Thursday 22 October 2009

Wavy Seams Tutorial

This is a little tutorial for sewing wavy seams, a technique taught to me at Dayspring Quilters by Jenni Dobson and all the credit for the written content of this post is due to her, the photographs are mine and the "I" comments are me.

Start by cutting fabric in strips - between 3" and 5" is effective and gives you room for seams even with quite a wide curve.



Select two strips of contrasting fabrics, iron them and place them one on top of the other, both right side up.  If they are not the same width then put the widest strip at the bottom. 

Cut a gentle curve along the length of the fabric pieces.  I find it easiest to use a rotary cutter on a cutting board but it can be done with scissors.  Don't go too close to the edge of the fabric and don't make the curves too steep.

You now have two pairs of fabric strips:  the top strip from the right with the bottom strip from the left and vice versa.  Pair them with their right sides together.

You will need to ease the edges to match.  Some people prefer to pin first, others match as they sew.  I find it better to pin as I tend to panic if I'm trying to match curving seams as I machine!  You don't need to clip the curves at this stage but you might need to clip a little once the seam is machined if it will not lay flat.  Jenni's advice was don't clip unless necessary.




Once the seam is machined, open it out and press carefully, clipping as required, you have a wavy seam!  (And crikey, what a state my cutting board is in!!)

          

This is how it will sit in the quilt I'm making today:



Once wavy seams are mastered there is no end to their use - what about a simple nine-patch with wavy seams, or what about wavy log cabin?

5 comments:

  1. Lis this is exactly the technique I had to use for my C&G piece! Love the quilt, looks fab, I'm sure he's going to love it!

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  2. What a lovely idea, rather than have straight seams all the time. I will have to try on one of my next quilts. How easy is it to do across the width of the fabric, or does it need to be shorter strips?

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  3. No problem with using the full width of the fabric but I would suggest you pin first - would love to see how you get on, good luck.

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  4. I've got to try this. It looks really neat marla

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  5. Thank you much for this, I couldn't quite figure how to do this seam with contrasting fabrics and you made it so simple

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I really appreciate your lovely comments, ideas and opinions, they make my day. Thank you for visiting Piece'n'Peace,
hugs, Lis x