Meeting Perfect Points

Welcome to another addition of overallquilter.com

My name is Aimee Griffin. And today’s segment is on “Meeting perfect points”. I’m gonna show you some of the tools that I’ll be using in this video.

• The Clover Patchwork Pins. I like them because they are very thin. So they sit nice and flat on your seam. We also have the glass head at the end.
• The other tool that I love to use is the Aurifil Thread. And I like the Aurifil thread because of how thin that thread is. So it’s going to make your seam sit nice and flat. There will be no bulk on that seam.

So today, we’re going to be learning about how to get a perfect point. Or, how to get your seams to match perfectly, on a four-patch or when you’re joining locks together.

You wanna start with two equal parts. So, take two strips, sew them down together. Take a T-Iron, press them out and cut them into two even sections. So we have two even sections here. You will notice that I have pressed towards the darker of the two fabrics. Right sides together. And you will also notice that your seams will nest. And it’s really important that you get a nice hot Iron to make those seams nice and flat.

I like to use three pins. My first pin is going to go right through the seam, about a ¼ inch, and from the top, and put that pin so that it stands nice and straight. It should come out exactly on the other side of your seam. If it doesn’t, wiggle your fabric until you get that perfect point, that perfect seam. See how it went through!

While keeping that pin nice and straight, you wanna take your second pin, and pin to the left, and your third pin will pin to your right. You will also notice that I don’t have my pins, my pin heads going this way. I have my pins in the opposite direction. And I do this so that when I’m sewing, I don’t have to pull my pins. Sometimes when you’re sewing your fabric tends to slide, and so, this will prevent any sliding from happening. Once I’ve pinned on the right and the left side, then I can remove that center pin out. And I’m going to use two more pins. One, to the left side where my unit starts, and one to the right side where it’s going to end.

Alright! So now what we want to do is, before I even get started sewing, I’m going to use a starter. And a starter is just a piece of fabric, excess, scraps, that I’m going to put underneath my presser foot, just to start sewing on. This way your thread won’t get, sometimes your thread will bumble up, or we like to call it thread throw-up. So anyway, we’re going to start on on that, and we are going to continue feeding the unit right after. Now, you wanna be careful to not hit the pit. So as I’m sewing, I’m gonna use my stiletto to keep my seam nice and flat. And when I get close to a pin, I’m going to slow my machine to make sure that my needle does not hit the pin. Now, I know I’m probably get some sewing machine shops yelling at me but, if you’re careful you will not hit that pin. And I’m going to finish with another piece of scrap fabric. Now if you had multiple units, you would just continue sewing those multiple units, chain piecing. And we’ll show you how to do that in a different segment. I’m gonna clip that off, and I can then take my pins out. There we go. And I’m gonna cut my starter off.  I like my very patriotic scissors.

And, viola! A nice perfect point.