Friday 15 February 2013

Set-in or Y-seams

I started work on a new quilt this week. Below is the palette (though I've since swapped the dark brown at the top for something with more light tones in it), with the likely binding and backing at the bottom:


The palette includes 3 Tula Pink prints, from 3 ranges; the dark teal at the top is from Neptune, the beige directly below it is Turtle Bay from Prince Charming, and the lighter teal towards the bottom is Ocean Ponies from Salt Water.


This one involves a lot of piecing, including a centre medallion with lots of Y-seams. I actually didn't have to piece the very centre this way, but it spreads the bulk far better, and the seam allowances swirl out into position (above) so handily!

(Second of the 3 seams pinned.
I marked the sewing lines at the corners with a Sewling pen to help align the pieces perfectly.)

I had avoided these for a long time, mostly due to their time-consuming nature, but they came together perfectly, and didn't take as long as I'd anticipated (or maybe it just seemed fast in relation to the oodles of piecing I'm doing for the pieced borders now...)

(Third seam sewn and pressed.
All the seams stop and backtrack at the 1/4in mark, rather than continuing to the edge of the fabric.)

I think in future I'll be doing more set-in seams instead of redesigning the blocks to avoid them - it's probably about even, time-wise (unless there are multiple blocks). While it's satisfying to be able to redraft a block to piece it my own way, sewing perfect set-in seams has its own satisfaction. Now I just need to figure out how to write simple, clear instructions for sewing them!

1 comment:

Heather said...

Glad you showed your pressing and pinning. i don't do y-seams often and it's rather hit and miss whether they turn out. I'm going to try pressing as you did next time and see how it goes.

ps. I have a give away today of a children's book that is the right age for your children.