REDUCE YOUR BULK ACROSS SEAMS

How to get perfect corners by nesting your seams

When you’re sewing a lot of pieces together, you can often find several fabric joining up at one intersection. This can create a lot of bulk, making it harder to get nice points. It’s also not very easy to quilt through. 

Nesting your seams is an excellent way to line everything up and reduce bulk across seams. I’ll show you how to do it with a simple 9 patch. 

nesting seams on a 9 patch block

1. Lay out your pieces and sew them.

Lay out your pieces and sew them together in rows of 3, as seen below.

sew your pieces together in rows of 3

 


2. Use your iron to press the rows.

 Noting the order you want to have the rows sewn together, use your iron to press the top and bottom rows in the same direction. Press your centre row in the opposite direction. 

 


Related: How to spin seams to eliminate bulk

 

press the top and bottom rows with your iron


3. Line up your fabrics.

Take your first and second row, and line up the parts where the seams meet. See how they don’t overlap? You can just wiggle them right next to each other.

take your fabrics and line up where the seams meet


4. Sew your row together.

Sew the row together, making sure both intersections nest together. Repeat, adding 3rd row to 2nd row. 

sew the row together making sure both intersections nest together


5. Press it!

Give your blocks a good press.

6. Turn it over. You’re finished!

Turn it over and admire your perfect results. Check out how nicely those corners meet up with no gaps.

press your blocks
press your blocks

Now you know the trick to getting beautiful corners every time. Happy stitching!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Brassens

Hi, I’m Michelle! I’ve never met a craft I didn’t like. Sewing however was where I really found my groove! So I left behind life as a pastry chef and concentrated on making things with fabric instead of food. I work at Dinkydoo Fabrics now and get to write about sewing and quilting for work. Stick with me and I’ll show you all kinds of tips and tricks, from beginner to expert maker level. Can’t wait!