John Flynn Class

Wow, it has been a week, since I took John Flynn's, Storm at Sea class. It was a great class!
He and I have the same opinion on cutting and sewing seams. I have always tried to instill in my former students, that if they cut accurate and sew accurate, they will not have to rip out or re cut. We tested the width of our machines by sewing 3 - 2 inch squares together. The center square was supposed to measure exactly 1 1/2 inches.

All machines are not created equal! Needless to say there was a lot of ripping and resewing in the class.




A few days later at an informal group I occassionally meet with, one of the members said: "I didn't take the class and buy the templates, because I can just rotary cut squares and rectangles". "Right!"
That may be true if the light is right, the moon is in the right phase, she had a good protein breakfast and no coffee!

OK OK, so I had my laptop and pulled up the photos I had taken in the class, and showed her the potential problem areas. True, there is a big Square with in a Square block and a little Square with in a Square block. Those aren't a problem to rotary cut and sew accurately. But the two rectangular blocks can be difficult, if they stretch they will end up "wonky". Sewing the four sections together and getting those little midpoint seams to align perfect on all four sections can be a challenge. John's templates have the dog ears cut off to help you line up the pieces up.















Then we get to pressing the seams. If you get into the habit of always twirling your seams in the same direction on every quilt it will eliminate lumps and belly buttons on your quilt. When you press, left points back or toward you and right goes forward or away.


Any one who says they have been quilting and sewing for years and there is nothing to new to learn, is delusional! There is always a chance of hearing something new or trying a new technique.
I heard several years ago, after sewing over 40 years, if you were having trouble threading a needle, if you turned the eye around the thread would more than likely slide right through. The eye in a needle is punched, when it is made. There are tiny burrs on one side, that you can't see or feel; but the thread can.