No but I have a grid sitting here I haven't tried yet. I can see now why you asked about pressing seams open. In this case it looks like the thing to do.

Are you planning to make one? We'd be interested in seeing what you are doing.

Vicky, that's how I did my watercolor hunter star quilt recently. There is a company called Quilt Smart (or something similar) that makes fusible interfacing with pre-printed squares - that would save you some time if you can get it.

Here are my comments on the process:

I couldn't find the pre-printed stuff and the only fusible I found big enough for my quilt pattern was Decor Bond, which is a heavy interfacing...go with the lightest weight stuff you can find!

It is a very slow process selecting, cutting and placing all those squares! :)

The Decor Bond made a very heavy and stiff quilt top - it was difficult to feed it through the machine because it didn't want to bend.

It is a very slow process sewing all those seams! :)

And, it was difficult to quilt. By the time you have the layer of fabric with all those seams, plus the fusible, plus batting and backing, it's very thick and stiff. But if you just want to do in the ditch quilting, or a diagonal across the squares, it probably wouldn't be too hard.

So...I'd say try it on a small project and see how you like it! My hunter star quilt is something like 36 x 48...you can bet the next time I decide to try this technique it will be on something much smaller! LOL

Donna

(Oh, good, I found my post with the picture of the quilt!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hunter star quilt

I've used the Quilt Smart grid for a baby quilt. I wouldn't do it again.

I think this is good for wall hangings like a watercolor quilt. The stiffness would help to hold the shape of a quilt hanging on the wall. But it makes a useable quilt too stiff to cuddle with in my opinion.

It was also a pain in the neck to fuse. I was doing a larger quilt that didn't fit on my ironing board. So I bought a Clover iron (think small) to help press the squares of fabric in place just slightly so I could transfer the grid to the ironing board for a secure pressing. That was a pain.

After the pressing part, the sewing went quickly. That part was fine.

But like I said, I wouldn't use it again.

A few years ago I made a wall hanging using the gridded interfacing. I can't remember the technique that I used. The Wreath was made like was shown but I don't remember using fused interfacing. There were fussy cut appliques on top.

Vicky...I gotta tell ya...I'm impressed you are giving that technique a go!
I do like Miss Hartmann's designs and have her book, but that's one I'd have to think about..
Good luck and do post your results.
V.

This is on my to do list...which is a MILE long. I just finished a quilt for my daughter, Kim, that was married last Sept. 1. and now I'm working again on my Friendship Forest. That's the one I asked for HST's for.

Vicky

I'm sorry, but I just do not 'get' why this would be used except for a watercolor. Isn't it just as easy to layout the squares and go from there? Am I missing something?

SharonG/FL

Sharon,
It supposedly matches the seams perfectly. It's also suppose to save time.

Vicky

It does make perfectly matched seams. And the actual sewing may be faster, but the overall process is definitely NOT faster than a proficient sewer...at least not with a larger piece. It might be with a smaller watercolor, I guess.

But then you also have to snip the seams after the first direction of seams, then press all those seams in different directions (or open) and then sew the other direction. I can do all of that much easier with regular piecing tecniques.

With all that bulk, I'm not surprised at the "press open" instructions.

This is not a technique I would ever use, though. Too much fussing, too much bulk. I'd be much happier laying things out and just sewing them together - even with a very small size square.

But I never make wall hangings or watercolor or art quilts, and I do see the planning benefit with those.

When I make a scrap quilt I don't care if it has 100 or 200 or 500 different fabrics in it (mine never do, LOL). That isn't something it would occur to me to worry about. But I want all of my quilts to be soft and cuddly.

I hate pressing seams open! But with some patterns it is the way to go - makes things work out so much better in the end.

This is the method that I used in my challenge quilt for Jennifer's challenge. My pieces were small (1.5x1.5 unfinished) and I had 324 pieces.

What I liked about this method: 1) each piece was exactly where I wanted it to go and I didn't have to be organized. 2) my seams were exactly lined up and no pinning. 3) once I had each piece in place, the actual sewing went quickly.

What I didn't like: 1) it was stiffer - as you would expect. 2) it was hard to quilt, as Donna said. I kept breaking needles, but I was also using 2 layers of batting.

What I did differently: I tried cutting each seam open as in the tutorial, but it was easier - and faster - for me to line up my ruler and use my rotary cutter to slice the folded end off each seam. I still pressed open, but this didn't take much time at all.

Bottom line: I would use this method again for another wall hanging