a yard for extra fabric for the inside of a quilt!

The solution is to get a quarter inch foot or use some method of marking the quarter inch on your machine and work on getting a consistent seam allowance.