Back to School Blog hop Archives - Hunter's Design Studio

Tutorial – Sewing Long Seams Without Stretching Them

Sam Hunter — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 10:00:49 +0000

This post is the first in the 2019 Back to School Blog Hop, and also a tutorial for the Colorblock LOVE QAL!

This is a tutorial for sewing long seams on any quilt.

What’s a long seam? Anything that’s longer than the space you have between the front edge of your machine or table and your needle.

Long seams present an opportunity to introduce stretch into a quilt, and too much stretch is never a good thing. So let’s look a few tips for keeping stretch at bay.

Here’s a quick 10 minute video, and in it I’ve covered all the points below – so you can either read about it, or watch it!

Sewing machine set up

One of the best things you can do to increase your accuracy in general is to expand the bed of your machine. This means get some surface in front of your needle at the same height as the machine bed. You can do this by having the machine in a drop-in sewing table or cabinet, or by adding a supporting table around it. Some machines come with a portable table, and there are some after-market companies like Sew Steady that make them for any machine (in several sizes). Your local sewing machine store will have solutions so pop in and talk to them about it. It’s a solid investment in your accuracy, as I’ll show you a bit further down this post!

Pins

Pinning is ALWAYS a good practice. And by pinning, I don’t mean using clips. Clips are a great solution for really thick things (like the top of a bag or tote with additional layers of batting), but pins are the best solution for precision piecework. Once a pin is in place, it’s very difficult to pull one of the layers out of alignment.

Where should you pin? In all the places that matter: at a minimum, pin each end, and pin the middle. To find the middle, fold the edge where the seam will be in half, and pin or pinch a crease into the middle. Do this on both pieces that make up the seam, and then align and pin the middles once you have pinned the ends.

After that, pin all the places that have to match up, like the points and intersections of blocks.

And then after that, add more pins until you have one every 4 to 6 inches, or about the width of your hand. Yes, this seems like a lot of pins to fuss with, but fussing with pins usually keeps you from fussing with the seam ripper. If you slow down to pin, you seldom need to slow down to rip!

How you hold the fabric

No, this isn’t some secret handshake thingy, it just about having a soft hand with the fabric as it approaches the needle. We often put tension on the fabric as it feeds into the needle – pulling away a bit – but this makes the machine try to grab the fabric while we tug in the opposite direction. And this stretches the fabric.

Instead, line up your work in front of the needle, and hold the layers together in just the space between the edge of your table and the needle, and rather than tugging them away from the needle, hold them down on the table gently as you sew up to your hand. UP TO your hand… not OVER it! And if you didn’t watch the video yet, go do that and this will make more sense!

It’s really frustrating to invest your time and money into making a quilt to have it come out stretched and fitting together poorly. It’s worth taking a few moments to set yourself up for better accuracy because sewing is always more fun when things come together well, and without too much struggle, or seam ripping. Having fun while making things is so important!

Please follow the rest of the 2019 Back To School Blog Hop! Note that these industry peeps are all over the country and world, so be patient if you don’t see their post first thing in *your* morning!

Day 1 – September 1 – Sam Hunter: Sewing Long Seams Without Stretching – huntersdesignstudio.com <<—- you are here!

Day 2 – September 2 – Susan Arnold – Joining Binding the Easy Way – quiltfabrication.com

Day 3 – September 3 – Angie Wilson – Fussy cutting tips and techniques – www.gnomeangel.com

Day 4 – September 4 – Andi Stanfield – No-Mark HST: Let your machine be your guide – truebluequilts.com/blog/

Day 5 – September 5 – Bobbie Gentili – Say YES to Y-seams – geekybobbin.com

Day 6 – September 6 – Mel Beach – 5 Reasons to Say Woo Hoo! to School Glue – pieceloveandhappiness.blogspot.com

Day 7 – September 7 – Laura Piland – 7 Ways to Use a Laser on Your Sewing Machine – www.sliceofpiquilts.com

Day 8 – September 8 – Suzy Webster – How to solve loops in free motion quilting – www.websterquilt.com

Day 9 – September 9 – Tara Miller – Accurate Stitch-and-Flip Corners – quiltdistrict.com

Day 10 – September 10 – Latifah Saafir – Accurate Seams Using Masking Tape! – latifahsaafirstudios.com

Day 11 – September 11 – Sarah Ruiz – The Magic of Glue Basting – saroy.net

Day 12 – September 12 – Jen Shaffer – Ways to stop your ruler from slipping while cutting – patternsbyjen.blogspot.com

Day 13 – September 13 – Cheryl Sleboda – Basics of ruching (a vintage fabric manipulation technique) – muppin.com

Day 14 – September 14 – Raylee Bielenberg – Choosing quilting designs for your quilt – www.sunflowerstitcheries.com

Day 15 – September 15 – Jen Strauser – Accurate and Attractive Machine binding – dizzyquilter.com

Day 16 – September 16 – Jane Davidson – Matching points for all types of intersections – quiltjane.com

Day 17 – September 17 – Teresa Coates – Starch and starch alternatives – teresacoates.com

Day 18 – September 18 – Jen Frost – Benefits of spray basting – faithandfabricdesign.com

Day 19 – September 19 – Sandra Starley – Getting started with Hand Quilting – utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com

Day 20 – September 20 – Karen Platt – Drunkard’s Path Made Easy – karenplatt.co.uk/blog/

Day 21 – September 21 – Kris Driessen – All Kinds of Square (in a Square) – scrapdash.com

Day 22 – September 22 – Sarah Goer – Planned Improv Piecing – sarahgoerquilts.com

Day 23 – September 23 – Kathy Bruckman – Organizing kits for on-the-go sewing – kathyskwiltsandmore.blogspot.com

Day 24 – September 24 – Cheryl Daines Brown – The Secret to Flat Quilt Tops: Borders – quilterchic.com

Day 25 – September 25 – Cherry Guidry – Pre-assembling fusible applique – cherryblossomsquilting.com

Day 26 – September 26 – Laura Chaney – Getting started with English Paper Piecing – prairiesewnstudios.com

Day 27 – September 27 – Ebony Love – Cutting Bias Strips from a Rectangle – lovebugstudios.com

Day 28 – September 28 – Tammy Silvers – Working with heavier weight threads in your machine – tamarinis.typepad.com

Day 29 – September 29 – Kathy Nutley – Create a perfect facing or frame with 90 degree angles – quiltingsbykathy.com

Day 30 – September 3 – Joanne Harris – Using Leaders and Enders – quiltsbyjoanne.blogspot.com

The post Tutorial – Sewing Long Seams Without Stretching Them appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Coming soon – the Back to School Blog Hop – 2019 Edition!

Sam Hunter — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 15:15:21 +0000

I’m delighted to announce that the Back to School Blog Hop will be back for 2019!

I’ve lined up 30 stops with a great group of my industry friends and colleagues for the month of September, and we’ll be sharing tips, tricks, and techniques that will make your quilting and sewing projects a little easier.

I hope you follow along! And a quick note… these industry peeps are all over the country and world, so be patient if you don’t see their post first thing in *your* morning!

Here’s the team and their topics:

Day 1 – September 1 – Sam Hunter: Sewing Long Seams Without Stretching – huntersdesignstudio.com