How to sew patchwork precisely
11 tops tips
You’ve cut fabric to make a patchwork quilt but how do you sew the pieces together precisely?
Patchwork shapes come together like tiles on a wall or floor. Just like tiles, most quilts are geometrical: the lines and shapes of the design are regular and match up. Unlike tiles, fabric moves, frays and can subtly change shape as you handle it.
It can be tricky to sew patchwork pieces together precisely but here are my tips to help. They’re quick and easy steps that any beginner or more experienced sewer can take. Individually, each step might make a small difference but, together, those differences will add up to more precise patchwork that looks great!
1. Cut accurately first
Take the time to cut out your fabric accurately. Start with this blog post for patchwork cutting tips. Fabric that’s cut out accurately will piece back together precisely.
2. Keep your sewing machine in good working order
For day-to-day maintenance, regularly dust out the bobbin holder and beneath the needle plate, routinely change the needle and always cover your machine when you’re not using it. Take your machine for a professional service once a year if you can.
3. Use good quality cotton thread
Polyester thread has a bit of stretch in it which isn’t helpful for patchwork. Cheap thread tends to shed and fur up your machine. I usually use Gutermann cotton or Aurifil 50wt for piecing.
4. Check and check again
Before you start sewing, double check that you’re about to join the right pieces together, right sides facing and the right way up (if you’re using a directional fabric).
5. Use a quarter inch seam foot
Using this simple gadget is the most effective change you can make for precise piecing. It has a guide bar which is exactly ¼ of an inch from the needle point. So long as your fabric pieces line up against the guide bar, it will give you consistent ¼” seams, every time. That means that your patchwork pieces will fit together precisely.
6. Don’t back-stitch
Don’t worry about seams unravelling because each patchwork unit will join to another. This means that the seams will intersect and lock together. Back-stitching puts a push and pull force onto fabric which can, very fractionally, distort the shape of your patchwork pieces. They’ll stay truer to the dimensions you cut out without back-stitching.
7. Be gentle
Take care handling cut fabric as it can fray easily, especially smaller pieces.
After sewing a seam, be careful not to pull on the fabric to remove it from the machine. Pulling too hard can force the fabric to gather along the thread. Smoothing it back out again can push the pieces out of shape.
8. Press as you go
Set and press your seams using a hot, dry iron and add starch to get them extra flat. Press along the seam first to set it, then press the seam open or to one side. Well pressed seams lie flatter and intersect more precisely with other seams.
9. Fix and stitch
Fix important seam junctions in place before sewing longer sections. As your patchwork pieces grow into blocks and the blocks form rows, you’ll usually see that some seam joins need to match to look good. Before you sew a longer seam, work out which points need to match and hold those junctions together with a few extra stitches. When you go on to sew along the length of the seam, they’ll still match up precisely.
10. Unpick with care
When you need to unpick a seam, use a good quality, sharp un-picker and go carefully. I set my sewing machine stitch length to match the width of my un-picker. This means that I can easily slide the pick through every third or fourth stitch without damaging the fabric. The seam should gently peel apart but, if not, cut a few more stitches. Don’t pull the seam apart as that will pull the fabric pieces out of shape and make it harder to piece them again precisely.
11. No one’s perfect
I love to help people make the best quilts they can and be proud of their makes. Handmade quilts are perfectly imperfect! Don’t worry if there’s a mistake, a few lost points, or some seams don’t match exactly. Once your patchwork is quilted together with the other layers, those imperfections will melt into the beautiful texture of your quilt.
I’ve been tweaking my patchwork piecing techniques by trial and error over ten years. I hope some of these tips might help you make faster progress that I did! Comment below to share more tips that work for you.