Beginning Sewing Skills

Straight Seams That Won’t Bow 

Quilt Lizzy Ayden manager, Laura Clark shares tricks for keeping jelly roll and other string piecing from curving as you build your top. 

Odd Over Even Works Like Magic 

Layout your strips and label them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. 

Walking into a fabric store or quilt shop, I’m immediately captivated by all the colors—quilts, bag samples, bolts of fabrics and, of course, the precuts.  From jelly rolls to layer cakes to charm packs to mini charms, honey buns, fat quarters, fat eighths and more, I’m always tempted by them and the variety they bring from fabric collections.  For beginners, the jellyroll may be the most useful. 

Now that Quilt Lizzy Ayden is a drop off point for Pitt County Project Linus donations, we’re hosting members who sign up for our PHD (Projects Half Done) classes.  Members get a special code to come for free since they are working on blankets/quilts for children in trauma situations.  Saturday July 13, they worked on rail fence blocks, and I was able to give a few pointers on how beginners can get straight rows out of jelly rolls.  Whether you’re new to sewing or quilting, you will eventually focus on forming straight seams and even piecing.   

“Odd Over Even” is a general rule that I learned from a PBS Sewing with Nancy show.  

• Separate the 42 jellyroll strips into groups of three or four, whatever pleases your eyes. 

• Label the strips 1, 2, 3, 4 for each set. 

• Take a picture of your layout. (You will forget, or your label will fall off.) 

• Flip the ODD 1 strip over the EVEN 2 strip. 

• Match the centers of the long sides and smooth out to the opposite ends. 

• Pin. 

• Sew an accurate/consistent ¼" seam down the long side. 

• Repeat with ODD strip 3 over EVEN strip 4. 

Once you piece the 1-2 and the 3-4 strip sets, press to the right for both seams and return to your original layout in the 1-4 order. 

• Flip ODD strip 3 over EVEN strip 2. 

• Match the centers of the long sides and smooth out as before. 

• Pin and sew. 

Flip ODD strip 3 over EVEN strip 2

Final Result

You’ll notice a pattern emerge as you finish the jellyroll strip sets—you're alternating the starting points for each seam.    

Why does this work?  I’m right-handed and left eye dominant, so I sew differently. Everyone sews their own way.  This “trick” compensates and spreads out my idiosyncrasies, making my work more consistent and my results more accurate overall. 

For a rail fence quilt block, your rows should measure 8 ½" x WOF (width of fabric).  You can sub-cut each strip set into about five 8 ½" squares.  The width of the strip set determines the size of the block, so using three strips in a set will give you 6 ½" x WOF for about six 6 ½" squares. 

Thank you, Nancy Zieman!