I am teaching myself to do inset seams today, also known as Y-seams for those of you who don't sew. I thought instead of doing one of THESE gorgeous creations (which, of course, is the ultimate goal eventually),
I will give myself a break and start by making just an 8 point star pillow with just one diamond per star point instead of jillions of tiny diamonds like this one above. This pretty picture came up when I did a google search for Lone Star and I love it. It happens to be a kit on sale at Bluprint called Glowing Lone Star and you can find it here. (no affiliation)
The first thing I did was search for a class I could watch on making a Lone Star quilt. The class I found is called Luminous Lone Star. The neat thing about this is it starts out with a very simple pillow project, then goes to a Lone Star with four fabrics in it and the one with six fabrics in it so you can get as complex as you wish. I'll stick with the pillow for now.
I was pretty happy with the star part of the pillow although the middle points don't match as perfectly as I would like. But this time around, they're close enough. I'm persevering on!
Following the instructions, I did my first inset seam by sewing a square into the corner between two legs of stars and it worked great! I was pretty proud of myself and quickly sewed 2 and 3. I got ahead of myself and wasn't paying attention . . . and this is the part where I'm laughing at myself. Sheesh!
Here's how it looks after ripping out that little detour, sewing it correctly and adding borders. And yes, that is Morgan's quilt in the background, spray basted, rolled up and ready to be quilted.
Quite a few lessons learned on this project!
1. Don't make a pillow cover if you don't have the right size pillow form ready to stuff into it. You'll be disappointed you can't view your completely finished project! Ask me how I know. 😞
2. Make sure to choose a fabric with a lot of contrast with the background. I chose a print with a white background that kind of blends into the white tone on tone I chose for the pillow background. I lost my star points. Good to know before I make a full size quilt!
3. Do follow directions when it comes to WHEN you should backstitch. I am so used to not back stitching most of the time that I forgot to do it at those places where it is important. This pillow may or may not hold together. We shall see!
4. Trying something new is FUN! If I practice the concept on a small project like a pillow and things don't work out as well as I hoped, it's not a great loss of time and effort. This pillow although FAR from perfect is still going to get used because it matches the Vicki/Jen/Janice quilt in my living room.
5. Learning Y-seams was not as hard as I thought and it makes me want to try curved seams now! I've let them intimidate me for too long.
And this is my DrEAMi (linking with Mmm! Quilts!) project for the week because when this day began, making a pillow was the FARTHEST thing from my mind. I'm supposed to be quilting Morgan's quilt this month and keep finding ways to procastrinate. Hey, at least it's basted!
What are you procrastinating this week? 😏
Linking to:
It looks great. You did an awesome job. Your list made me chuckle. ☺
ReplyDeleteY not try y seams, eh? And curved piecing is even easier, so definitely give that I try. I waited way too long to try curved piecing, and then wondered why I was ever afraid of it. Life-long learning - I love it!
ReplyDeleteLooks great! I made a baby block quilt a long time ago and it nearly drove me nuts. Tried yseams again with some hexagons and it wasn’t so bad. You are right - you do still have to slow down and think about it!
ReplyDeleteJanice - Just a suggestion . . . I always keep a big bag of polyfil on hand and some muslin yardage. I make my own pillow forms, which allows you to customize the size to your project.
ReplyDelete. . . oh, and good for you conquering the y seam! You did great!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, learning new things is fun! Your pillow looks great and you're one step closer to being able to make the kajillion diamond version someday :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on trying a new skill and pulling it off. Sometimes it's hard to take that first step, but you made a leap, and have a great pillow to show for it. You'll do the curves without any problems at all. Go for it.
ReplyDeleteLooks great! I still haven't been brave enough to try y-seams. I made a Lone Star years ago but I used QuiltSmart fusible interfacing, so no y-seams! Still one of my favorite quilts I've made, actually. I'd like to do another Lone Star at some point.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, trying new things! A Lone Star is on my bucket list. I've done some Y-seams and can say I don't like them. Yup. Can say that with certainty! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks good!! I'm procrastinating starting a huge paper pieced quilt that I bought the pattern for...so many pieces, it is quite overwhelming!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on trying and mastering very tricky piecing. I did things like that years ago as a beginning quilter without a thought about it being difficult. It’s nice to have another matching piece of.quilting in your home.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of y seams... who is I wonder?! But you have done a great job!! Your cushion cover is gorgeous! xx
ReplyDeleteSuch fun to challenge yourself and learn new things! It came out great, too! I’ve made it a habit to backstitch as often as I can remember to, whether I need to or not, because too many end stitches were coming loose. I’m presently very focused and not procrastinating! Hope it lasts! Keep up the good work! Enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteAh! Another quintessential DrEAMi! that grabbed you by the butt and said put those blinders on, and focus only on ME! And it's a beauty! Such a good list of what you learned to btw, and such good advice to try something small and quick when learning a new technique! Thanks so much for linking up. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing those takeaways from your experience with the pillow -- they're ones the rest of us can keep in our back pockets for other projects, too. BTW: Not only are inset seams and curved seams doable, but so are Y-seams and partial seams. I don't know why that stuff gets such a bad rap. We're quilters, and we can do just about anything!
ReplyDeleteI've tried set in seams and just couldn't get them to work out. Yours turned out beautifully! Looking forward to seeing what you tackle next.
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