Measuring Blocks, Fixing errors with in blocks.

Measuring Blocks, Fixing errors with in blocks. 

Wasn't sure what to call this post, so hope it is not misleading. In this blog I am going to be making a 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" block. Then I am going to be showing you how to make sure it measures correctly, and how you can fix it if it isn't right. 

The block is called "Best of All" and I got the pattern of the block from the McCall's website. They have a section on their website of free blocks and how to make them. 

Here is what it looks like: 

Well I didn't make mine in those prints, I made mine out of Yellow, Medium rose pink, Burgundy, Green and a fussy print that goes in the center. 

Looking at the picture of the 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" block above, it is created by joining many smaller squares. If you count across the top there are six squares, all sides have the same number. There are actually 36 small squares within that one block.

In trying to figure out the size of the squares in that block, if you divide the 6 squares you already counted to a side into 12 1/2" [12.5"] you get 2.08333. That is NOT the correct size of those squares. You CAN NOT take the measurement of that block: 12 1/2" and divide it in six pieces and the number be correct. 

Why? Because you have two raw edges on the outside that have not been sewn to something else, so those two outer squares still have their seam allowance not used. Which means they are bigger than the center four squares which have had their seam allowances used. 

First the UN-finished block is 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" and it has a 1/4" seam allowance all along the edges that you will sew to another block or some border or some sashing or some binding... Then the block will lose that 1/4" seam allowance and become a finished 12" block. Then all six squares will be a even 2" size. But until then you can not divide that Block by six and get an even number. 

Ok so again: In that picture of that block you have 2 squares that are 2 1/4" and 4 squares that are 2" and they equal the 12 1/2" side to side or top to bottom. 

HUH?   ok let me show you another way so maybe it makes more sense.

In the picture below, you will see two examples of how the squares measure. We are looking at the bottom row of the block. There are six squares. 

Top part of the image below: The first and last square measure 2 1/4" from raw edge to sewn right edge, or from raw edge to sewn left edge. The four squares in the middle which are sewn on each side measure 2" from side to side.  If you add the numbers up it equals 12 1/2". Once this block is sewn to another block you will lose 1/4" for that seam allowance once this block is sewn to something else on all four sides it will be a "Finished" 12" square. 

In the picture below in the bottom part, you see the "Actual" width of each square BEFORE it was sewn to the squares next to it.  

Let me show you how these came together, or I will at least show you how to make the four blocks on the corners of this square and show you how to match the seams and then measuring and squaring your block. 

The four corner's of the block, are completed by using 4 squares sewn together into a small block. 

A cream 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" square sewn to a rose pink HST, sew eight of these.  [HST = Half Square Triangle, see another blog I have posted to learn how to make one]. 

Then lay them out as in picture above, then sew the two rows together. Making sure you match your seams. 

There are two ways to match your seams.. the old fashion way of putting a pin through the sewn seam on top piece, then through the seam in back piece your sewing together.

So it is pinned like this.

 OR if you have pressed your seams to the side, you can butt them up to each other, make sure they are snugly butted together then pin.

sew together

And they should make a perfect aligned seam.  [a little fuzzy but hard to hold camera and squares]

Ok now we need to press, then measure and square up this 4 piece.

Look at the square up ruler on top of the fabric square in the next picture.

Notice that the 2 1/4" mark [going from right to left] is right on the seam line. That is as it should be. One seam is sewn on that square so 2 1/2" minus the 1/4" seam allowance of that one seam makes that block 2 1/4" now once sewn.

Continuing on to the left you will see the left square on top is also 2 1/4". Well it is a thread bigger but for the moment we won't do anything.

If you do the same for all squares from side to side, and from top to bottom you will see that the block is 4 squares that measure 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" each.

 In this picture I trimmed the edges of the block so it is perfect.

Now here is one of the 4 blocks, and when measuring you can see that the 4 squares are NOT 2 1/4" x 2 1/4".

The seam shared by the top right and bottom right squares are not correct.  What is wrong? The seam at the bottom of the top right square is  is above the 2 1/4" line. The seam at the top of the bottom right square is up in the top squares area.. and the bottom of the bottom right square is short fabric because of it...

To fix them where the top will have 2 1/4"  from top to bottom, and the bottom square will be 2 1/4" top to bottom, we will need to open the seam between them.

Discussion

There are two ways to fix this, neither is wrong. They are choices, each person needs to decide the value of their choice and do which ever method works for you. 

Fix One: would be to remove the right side of the block [two squares on top and bottom of the right side] take the seam apart between them. Measure to be sure they are exactly 2 1/2" each direction and resew them together with a perfect 1/4" seam allowance. Then resew them to the left side of the block with a perfect 1/4" seam allowance. 

