I think I’ve said this before, but I hate ironing fabrics while sewing. I understand that it makes things flat and without it your project will turn into a wobbly, wavy, disaster, but I just can’t stand it. My mother in law’s first question when I ask her for help is “did you iron it?” My Mom says things like “I’m not mad, just disappointed,” and my craft group threatens to take away my sewing privileges and my good scissors, but it generally seems like a terrible chore. I have been known to set up marathons of really terrible action movies along with my ironing board and try to get as much done as I can before starting to twitch. (I won’t even start discussing washing fabrics first, which is my other least favorite task.)

There are times though, where even I admit that it would have worked out much better if I ironed first and sewed later. Don’t get me wrong, I will iron fabrics for clothes, since that is a much different prospect, but scrap quilts are a whole other story. It’s hard to take the time to stop and press things while just wanting to chain piece my little heart out. I’m never happier than covered in threads from a long day of sewing.

This latest scrap quilt that I started has been a lesson in what I should have done differently. It got a little frustrating actually and is currently in a bag until after my vending event is done.  The pattern is called “Razzle Dazzle” and it’s from a book called Bright and Beautiful Quilts. It’s a beautiful and fun crazy quilt and log cabin mix up. It perfectly suits my need to use up scraps and not having to be precise. I also thought I had the same fish fabric that the book sample uses, but looking more closely, I have a smaller version of a similar print that is probably not quite right for this.

First off, I fussy cut the center pieces too close to the fish themselves, so bits of the poor fishies keep getting cut off in the seams. Then I pulled my usual “I’m sure I can just press this at the end” trick, completely disregarding the specific notes about pressing while sewing to avoid stretching and distorting the block seams.

Here’s an example of one of the two unusable blocks before I admitted that I needed an iron for the seams.

And here is a picture of a nice flat block that I pressed between each seam. There is a huge difference.

This is where the Husband started saying “And what did you learn?” As he so often does when I admit I should iron things properly…

Now you were supposed to cut various shapes out around the center pieces with at least 5 sides, but some of my sides seem to disappear as I sew, leaving me with giant pieces of scrap fabrics that will just end up cut off and not used. I try to make new angles or follow the old ones, but it’s not entirely working. I’m supposed to make 24 Blocks for a full twin sized quilt, but I may see if I have coordinating fabric to make big sashing strips for a smaller quilt. The squares will eventually be cut down to 10 1/2 inches.

I think it will be pretty fun. It was a trip down memory lane to go through my scrap box. I tried to use the smaller box first. I currently have three boxes and need a better method of sorting them. It looks like a tornado went through when I go through them.

Thanks for reading my ironing rant. I was a little embarrassed to post it, but figured I should be honest about my successes and failures in crafting adventures. Otherwise how will I learn anything?

Now I have to go get my Husband off the floor. He passed out from shock when I admitted my need to iron things.