The ROADS—Ask Questions Here

[Barbara B.]

I want to share an experience regarding the adding of roads. I paper pieced my houses and roads, trimmed to the the lines. While adding the roads, I noticed that the stitching was opening up on the houses. Removed the road and put a row of stitching outside of the seam allowance.

I strongly suggest doing a stay stitching on the inner edge of the houses before adding the roads. When we make the large houses I'll be sure to do this step.

Susan, you are absolutely correct. I updated the Blog to mention this and will discuss it during the LIVE broadcast Friday May 7.

[Kathleen]

Thank you Barbara, you are so right. I see how easy it is to get mixed up. I used a different white fabric from the start but I did
use the charcoal fabric that came in the kit.

[sewskeel]

I just finished my white center strips and they measure 3 1/2 inch is that correct?

[Barbara B.]

I just finished my white center strips and they measure 3 1/2 inch is that correct?

I’m sorry, I do not understand this question.

[Karen]

Thank you very much, Barbara. I was able to get the measurement down to 17.75. Karen

[sewskeel]

My strip set of two charcoal strips sewn to 1 white strip measures 3 1/2 inch edge to edge. I don’t want to cross cut until I know this is correct. I figured I could make adjustments if needed

[Barbara B.]

My strip set of two charcoal strips sewn to 1 white strip measures 3 1/2 inch edge to edge. I don’t want to cross cut until I know this is correct. I figured I could make adjustments if needed

Mathematically, they should be 3 3/8"--1.25 + .375 + 1.25 = 2.875" + .5 seam allowance-= 3 3/8" edge to edge. Since yours is 1/8" bigger than that, the template will definitely fit. Just be sure to keep the white strip aligned with the guideline on template. You will have just a bit extra at top and/or bottom to trim off.

[smartycat]

Still having trouble getting my circle with the houses to lay flat. I want to correct this before moving onto roads. Barbara, I noticed someone referenced an earlier post by you on what maybe the problem. I’ve adjusted ant seam lengths that seem off. The circle is flatter, but still seems off at the bottom of the circle. Any suggestions on how to correct

[Barbara B.]

Try checking the open hole in the middle of the ring of Small Houses. If you have a wall you can pin to or a floor you can crawl around. The OPEN HOLE should be 17.5" from raw edge to raw edge. If it is larger than that, you still have some seam allowances that are narrower than they should be. Get as close as you can. And if you can pin to a wall, you can "block" it to size, spritzing a bit of water, use LOTS of pins and carefully pin it to the correct size. That is a lot of work so I wouldn't do it on the ring of Small Houses unless you feel it's really necessary.

[Velma B.]

I am working on my inner road. I notice that the seam line is not consistently 1/4 inch from the outside edge on the pattern. Should I be cutting the arc using the stitch line or the cutting line as my guide.

[Barbara B.]

Use the OUTSIDE LINE as the guide.

[Elaine K.]

I am just cross cutting my 2.75" pieces for my inner road....there is no way to get 16 pieces as my usable fabric is not 44" wide, ugh! Guess I will have to figure out a way to cut and piece one more section without wasting too much needed fabrics.

[Barbara B.]

The Inner Road cutting instructions say to cut TWO 3 strips so you can cut 16 wedges.

[Elaine K.]

I didn't word my previous comment correctly. It is the pieced black/white strip where I cannot get 16 pieces cut, maybe I am misunderstanding the directions, but if I cut 2 @ 1 3/4" pieces and sew them on either side of my white 1 7/8" piece, I really only have one WOF to cut from, correct? If my WOF does not measure the 44" then I need to cut and piece more, right?

[Barbara B.]

You are correct. I think I needed to make 1 more pieced unit and had plenty of leftover fabric from the larger black strip (3") to make it.

[Sandra Hand.]

Does it matter which road you attach first - inner or upper?

[Barbara B.]

No. I just recommend putting the Upper Road on the Houses, the Inner Road on the Compass, and when both of those steps are done, join the Small Houses/Upper Road to the Compass/Inner Road.

[sewskeel]

Barb
i know this is not a road question but
would you please tell me the size of the corner unit? I am wanting to change the buildings in the four corners.

[Barbara B.]

In a month or two I will do a post about how to personalize the corner blocks and the Little Houses in the City. That will provide all the measurements for those sections.

[Barbara B.]

There will be a blog post about that in the middle of July.

[SusieWeir]

I love this quilt and can’t wait to get next month’s patterns!

[sosallap]

I am just starting to paper piece the upper road using the template. I notice that when I fold the template on the middle line, the two sides do not line up. One side is a quarter inch longer than the other. Has anyone else noticed this as well? Should I adjust my pattern in some way?

[Barbara B.]

If the 1" scale box is correct, don't worry about it. I just checked my paper arcs and they are the same as you describe, about 1/8" or so different from the center out, My roads fit fine.