monthly official size

[lsipes]

I have a small request if it is possible. Since we are working with circles and bias and building a quilt literally from the inside out. With each monthly installment could we also have listed the finished or unfinished size we should expect as a check and balance to insure proper sewing and things fitting ? If I've sewn a month wrong it would be nice to find out that month then two or three months down the road.
Thank you so very much if this is possible

[lsipes]

There isn't really a good way to give you an official finished size as there is no way to measure if you look at the way the quilt is put together. As long as you are leaving your stabilized on and have enough fabric covering the next month's sew lines, you should be fine.

[Rita C.]

I think it would be helpful to have a finished size for the diameter of this months' circle. Sue Garman's instructions were always so clear that way so that you always knew what size you should end up with at the end of each month. Rita.

[Rita C.]

I have left my paper on until I finished piecing all three templates together, measure and double measured all the guide lines to ensure the proper printing size, pieced them with the paper on and the paper is still on the outer ring (template 3) but, mine is not the same size as a few others so I'm just a little confused and wondering if I should do it again.

[Rita C.]

I haven't started on my quilt yet, as I am waiting for the kits to be available, but I have been following the forum. I followed suggestions and checked my printer making sure that it is printing accuractely. Lisa's comment that leaving the stabilizer on, which is the way the quilt was designed to be built, will ensure that your quilt will fit together, and seems to make sense. It would seem that each quilt is an individual and the goal wouldn't be to have everyone's quilt have the same measurements. Wouldn't our goal be to have our quilt fit together. If it is square then that would be good. If our circle is a perfect circle, then great! If mine is ultimately 1/2" larger or smaller than yours, why would it matter. Just sayin' or askin'?

[lsipes]

I haven't started on my quilt yet, as I am waiting for the kits to be available, but I have been following the forum. I followed suggestions and checked my printer making sure that it is printing accuractely. Lisa's comment that leaving the stabilizer on, which is the way the quilt was designed to be built, will ensure that your quilt will fit together, and seems to make sense. It would seem that each quilt is an individual and the goal wouldn't be to have everyone's quilt have the same measurements. Wouldn't our goal be to have our quilt fit together. If it is square then that would be good. If our circle is a perfect circle, then great! If mine is ultimately 1/2" larger or smaller than yours, why would it matter. Just sayin' or askin'?

Thank you grammaterry. I would like to say that paper piecing like regular piecing in that we all do it a little bit differently. Sewing to one side of the sew line or the other, or right through the center of it, is like the difference in using a regular or scan 1/4" seam, which can account for variations in sizes between one sewist and the next. However, paper piecing is also completely different from regular piecing in that you don't actually need a finished size for each step or unit. All you need to know is if you have fabric covering the next month's sew line to give you a proper seam allowance. If you have a proper seam allowance to the outside of your center circle to sew the next month on, then there's no need to fret over a 1/8" different between yours or someone else's. Different sewist's units will be different sizes due to different sewing techniques. I know this isn't the answer that some of you were looking for, but it's the best one that I can give.

[Margo C.]

For what it's worth, I really like the term "sewist" instead of "sewer"!! Thanks Lisa!

[lsipes]

Yes Margo! I never, ever say "sewer"!!

[lsipes]

Thanks for the input. I'll try. And not fret until next month. I do like the term sewist also

[lsipes]

For what it's worth, I really like the term "sewist" instead of "sewer"!! Thanks Lisa!

Personally I prefer the term "stitcher", "sewist" just seems clunky to my ears/tongue. But that said "sewist" is definitley better than "sewer" I mean, who wants to be described as a load of mucky drains? :roll:

[lsipes]

Hi, mine also came out at 16 3/4 even though my templates were to graph, I was extremely careful to stitch everything on the line etc. using 50 thread etc. I think that it is in the stabilizer taking up room, I think that the people using paper will be more on getting the measurements right than those of us who are using stabilizer, I love the stabilizer, it worked well for me. I was thinking that I may take off the final border and cut one a little larger, but after reading the posts about the measurements not mattering so much just to have the seam lines, it sort of makes sense. Question if we don't use stabilizer in all of the quilt will that mean that maybe we will have problems down the track with sizing? I am thinking of putting month 1 together using paper to see if this is so, does all of this make sense to anyone else, I would love to hear

[lsipes]

It is true that once you remove the stabilizer, your entire quilt top will lay fatter and press better which will help with measurements. But that doesn't mean you should remove the stabilizer to find out! If you'd like to remove the stabilizer only from your seam allowance to get a better press, that would be okay.
That said, I did use a combination of both paper and stabilizer for the construction of my top. I used regular paper for the circular star sections of months 3,4 and 5 and stabilizer for the frames to those blocks. The reason I did this is that the whole point of using the stabilizer is that it is flexible, whereas paper is not which makes the circular sewing much, much easier. However, with the circular star sections of the blocks, you don't need them to flex as the frame will be the part that you fit to that circle. Am I making any sense here?!

[Jackie O.]

I have not been able to start yet I have all the fabric and everything downloaded. I have both paper and Stable Stuff...which should I use?

[Jackie O.]

I did use a combination of both paper and stabilizer for the construction of my top. I used regular paper for the circular star sections of months 3,4 and 5 and stabilizer for the frames to those blocks. The reason I did this is that the whole point of using the stabilizer is that it is flexible, whereas paper is not which makes the circular sewing much, much easier. However, with the circular star sections of the blocks, you don't need them to flex as the frame will be the part that you fit to that circle. Am I making any sense here?!

Another light bulb moment for me I honestly thought you were interchanging the words stabilizer and paper. Now it is all very clear to me that you really are using each word independently . It also didn't click until this morning as I was reading that you have made this quilt. (It's a head injury 8) as I fell last week and hit my head real hard on the pavement) So from now on when you speak/type I will listen very carefully. I do have both the correct stabilizer and paper, depending on how things do or do not fit together I may need to redo the first three templates again but I won't feel bad about it. The fourth measured perfect and I'm not too worried about them. Thank you so much for your patience and input

[karen f.]

For what it's worth, I really like the term "sewist" instead of "sewer"!! Thanks Lisa!

Personally I prefer the term "stitcher", "sewist" just seems clunky to my ears/tongue. But that said "sewist" is definitley better than "sewer" I mean, who wants to be described as a load of mucky drains? :roll:

As a young bride we were renting the upstairs of a a double house. Soon after we moved there I was SO excited to find a notice at the door about a sewer meeting!!! Reading a little further on I realized it was about sewers, not sewing. That was disappointing.