Fix Two: Would be to take the easiest way to fix the problem, with the least amount of ripping out of seams. Making sure there is enough seam allowance that the seam will not come apart, but accepting that part of the seam allowance may not be a perfect 1/4" seam allowance, if some one measured.

If you are wanting to make sure every single square and block is perfect and every seam allowance is perfect, for say a competition then Fix One is the way to go. If you can live with a little bit of "Not quite perfect", but still a good strong quilt, then Fix Two is the way to go. In Fix Two no one is going to see this "Not quite perfect" fix except you  and who ever quilts it.. but most quilters don't hunt for these "Not quite perfect" seam allowances unless it looks like it is not stable. So in the long run only you will know once it is quilted. It's all according to what you can live with.

Personal note: if I am making a quilt for a customer, I would do Fix One, as they are paying for as perfect as can be in my work. If I am making it for myself I would do Fix Two as I know it is strong and good and only I will know.

Ok Discussion ended....

Fix Two:
The bottom HST square needed to have LESS in the seam allowance so that, that little bit of fabric would now be in the body of the square and allow that square to be 2 1/4" long.

As you can see by the following picture of the back side of the square, the pink of the HST is sewn less than the 1/4" seam allowance, whereas the other square used the 1/4" seam allowance in the seam.

As you can see in the next picture the top right and bottom right squares are now 2 1/4" x 2 1/4"

I am not going to show you step by step how to make the rest of the 12 1/2" block, we are going to move on to how to check, measure and square up the whole block. 

In the following picture you will see the block I made.  Now we need to check it by measuring it to make sure it is 12 1/2" x 12 1/2". But we also need to make sure all the squares in the block are also correctly sized. 

Discussion: 

When I first started I would grab my 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" square up ruler, pop it on top of my square and if it was exactly 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" call it good. Or if it was a bit bigger trim it to size and call it good... 

BUT this is what causes you problems as you start putting these blocks together to make a quilt.  I just couldn't figure out why it was so hard to make seams match up when joining blocks. 

Then the lightbulb came on! Someone said something in one of the FB quilt groups when addressing someone's problem with the block.. they said did you measure each square in the block to see if they are right, are you sure your seam allowances are right... etc.  That is when I realized I was going about this all wrong. It isn't the outer edge that is the "end all" measurement it is that each component is correctly sized and blocked so that it will meet the seams of the next block you add to it. 

WOW! did that change the whole game!!   I will be showing you how I go about making my blocks "Right".     - End of discussion

Ok here is my block made from the pattern I mentioned above.  Being this is for the blog not an actual quilt I am doing I want to say here...I sure don't like how the medium rose fabric came out in this mix I should have used a lighter burgundy. But that is hindsight. This is just for teaching. 

In the next picture you will see that the block is no longer on my cutting board, it is now laying on some burgundy fabric. 

Actually I have a TV tray top, covered in Ironing fabric, batting and fabric, that I use at my cutting area next to my sewing machine so I can press blocks. I have a smaller press block that I use for just seams. 

I have taken that Iron board and have put a dark piece of Burgundy over it so you can see the block better and so I can stick pins in it to hold the block square, while I am measuring. 

In the Next picture I have cropped it so you only see the right hand side of the block, that is where we are going to start. 

Notice I have my pins handy next to the area, and also that I have my 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" square up ruler laying on top of the block. [Note you do not have to use the same square up ruler. I have found my three square up rulers are all I need no matter what I am doing. 24 x 24, 12 1/2 x 12 1/2, and 6 1/2 x 6 1/2. ]

I start on the right edge, I look at the first seam to the left. and compare my seam to the 2 1/4" mark on the ruler. Remember we discussed before that the outer edge squares in the block will still have the 1/4" seam allowance on them, so you are looking for all the blocks from top to bottom to be 2 1/4" from side to side. 

On this first row of the block, I am looking at the seam line comparing it to the 2 1/4" line on the ruler, I also look to see if the right edge is even or wider than the edge of the ruler. 

Sometimes you have to pull the edge a little to get the seam line and the edge line to be even. When needed I will put a pin to hold it where it belongs. You can see that pin at the seam line at the top of the second square from the bottom, and again two squares up. 

Once I have those pinned and the seam line even with the ruler. I know that I can move left to the next column of squares.  

[Note: You can see the middle two squares are a thread or two wider than the ruler. on this outer edge I will leave that alone for the moment because after we get the whole block checked I will trim the block edges. ]

 In the next picture you notice that I moved the Square up ruler over to the next column of squares to check. Please note that I put a pin at the top seam allowance between the right column and this one, so that the block doesn't shift. Remember we straightened it in the first column and don't want it to move back.

