Tuesday, March 4, 2014

how to fix a block that comes up short

 while squaring up my wonky stacked coin blocks, i came up a bit short in one section of this block. since it was two adjoining sections that were short, i didn't want to unpick the entire two pieces, add in two longer pieces, and resew all those seams, so i did a little patching instead.

i apologize in advance for not adjusting my exposure or white balance for better photos but as i really wanted to get the darn thing fixed and just photographed as i went sort of as an afterthought, i did not focus on my photo quality. but fortunately for viewers, i was stitching with white thread on my navy blue fabric, so the seams will show up really well.

 i found a solid blue scrap that was big enough to cover the gap

 unpicked the top and bottom seams of the two adjoining pieces, but not the seam adjoining them, just far enough back to allow me to work with them without pulling out the entire section


 trimmed that bit so they were both even

 sewed the patch scrap to the side of the section thereby extending it's length

 then sewed the lengthened piece to the top and bottom layers around it, backstitching over where the original seams ended

and trimmed to square up with the side of the block

the block is now patched up and evenly squared

since this is a quilt that has lots of strips with seams in the solid blue section, i'm counting on this not showing up in the overall design once everything is put together.

how's that for some old-fashioned quilter's "make-do" sensibility?

4 comments:

  1. Great fix! And with all those seams, who's going to notice one more?

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  2. Nice fix! I hate it when this happens, but you did a nice job correcting it.

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  3. Oh yes, I had to do the same thing with my Wonky, Wonky Music quilt!

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  4. oh that is really really helpful. I have bumbled my way through this many times and it has taken me forever and still looks messy. Thanks!

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