How To Set Your Machine To Piece Blocks

If you are new to quilting, many of the terms and techniques might sound strange to you. Since I cannot cover everything in just one article, I will share here the setting for piecing blocks only. Getting the machine ready is the first step in having a beautiful quilting project.

Knowing your machine is the key to use it effectively. Whenever in doubt, consult your manual or pay your dealer a visit and find out a way to solve what is troubling you.

Piecing blocks

I attended a new owner class after buying my machine so I had already known the basics by the time I started my first quilting project.

If you are looking for a sewing machine to quilt, a best sewing machine for beginners may be the best choice.

When sewing patchwork pieces, using straight stitches is mandatory. Depend on how much you can adjust your machine, the length can be somewhere between 1.8 and 2.4.

The key here is to use the shortest stitches possible since the pieces are probably small and the seam length is short.

Please note that you don’t want to backstitch in piecing. The reason is that you will sew on them later when you build up the blocks.

Another thing you may want to adjust is the stitch width. This means the needle will move to the left or right in the needle’s oval opening.

This may sound weird to you but it is quite common among quilters. Adjust the width will make something called a scant ¼” seam in piecing. This measurement is smaller than ¼”.

Scant ¼” seam

You can create the scant ¼” easier on some machines, if you want to know about these models, read this Quick Guide To The Best Rated Sewing Machines For Beginners Well Worth The Money to find out.

And why do you want to make this? When you press, a certain amount of the seam allowance is taken up. The scant ¼” will make up for that loss, causing the project looks more even and professional.

Not many beginners want to use this technique so it is popular among the experienced and advanced quilters. When you make simple designs, this may not be important but when you move on to more complex patterns, this is a useful method to learn. At least for now, if you see the instruction refers to scant ¼”, you know what they are talking about.

A trick I usually use is the starter fabric. You use a piece of scrap and sew it first, then come the main pieces. It’s like chain sewing. The scrap will take all the hiccups and brunt so that they will not impact your real patchwork.

When you take up quilting, there is no need to invest in a complex machine. A simple model might be just the one you want. If you don’t know where to start, read this Ultimate Guide To Best Sewing Machine For Beginners Reviews And Comparison to have a clear idea of what you should look for.