Understanding paper piecing

[ann c.]

I am catching up on January 2010 and starting my February bom and need help. This is my first time paper piecing. As I join the pieces of the 8" Cracker star and 8"x-Star I am finding that the hst are measuring
2 3/8 in not 2 1/2. How does this happen if I am paper piecing? It seemed to me that I stitched directly on the sewing lines and cut on the cutting lines. How should I proceed? Thank you for your help!

Lorna - I just measured my 1 inch block and it is measuring exactly 1inch. Any other hints?

Also - any hints to match the points of the half square triangles when piecing the blocks?

[Lorna B.]

Make sure the pattern you printed out is true to scale. Does that little square measure exactly one inch? You may have to adjust your printer.

[Margo C.]

Ann, Lorna is right. You need to re-measure your 1" test square. It must be EXACTLY 1"x1". Even just a tiny bit small will not work! When you print out your foundations, be sure that your printer scaling is set to "none". Sue give directions on pages 3 & 4 of the Introduction. Don't feel bad....you are not the first!

You want to figure this out now, because if your blocks are not the prescribed finished size, the whole project will not fit together well.

As for the precision piecing....you may want to check out Alex's classroom from June 2008. She did a series of several videos about piecing Leymone Star blocks and shows how to piece points.
(Access the classrooms on the purple bar under "Classrooms")

You can also access my "test" on my Webshots album to make sure that you are stitching a 1/4" seam allowance. You can access it here:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569415726bHNKHF
Good luck!

[Mary H.]

Ann - I had the same problem because my printer was set wrong. If you will look under the heading "month 1 block" and read pages 2 and 3, you will see the discussions we had on this problem. Once I got the pages printed correctly everything was the correct size. Mary

[ann c.]

I started over and did much better. I believe the problem was caused by not cutting exactly on the cutting lines. I have finished January and am excited to finish February before March!!! Thank you for your replies. ann