Thanks to everyone who filled out my little quiz! It really was more a poll than a quiz, since there was no one right answer.
Here are the results!
Last time I checked, out of 75 people:
30 people said:
Keep going! You baste it, quilt it and hope for the best!
40%
42 people said:
Get out your seam ripper and start frogging! You want to fix the problem now.
56%
3 people said:
Fold up your crooked top and put it in the back of the closet with the other UFOs.
4% 
Most people would have either kept going or worked on fixing the problem. Only a handful said they would have folded up the quilt and tucked it away. I thought of all these options.
So what did I do?
I spent a lot of time measuring and re-measuring the quilt, hoping that the tape measure was off by 4 inches. And then I sat and stared at the quilt, trying to figure out how in the world one side of the quilt could be 4 inches longer than the other. Then without knowing how to fix it, I started to unstitch one section. I didn’t know what the problem was, but wanted to try re-stitching it to see if that would help.
After re-stitching one section, I lined up the seams and noticed that the other seams weren’t lined up. When I was putting the top together, I didn’t think I needed to line up the seams since this was a column quilt. BIG mistake!
I went through and took apart the columns and re-stitched them, matching the seams across columns. As I did, the extra fabric magically appeared at the bottom of the column when I finished sewing the new seam.
After what seemed like an eternity of unstitching and re-stitching, I finished the top for the second time, trimmed it and would you believe, both sides are now an even 77.5 inches.
This baby is now on my basting table, waiting for me to stick pins in her!
17 comments
Yay, well done for working it through, it would no doubt have puzzled me for ages!
Yipppeeee for your hard work and perserverence. Well done mama
xxxxx
Whew! What a huge bother, but I bet you're happy you 'fixed' it!!
I'm so glad you were able to fix it! I bet you feel so much better. I have definitely had those moments. My hubby knows to stay out of the sewing room if I have my seam ripper in my hand for long periods of time. 🙂
Good for you, Nicole, for making it right! I really wasn't sure about that "hope for the best". If it didn't measure right as a top, what would make us think it would measure properly as a quilt? Your satisfaction with this quilt in the end will be well deserved.
Oh wow, good for you for working it out. Am I right in understanding that you ripped ALL of the columns apart??
Hope you had chocolate breaks. Now reward yourself with a cup of hot chocolate for a job well done!
woohoo!! job well done.
Nicole, you must be extremely satisfied that you took the time to correct your mistake before basting and quilting. Your quilt will be so beautiful when finished! I look forward to another gorgeous work of art from your hands. I voted for your quilt last week at quilting gallery, it is very pretty …love the concept._
Pam
Doh! At least it was too much fabric instead of not enough (speaking from experience…). Glad you figured it out and fixed it. I find that figuring out my mistake is so satisfying ultimately, plus you learn something :-).
bravo for figuring it out, I can honestly say after doing all that unpicking and restitiching, I wouldn't be ready to baste, i'd need to step away haha so congrats for persevering!
Yay for figuring it out! Isn't is frustrating that sometimes you have to learn quilting lessons such a long laborious way! But now you will be able to enjoy your even sided quilt!
Good for you for figuring it out! Sew and learn I always say and isn't it more gratifying to have a problem and solve it than never to have one at all?
YAY… so happy for you that it worked out.
Persistence pays off! I know in the end you are so glad you did it, but stilla pain at the time! Your hubby will be extra thankful for his quilt:).
Yay! So happy you were able to fix it!
Wow! So happy you figured it out 🙂
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