A Quarter ain't a Quarter all the time...

And as a quilter I know this... a quarter inch seam is usually a scant quarter and even that isn't cast in thread.

There are lots of things that effect that scant quarter - and those are the things I wasn't taking into consideration yesterday when I sat down to sew the nine patch units for Double Delight.  My biggest mistake was not sewing and CHECKING a complete unit.  I was so happy to just be at the machine... I was just sewing, and sewing, and sewing!  Then I measured... uuugh!  Then I cut new strips... tested and sewed and measured again and then sewed a complete strip set to measure.

On the left is what I made a bunch of... on the right is the correct size...  yeah - there just isn't any way to stretch out that nearly 1/4" of missing width.

My modern machine has the ability to move the needle sideways - I usually have it set to the right at 3.0 to achieve a scant quarter.  That is what I used to sew all these strips... which I'll set aside to use for something else.

So how'd I screw this up so nicely?  Many of the fabrics I'm using have some heft to them (both in weight or sizing) AND the thread I was using is a bit thicker (a coats & clark 100% cotton - I usually use an Aurfil for piecing)... both factors that play into your seam allowance... and if you have multiple seams that are off just a tiny bit - they add up to a big difference. 

I need to set my needle at 5.5 to the right to get my strip set to equal 3.5" 

 

I dreamed about this all night long... a lesson I won't soon forget.