Sunday 12 February 2017

Singing the Y-Seam Blues

Part of my OMG is to finish the blocks of Westering Women (by Barbara Brackman). Well, the ladies have a broken wheel on one of the wagons and they are singing the Y-seam Blues with me!

I was real proud of my August block Chimney Rock.

Armed with more confidence, I set to assemble September's block which is Sage bud. More Y-seams then I dare to count. But one at a time is all I can sew, right? It started pretty good actually.


The first seam with the yellow fabric was very good and the next one acceptable.


Same with this unit.


The more I added, the better it looked.


Then the fourth unit is ... to be unstitched.  It won't lay flat at all. It warps. ARGH!! So I restitched, and unstitched, and re-restitched and ... I examined the others, trying to find what I was doing differently. During the examination, I realized something.  The block is to finish at 12.5 inches so each unit has to be 6.5, right? Well, they are not! WHAT???

I took out the template (sorry but it is misbehaving today) and examined it a bit.
I copied this template as is and started to sew. It doesn't say "add seam allowances" so I didn't add ANY seam allowances. It makes no sense, the units are too small.  I went back to Barbara's blog and she does say it in the post : must add seam allowances. (paste huge sigh of discouragement here) THAT's what happen when you do a BOM block months later. You forget little important details! Angry at myself for wasting fabric, time and patience but it will past.

So if I am to start all these units over AGAIN, where I might end up making another big mess of the last y-seam, I might as well EPP it!! (EPP=English Paper Piecing)

Got some old Christmas cards some businesses sent to the office and drew the templates. Adding the seam allowances as I cut the fabrics.

This evening, I will keeping Kathy company, watching Mercy Street and Victoria on PBS while we both slow stitch, each on our own project.

To make sure my templates are the right size, I have started to assemble one.

Ooohhh! Can't wait for the supper's dishes to be done. It's going to be so much fun! Come and join us. Pick a needle and a project, and come share it with us. You can find Kathy right here. 


Until next time ... the Westering Women are getting that wheel fix real good!

;^)










9 comments:

gayle said...

Your EPP version is lovely!
Maybe the first one could be the start of an orphan block quilt? 8)

Marly said...

How frustrating! It sounds as if your tyre was to small for the wagon! Although in those days they didn't have tyres! In Holland dress patterns don't have seam allowances printed on them either and I knew an Englishwoman who cut a dress without seam allowances; each panel was 2cm too small! (Not me, by the way, my MIL warned me, just in time!)

Quilter Kathy said...

I would have kept the first version and added a border to bring it up to the size of the other blocks! Hope you enjoy some stitching and TV watching tonight!

Kathy S. said...

Ugh. Y-seams. I'm not patient enough for them. Your blocks are beautiful. Can't wait to live the Y-seam adventure through your fabrics.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Your block looks pretty, with or without the seam allowance! Glad you discovered the issue and are on your way to making a new block. I tend to forget those pesky little details too. I'm looking forward to those shows tonight too. I also watch Henry VIII wives after Victoria. It's a lot of sitting, but I like them all!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

I do stuff like this all of the time lol which is why I mostly applique...

Less seam ripping :)

They'll be lovely !!

I am currently binge-( sort of ) watching / making my way through the first season of The Crown, using a free Netflix trial. But I can't sew and watch at the same time...

Quilting Babcia said...

I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to make that block! I hope your newest version turns out perfectly for you. You deserve it for persevering!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

I hate when that happens...small details escape me. I would try to make something of your first blocks...too lovely to discard as such. EPP is great slow stitching...addictive really so good luck with it. It's all about the journey not just the destination. Happy Stitching to you!

Sandra Walker said...

Oh I've been there done that on leaving a project and coming back months later to make mistakes like the one you made. Frustrating! But this will be such a wonderful quilt!