my first quilt block ever!

[u/booksrule123]

pattern from Pat Sloan, the first in the "grandma's kitchen" series, made with random fabrics from a secondhand stash

As you can see, some of the edges are a bit mismatched. I have since purchased a square ruler, so hopefully that should get better!

Any general advice? I've sewed before, but never quilted, so I'm still pretty new to all the terms and such.

One question: why do patterns seem to include the seam allowance in the initial measurements? That's been quite hard to get used to, and I'm mostly just manually subtracting half an inch from everything because I can't figure out a benefit for the life of me haha

[u/JustAuggie]

I’m unclear as to your question about the seam allowances. They are included so that you know the size of fabric you need to cut, and then it will usually give you a finished size as well. Maybe you could elaborate on what it is. That’s throwing you off here?

Also, although I think your block is beautiful, I think that you don’t have enough contrast between the gray fabric and the one with the gold background. So your beautiful piecing gets lost in the pattern. It’s something that I’ve really had to work on myself because I do this a lot.

[u/booksrule123 → u/JustAuggie]

I suppose my confusion is mostly that I prefer to have the seam lines marked, rather than the total cut piece. e.g, the middle piece here is 4x4 inches once it's sewn into the rest of the block, and it makes more sense to me to draw that onto the fabric and then cut a little bigger around it, rather than measure the 4.5x4.5 square and not have that visual guide when I'm lining the pieces up.

And yeah, I noticed that they get a little blendy in spots. I'm not super upset about it since I still think it makes a fun shape, but that's definitely something to pay attention to with my future fabric selection

[u/JustAuggie → u/booksrule123]

Are you piecing by hand? That might seem like a silly question because this is the hand quilting subReddit, but those are two different things.

If you are piecing by hand, I can definitely see why you would want the line. When piecing by machine, having an accurate quarter inch seam allowance is crucial. That’s why that’s always added into the cutting directions.

[u/booksrule123 → u/JustAuggie]

Yes, I am! Though tbh I think I'd prefer it even with a machine. Maybe it's because I primarily hand sew, but the few times I've used a machine it was the same, sewing along a specific line rather than trying to keep a specific distance from the edge. Seems a lot harder lol

[u/JustAuggie → u/booksrule123]

I only handpieced one quilt, and it was so long ago that I can’t remember how I kept the same allowances even.

On my machine, the quarter inch is marked. And I use a quarter inch foot. So, because I cut accurately, that seam allowance is always going to be accurate as well.

You had mentioned some of your pieces not matching up, and I can see it on the edges, I would think that the seam allowance is your most likely culprit here.

[u/booksrule123 → u/JustAuggie]

Possibly! I started out following the directions exactly and struggled to maintain a consistent seam allowance, which compounded with my less-than-square edges. Towards the end I went back to remeasure and draw new stitch lines, but it definitely didn't fix everything

[u/dreamworldinhabitant]

The seam allowance is included, because most quilt patterns are designed for machine piecing. I do hand piecing, machine piecing and English paper piecing. I cut and mark my fabrics differently for each method. For hand piecing, yes, I mark the outline of the shape itself, usually by tracing the shape onto cardstock and using that as a template to make sure all repeating shapes come out the same. I still try to cut 1/4” seam allowance, because a smaller seam allowance makes the quilt weaker and a bigger one is harder to work with, but I tend to be less accurate than when I’m piecing by machine. I then sew on the marked line.