Out of Round

[Bobbie D.]

This may have been asked before, but my small houses do not lie flat. How do I figure out if the problem is the top of the houses or the bottoms?

[Helen W.]

This may have been asked before, but my small houses do not lie flat. How do I figure out if the problem is the top of the houses or the bottoms?

Bobbie, I can think of 3 possibilities right off the top of my head. Most common I have seen with circular quilts is not ending up
with a 360 degree circle. If it is less than 360 you will get a hill in the center. When photos were posted at the beginning of this
project. A lot the photos of houses with 16 and 16 looked like they were less than 180 by an inch or so. The problem then
was their printers were not making accurate templates. If you lay a large square up ruler, or even a large piece of tracing paper
on top of your center. Line one side on the vertical like 12 o'clock. and the other will be at 90 degrees for the horizontal.
Are those two lines matching to the houses that should end at that point. That would be 8 houses. Check each quarter. You need
to get to 360 to have it lay flat. If they are at the correct alignment for 360 degrees, then maybe you getting on and getting off
points with sewing the house side seams were wonky. Like Barbara has mentioned a number of times, some people are not
careful to come on at the quarter inch spot and they are not careful about keeping that 1/4 inch at the end of the seam. They trail off to one side or the other. Check for that too. If you find it and let us know maybe we can come up with a work around fix that does not involve a lot of ripping. Take the time to look at the seams on the back of the quilt. Do both sides of all seams look like a nice 1/4 inch. Some people do great on the top side of the seam, but the bottom fabric shifts and when you look at it, it is narrow or wide. HelenW

[Bobbie D.]

Thank you. I will give it a try. I haven't even started the roads, so I know this will bring me far behind.

[Helen W.]

Bobbi, Being behind is not always a bad thing. There are lots of great ideas that have been mentioned here that might make things easier, but most had already completed the steps by the
time they read them. Keep in mind the final beautiful quilt and don't worry about getting behind.
The quilt fairy will grant you an extension on your time. HelenW