Thursday, August 15, 2013

Another View on Blocking a Quilt

If you are interested in another view on blocking, check out this blog post--Wavy Edges of Wall Quilts--over at Alison Schwabe's blog. Evidently, wavy quilt edges bother her as much as me. She thinks blocking is a waste of time (and I agree in a lot of cases). For wall quilts, especially those that might be displayed in humid regions, her suggestions make a lot of sense.

One of my good friends who was a LONG-time quilter used the "gathering stitch" method. I once had a quilt that had a really wavy border. Since she was the local quilt authority (as far as I was concerned), I asked her what I could do. She "made" me take off the binding and take some "gathering stitches" in the very far edges of the quilt. She had me pull the gathering stitches ever so slightly where the waves were the worst. When I reapplied my binding, I was SHOCKED at the amount of binding I had left over. I had gathered in SEVERAL inches of the quilt! The quilt was flat and I was pleased. (Thanks LaVerne!) You DO have to be careful not to gather so much on the edges, though, that you make the center of the quilt "puff" up. You might give this method a try if wavy edges are a problem for you.

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