Some weeks ago I got all of my MMBB quilt blocks out and stitched and stitched and stitched some more, piecing them together to become a quilt top. I was so excited to finally be joining all 48 of the blocks into one humungous quilt. It's so huge that I cannot even get a decent shot of it standing on my little Ikea step stool.
However, when I sewed the very last seam all the way across the middle (horizontally) I have ended up with a horrible wavy bit in the centre. It's hard to see in the pic above, maybe a wee bit easier in the cropped one below.
It's underneath the aqua points of the very large star, mostly around the green and pink 6" squares.
So, folks, how do I fix this? I couldn't really figure it out the day it happened and rather than rush in and make a bigger mess, I just folded it all up, rather disappointedly, and packed it away. I think it's probably something to do with all the bias edges involved in all the blocks stretching it all out a bit. But would it just be fixed by increasing the seams sewn on the smaller blocks? I feel that might be the way to go, although I'm going to lose a lot of the points if I do. If you are more experienced than me, what do you think? What would you do?
I'd love to resolve this and send it on for quilting, instead of it sitting as a bogeyman of a quilt in the cupboard. Suggestions welcome - though the easier the fix, the better. Anyone got a magic wand?
I would first see how it might smooth onto a bit of wadding to see where the extra bits really are and then if you want to keep the points either remake the most offending block or add some small tucks in the areas that are not points. After the first wash no one will notice those tucks. I think you are right that a bias edge has stretched. It is fixable so don't leave this beautiful quilt in the cupboard.
ReplyDeleteI reckon it will 'quilt out' and once it is washed and reis, the wobble won't be able to be seen by you or anyone!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd try doing as Leanne recommends as that will help you find where the excess is and whether it will quilt out. Are the triangles on the edge of the big star QSTs or HSTs? ( If the latter, they may be what has stretched.) If you get really stuck, send it over and I'll do my best to fix it xx
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is beautiful! I also think that it might quilt out.
ReplyDeleteDoes it seem like there is too much fabric on the smaller blocks side of the seam? If so, I would do what you were thinking of, only instead of taking in the full seams (& therefore losing points), take each of them in by 1/16th" and only a third of the way down the seam, like a mini dart! If the answer to the first question is no, then ditch this suggestion! It looks stunning altogether, but I know that for long-arm quilting it needs to be flat! I hope you can get it easily sorted. Jxo
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