All quilters have one part of quilting that they really just don’t like. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself! (I doubt that it is ever the fabric shopping though…)
My least favorite part of the whole process is squaring up the quilt.
Just look at how scary it is! There you have an almost nearly practically finished quilt, and you have to get a rotary cutter RIGHT NEXT TO IT! You have to cut off all the extra, but not too much! and don’t let that rotary cutter get away from you lest you slice up that beautiful so-close-to-being-done quilt! ACK – it is the thing quilt nightmares are made of!
So close to the end, but such danger lurking!
AND, it is where you can see all your problems if things haven’t squared up properly throughout the quilt, when suddenly your quilt is 42″ at the top and 40″ at the bottom.
No more fear though! This quilt is successfully squared and I’ll be hand-stitching down the binding tonight while watching some football.
Oh, and here’s one simple you-probably-know-it-already hint: roll up your binding like you can see to the right of the quilt above. I used to just throw it all over my shoulder and feed it on to the quilt that way, but MY GOSH, it would pull all the time and was just misery. By being rolled up and and on the table, it all moves very smoothly!
Filed under: Quilting
I'm nanann! I am a 30-something mom to 2 beautiful girls (6 and 4) living in Austin, Texas. I LOVE quilting and have recently taken up sewing clothes since it is just too much fun to do for my girls. This blog is a little bit about my quilting (or making of “woogies” as they’re known in my household) and other crafts, and a little bit about my two girls.
My least favorite part is quilting. My aunt has a long arm though, so I send her the big stuff.
I must admit it certainly is handy having my mom be a long-armer. I can enjoy the quilting, but yeah, definitely like to send the big stuff out too!
My least favourite part varies though I agree that squaring up the quilt is scary. I have a fairly big metal t square (is that the right word?) from the hardware store which I like to use as it’s longer than any of my quilting rulers. It didn’t cost whole lot, which made it an easy purchase and I don’t regret having it.
I’m not crazy about finishing the binding because I do it on the machine, stitching in the ditch from the right side. When it goes well the task flies by, but when it goes badly I’m ripping and re-stiching over and over again. Still to me it beats sitting hunched over and stitching it by hand.
Next week I’ll probably have a new least favourite part but it’s all fun really
Squaring up has become a lot easier since I got a 20.5″ square ruler — had never thought about using a metal t-square! Can see how that would be useful.
I’ve tried the whole completely machine-sewn binding but can’t seem to get it looking the best. Totally know where you’re coming from with the needing to rip out! I don’t mind the hand-sewing the binding down too much –gives me time at least to sit out and watch TV with my husband!
Thanks for stopping by!
[...] Then Comes the Favorite Part Posted on September 21, 2010 by therealnanann Just a couple posts ago, I mentioned my least favorite part of quilting. And I DO hate squaring up [...]