Is it Square?

I love using preprinted panels on the backs of my quilts. There is, however, one problem. They are never square. I want to insert this into the feathered fabric, but I have a little work to do first.

What is "square?" A square is a polygon with 4 sides equal in length and the corners are 90 degrees.

Something (like a quilt) is considered "square" if it is a four sided polygon and has four 90 degree corners. If your quilt is "square" it has four 90 degree corners and it will lie flat. 

Another interesting fact: if your quilt is "square" the measurement from diagonal corners will be the same.

 

This fabric panel is not "square." It is slightly bowed. Forget the printed lines around this design. As any quilter knows, stripes printed on fabric do not always (in fact hardly ever) follow the straight of the grain.

To use a fabric panel like this first it has to be trimmed until it is "square," which is no small feat.

Here I have trimmed the bird panel so it is square and added a strip of fabric to all four sides. NOW I can add the feathered fabric all around.

Your quilt being "square" is a very big deal. As I have said before, if a quilt is square it will lie flat as a pancake and there will be no wobbles or ripples and your long arm quilter will love you.

Your quilt will be "square" if each of your blocks is square. Many people think my quilts are paper pieced. I really couldn't figure out why for a long time, but now I know it is because my work looks perfect and lies nice and flat. How do I do it? I trim every edge straight and make sure every panel, block or whatever, is "square before I sew components together. And even after I do THAT, I make sure the result is "square."

Very. Big. Deal.

Worth. The. Fuss.

Homage to Many Squares

Here's a complicated looking design that really isn't.

I've got five different purple fabrics. Each of these WOF strips are 1-1/2". The cream strips are 2" wide.

I've sewn them all together with a 1/4" seam.

Cut the big strip crosswise into 1-1/2" strips.

Sew the strips into pairs, offsetting the rows by one unit.

And on and on until I've sewn all the strips together.

I pressed the strips to one side, one at a time, and very carefully.

 The end result is a series of graduated colored squares on point.

Not Yet Hip To Be Square

You know how there's something you SHOULD be doing, but you can't stop yourself from doing something else?  Well, that's what happened here.  All the top and bottom cream strips are 2" wide (except for that one between the orange and the rust in the middle, that one is 1-1/2" and the orange and rust are 2" wide.) All the other colored strips are 1-1/2" wide, cut WOF.

Soon, there will be lots of squares.

Lots.