My picture today is my butterfly blocks ….that I thought were finished …. and what you can’t see is my huge mistake.
Several of you have told me to share my mistakes …. so here it goes … the salvage side of your fabric is very important … so much so that it can really mess up a quilt if you don’t cut your fabric right!!
Some would call me hard headed …and this time I would have to agree with them.
Every time I think about the word salvage … I try to avoid it like the plague!
The reason being ….it confuses the heck out of me. It has been explained to me many times …but for whatever reason I can’t grasp it…. I think I have it now …. think … being the key word!!
Here’s my problem …. My 8-1/2 blocks are not 8-1/2 inches. Some are …most of them are not!! Because I didn’t place them on the die …with the salvage side facing the correct position …. grrrrrr
Don’t let this scare you off quilting …. It’s totally my fault!!
I have to say that I received excellent customer service from Accuquilt! My blocks were all different sizes and I had no clue what I had done wrong … so I called them and she explained …. more than once because my brain just shuts down when the word salvage is mentioned.
My plan to use a Layer Cake to make my butterfly quilt … gets the axe and instead I’ll use yardage.
All is not lost …. I have a fix …. my 8-1/2 blocks are gonna be 7-1/2 blocks ….after I trim all four sides of all 80 blocks. (I always say I learn the hard way!!)
All this means is it will take me a little more time to show any progress.
See ya!
I know how frustrating those pesky selvages can be. I learned to sew many, many years ago and the first thing my mother taught me was to trim off the selvage of the fabric before I lay out the pattern. Of course, I thought it was a huge waste of time, but I still did it and it just became habit. And I tried to challenge it a couple times and laid the pieces too close to the edge and the selvage made the whole thing one big mess. To this day, when I make anything, I trim the selvage off first — usually while I am watching tv so I don’t feel like I am wasting time. Your quilt will end up beautiful like the others you have made and very few will know or be able to tell the frustration you went through. And, you probably won’t make that mistake again.
still gorgeous! and i have no clue what salvage is, but will take your word! LOL everything you do is just so beautiful and here i thought you only did stampin’ up! WOW- wonder woman.
Yes, I always trim off the selvage with yardage before I do anything else. Learned the hard way too! Your quilt will be stunning and no one will know!
I am still confused with the selvage side and such.
And I have been sewing since I was a teen, but not taught, self learned.
This quilt is going to be so pretty!!!
I have read your health journey and have to share that those tests are not fun.
I have had ulcerative colitis since I was about 18. I was living on my own, so went through those tests without family. I kept it a secret for about 10 years as it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about or share.
Hope all works out for you and they get you the correct diagnosis and medicine.
Wow Tracy! You must be a very strong person to keep it secret. I am such a baby when it comes to medical stuff…. so much so that had my dad and sister drive here from Tennessee … when I had thyroid surgery in 2011. Truth be told I was terrified of having my throat cut … I can laugh about it now …. but at the time it was scary!!
Hi Angie,
What do you mean by not placing them on the block the correct way? I have a square block and just made my top. Some of my blocks didn’t line up in my rows but not too bad. You have to look close to see it. I did not cut my selvidges, I laid some fabric on the block and cut it. I just assumed that it was a perfect square. I have the 10×10 block but I think the square is 8x8that is cut out.
Butterfly quilt is beautiful. Have a nice day.