Ok if you look closely some blocks in the column are a couple threads wider or narrower..
Ok not horribly bad, but not perfect.

Lets go ahead and look at the next column of squares and lets see how it does.. if all the other columns are perfect, I would have to think hard about ripping that line... lets see how it goes.

Ok in the next picture, I actually looked at two columns together, instead of the single column. I did that because if you noticed, the center square of the block is one big piece of fabric that is fussy cut, not four squares as the rest of the block is.  So I consider the two columns as one block in this case.

Notice at the very top two blocks, and the two below it. The right seam is perfect, but the left seam is really angled to the right and not straight.

well lets think about that, it is actually two blocks side by side. The right square of the top row, and the left square of the second row they are perfect 2" [seam allowances are used], but the left top and left second row block are what are angled to the right.

The center fussy cut block that covers 4 squares is ok except for the bottom tip on right. but the left side is not correct.

The bottom four squares are not bad but the left side is just a thread or two off.

Ok we know we are going to have to fix the left side of the top two squares and the fussy cut block. But lets move on for now. 

Now we are looking at the left two columns in the below picture. Remember the second from the left column should be 2" as both seams are used, and the first column on the left should be 2 1/4" as only one seam allowance is used. 

If you look the length of the second column the bottom squares are lined up perfectly, until you get to the top two squares, they are angling to the left. Which is the same problem we saw when we looked at the center column, it pulled the same way. That really does need fixed. 

Moving on to the left hand column. The bottom squares are pretty good, but again if you look at the top left edge, it should stop at the 2 1/4" mark IF the right side is straight on the ruler line. In this picture the right side of the top square is pulling a bit left, and the left edge is almost a 1/4" too wide. IF the right side was straight, then the left would only be a trim of the edge to fix it as it is too wide. But we have to fix the right edge before we remove anything fabric as we may need it. 

Same issue with the second square down on left edge. 

Ok we have now done a right to left survey of the Block. We know there is a major problem with the top two rows, starting the third block from the left. [remember the 4th block from the left was ok]

In the next picture you will see I flipped the ruler the other way. I have lined up the 4" mark on the right side of the two center squares. 

Immediately I see we have a bigger problem than I thought. If you look at the far right side of the two squares in the top row, the line is even at the 4" mark on the ruler. That's good, but look at the 2" line on the ruler and the tip of that flying geese peak. That peak is a full 1/4" further left than it should be. 

If you look at the next row down, right edge is good, but again the center peak is 1/4" to the left of the 2" mark.  

Lets check the left square of those two rows.

Ok in the next picture, we have the ruler lined up to the left edge of those two blocks. Notice that the 2" mark from the left, in both blocks they are almost perfect. And the fussy cut square below that looks like it isn't the problem either. It is the right hand side that is out of whack. 

Now we know exactly where one of the problems is, That is the importance of measuring each section and knowing exactly where your problem is. We will see when we fix it if that now will cause a chain effect and fix the other blocks to the left. But this is where I would start to fix the squares. 

I used the ruler and remeasured the column to the right of the center blocks. As you can see in the picture the actual problem starts in that column, notice that top square should be 2" as both seam allowances were used, but the square is actually wider than that. In fact there was a gradual tapered gap starting down at the 2nd square from the bottom. 

To Fix this problem I marked my block with disappearing fabric ink. Marking with the ruler the amount that is too wide in that square.  I then ripped the stitches of that column down to the top of the bottom square. 

Then taking pins I pinned the original seam line of the center squares, to the marked line of the right column to it. Then resewed that seam.  

Once I did that and pressed the block again. Then using the ruler I again checked the measurements. Now the column to the right of center was correct, but the center column was still too wide.

In looking at the two blocks that make the center column, I did not want to mess up the points in the center so I knew I had to fix the left side of that left square, and this adjustment went from the bottom of the Fussy cut center square up through the top two squares. So once again I marked with my ruler and disappearing ink fabric pen, then resewed as I did before. 

Again repressed and measured. As you can see in the picture below, that finally fixed those center blocks. And once those fixes were made it straightened out the rest of the columns to the left. Whew! 

Once you go back and make the adjustments your block becomes square and you can do any trimming on the outer edges as the last step. 

So you can see that just plopping the squaring ruler on top of the block and checking the outer edges to see if they match the 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" doesn't mean the block is "square". The outer edge may be but the individual squares inside the block aren't necessarily.   

For your quilt blocks to lay together correctly your squares within the block have to be equal, so when sewn to the next block the seams will match up.  

 I know this was long, but felt it would help someone who didn't know that measuring the actual squares within a sewn block can change the whole quilt. 

Happy Sewing. 

Becky