Pressing

[polarjo]

Becky - Beautiful star and wonderful fabric choices too.

Barb

[Jeanne A.]

In reading through the pattern, I don't see any mention of pressing the seams.
At least not for this first month. Has anyone actually sewn the star together yet?
How did you press it?

[Jeanne A.]

Bean 53 The only place I see mention of pressing was on page 9 but it is only on pressing paper pieced seams, not after you tear the paper off and sew all the sections together to build the block. I was rather disappointed in the Month 1 video, I thought she might give tips on the actual block. Her organization was impressive though.

I love the quilt in your avatar, what is the name of the pattern?
Happy sewing
Judy

[Rebecca F.]

I pressed the bulkiest seams open. I also tried to notice which way the seams "wanted" to go. I'm attaching a picture of the back. I would never presume to suggest mine is "the right way" but this worked for me. I notice some inconsistencies but these choices made sense at the time.

Becky

[Jeanne A.]

The center of the quilt behind me is a Mariners Compass from a Judy Mathieson class I took in Houston. Then I just added a ton of borders so sorry, there is no pattern!

[Kim R.]

Becky what size did your finished block measure? Thanks, Kim

[Rebecca F.]

The unfinished measurement is about 16 3/8". I'm sure I could release my main seams and get it dead on. I'm calling it "good enough" for now.

Becky

[Kim R.]

Becky... I can't quite figure out what I did wrong. Mine measures 15 1/2". The paper piecing printouts were to scale. Any ideas?

[Barbara S.]

Great picture of the back Becky. I'm sure that will be helpful.

How about a picture of the front too please?

[Rebecca F.]

My first thought would be to triple check the scale on your printer. It should be 100% or full size or whatever your printer dialog calls it. My only other thought would be that your seam allowances were too wide. As I sewed my subunits together, I kept reminding myself to make the seam allowances scant. There's a lot of bulk in some of them so pressing to one side makes quite a bit of difference. I tried to make my block as flat as possible which meant pressing quite a few of my seams open.

Becky

[Rebecca F.]

Barbara,

Here's a picture of the front. I see a couple of places where I didn't match the seams. I'm trying to decide if redoing those will make things better or worse. I'm a little reluctant to fiddle with it.

Becky

[Barbara S.]

Becky
Oh, that looks beautiful! Really like the colors.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Barb

[Beverly C.]

Becky, the colors you've chosen are beautiful!

[Jeanne A.]

I agree with Becky, check your printer settings again.
I always do a sample block and this time mine came out at 16 instead of 16.5.
My friend Brenda said check the printer - turns out that was the problem!

[Rebecca F.]

Thanks, Beverly. I struggled with the choices but one of the ladies at the shop showed me a line of blenders that I hadn't noticed. That made all the difference!