We had a great time on holiday (if anyone wants excellent accommodation in Penzance or recommendations of things to do in West Cornwall, don't hesitate to get in touch!) and are now safe and sound returned. After a restorative cuppa and the loading of the washer, I was eager to iron my spiral blocks and see how flat they were. It's not easy to see in the photos, but while they're OK, they're definitely too full. I'm not the kind of person who needs perfection, so I can fudge them, but where did I go wrong?
Maybe I was a bit off with my seam allowances? No, an examination of the back of the blocks shows the sewing is pretty much along the marked lines.
Maybe there was a mistake with the template, either in the book (printing processes aren't infallible) or in my drawing and cutting. No, my template matches the pattern perfectly, and when I drew round the template to see if it makes a circle, it's fine.
So what is the problem? The only other thing I could think is bias stretch. Even though I had used good quality fabrics, there was quite a bit of pulling and matching with these blocks, so maybe starching them first would help.
Hooray! You can see that this block (with spray-starched fabrics) is as flat as a pancake! Now, is there any way of returning stretched fabric back to its original state? Perhaps if I wash them and dry them flat they'll spring back into shape?
I'll report back.
3 comments:
Very good thing to learn about stretch and bias. I will try to remember your tip in the future! Loving these blocks.:)
Starch is your friend :-)
Do you remember when I made my Moonglow BOM quilt - one of the squares with a circular pattern wasn't so much full as like the dome of St Pauls !!! A lot of water & pressing needed to get it anywhere like flat ! Glad you had a great holiday ! Cornwall is so lovely isn't it ! Ali xx
Post a Comment