squaring off a slightly off water color quilt

[Shira Chava]

i have a completed water color quilt top that is for a king sized bed. i
have not done the final border (10" or so) and the watercolor portion takes
up the top of a queen size bed. i did it in 4 pieces (BIG mistake!) and when
i joined them all, my seams were ever so slightly off and now i cannot
simply attach my border. i have about 5" of play around the whole design
where its all white but still in squares, and i am off by about 1" for each
of the quarters i joined.

i have squared off small blocks that were lopsided, but never squared off
anything this big. suggestions? directions? other work arounds?

tia,
sc

[Polly E]

For reasons known only to my computer, I posted this at 7:20 this morning.
The first sending must be in la-la land so here it comes again -
Only ugly word suggestions: stretch, ease and rip. Maybe, maybe, you can
take bigger seam allowances where it's too big, and stretch it a little
where it's too short. Failing that, the seam ripper is your friend. Put on
some soothing music, get out the chocolate and climb in. It is acceptable to
bang your head on the wall and scream just a little. Don't do that much
though. You already have one headache here. So sorry about your challenge
but, really, it's just part of the game; especially with a quilt so big.
Polly

"Shira Chava" <shira...@ureach.com> wrote in message
news:ui9vqjk...@corp.supernews.com...

[Pat in Virginia]

Shira:
The way I understand your project is this:
you made 4 quarters of the quilt, which has lots of
squares
the outer squares are all white
you want to add border
the quarters do not meet/measure up properly

With those 'facts', my suggestions:
frog stitch back to the original 4 quarters
press carefully and gently
inspect/measure each quarter individually to find the
variance
(measure thru the centers please!)
take in or let out some seams (scant adjustments!)
press again and measure thru centers

Still off? Well, since the white areas do not provide
much contrast, you could trim some there. AND/OR you
could add a border of the white at about 3" and then
trim that back a bit too. If you've done the seams as
above, the trimming should be not much more than 1/4"
... maybe 1/2" here and there.

HTH. PAT

[Patti]

Hullo Shira
I think this would be a case for 'blocking'.
I agree with the others who have said, unpick the stitches back to the
four quarters. Then before you try to make them all the same size, it
would be best to make each one square. Basically, the idea of blocking
is to damp/wet each piece and pin it to something which is a measured
perfect square of the size the quarters are supposed to be. By the time
it is dry it should retain the size/shape of the correct square. When
the quarters are square, then you can cut them all to the size of the
smallest one. If you then press them, be careful that you do not allow
them to distort again eg with steam. After that, you should be able to
put your borders on without a problem.
BTW, it wasn't necessarily a big mistake to make it in four sections!!
It made the quilt easier to handle. It just seems like a mistake
because snags are occurring at the joining stage. Don't lose heart
though.
Just a note for the future, though: it is best to measure and square
off the component sections as you go along. Any squares which are off
at that stage can more easily be blocked to shape/size.
Good luck. It will be worth it when you have finished - never lose
sight of that.
.
In article <ui9vqjk...@corp.supernews.com>, Shira Chava
<shira...@ureach.com> writes

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

[Shira Chava]

i just do not have it in me to re-do any seams! the pieces are 2x2" and
there are over 1000 of them- the four quarters are each a bit bigger than a
crib size quilt. the section of the design that has color it in all matches
up just perfect- its in the white areas around that where there are
"off-ages." so i am going to just add another trim it up even and square
along the edges and leave the inside (and the mis-matches) be. thank you all
for your encouragement. i was getting pretty down about it and now i feel
ready to fix the oops and make it right. i am sure it will be beautiful when
its done, especially since it will be heavily quilted.

this is my first machine pieced/quilted project... any suggestions on what
book is best for machine quilting guidance?

thanks again,
sc

"Shira Chava" <shira...@ureach.com> wrote in message
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