Recently, I've been looking at and obtaining more and more patterns, planning on which I will try next. I found a runner pattern in a quilting mag that is a modified log cabin-type (it has a large square with two sides layered with two large strips for the blocks). The instructions have you cutting the sides out, piecing the blocks (I think that's the term). But after doing Eleanor Burns' log cabin, I thought that it might be easier and more precise to chain sew the sides from one long strip (I really like doing that). I have found the same question on 'why do they piece it when you can chain sew it much more easily' on other patterns. It made me wonder how many other quilter's will go off-pattern and modify the instructions?
For example, when doing some triangles, say for flying geese, I was taught on a pattern that sews the squares onto a rectangle, cutting one side closer to the corner and folding the other half up, rather than dividing a square into two triangles then sewing them, as I've seen on patterns. Trying to equally sew straight lines and then cut between them to make two colored square daunts me right now. Sewing two blocks on the diagonal and then folding one corner to the diagonal corner seems less likely to cause errors in creating equal blocks.
What do you do?
This message was edited Apr 22, 2010 9:12 AM
