Quilt in a Day Forums

I used the method in the Make A Quilt In A Day Log Cabin book last winter & made my first quilt from scratch. It was a gift for my 13 yr old grand daughter. All turned out well & I even hand quilted it. I've always loved the Log Cabin pattern, so it had to be my first attempt on a quilt.

The directions were easy to follow even for a first timer - but I'm having a problem with the seams of the log cabin blocks. She's had quite a few seams come lose right in the middle of the seams, sometimes an inch in from the edges. At first I thought it was my sewing machine, but I haven't had trouble with any other sewing. I'm able to use a blind stitch & fix the seams by hand, but this is an ongoing problem with more seams showing up as time goes on.

My question is, could this have anything to do with the blocks being made in assembly line fashion? I wondered if there was some method I don't know about to lock the stitching being you couldn't really back stitch to lock them because you cut lengths off. Any ideas on what is going wrong or how to avoid it next time? I suppose it's possible it's the fault of my sewing machine, but it hasn't shown up on any other sewing. Thanks for any ideas.

It doesn't seem to be a problem with the sewing machine or assembly line sewing. I would suspect a problem with the fabric. Are the seams that are coming apart always in the same fabric?

If it's not the machine, then it sounds like the edges of your fabric were not lined up so that one had less of a seam allowance than the other one. And, when you are using just 1/4 inch, having less means that it will eventually pull out. Been there, done that. Just take an extra second and made sure that the edges are even all the way down the seam and see if that works. Otherwise, I would guess that it would have to be the fabric.

Jo