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Y-Seam Trick And Treats

Summary

A Y-Seam is created when three seams converge. Quilting Contessa covers some of the key tips, tricks, and techniques for doing Y-Seams.

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Y-Seam Trick And Treats

A Y-Seam is created when three seams converge. They are found in compass blocks and tumbling blocks. Lone Star is a famous quilt pattern featuring Y-Seams. Anything with a diamond shaped patch has Y-Seams. Traditional hexagon construction is also a Y-Seam.

Y-Seam Tricks And Treats

 

Many quilters avoid Y-Seams. Because they are scary? Or too time consuming? Not any more. Here are four TRICKS for simplifying Y-Seams so you can TREAT yourself to all those great diamond patch patterns.

y-seam

 

1) Save time by only marking 1/3 of the patches. Pick one diamond piece for marking 1/4" seam crossings at the diamond points, The adjoining diamond and/or square don't need their own markings.

 

2) Do use reverse stitching. Because Y-Seams meet instead of crossing, it helps to anchor seams with reverse stitch. However, you must stop stitching exactly on the corner cross-marks. If your machine can’t accurately stop in reverse mode, then use a shorter stitch as the next best compromise.

marking diamond patch corners

 

3) To stitch the 3rd seam, fold the center piece in half. Then stitch from the center out. (Don't try to stitch the Y-Seam by pivoting in the center of the 3rd patch.)

folding between diamond patches

 

4) Don't press every seam. No need to press Y-Seams until your project is complete, or until your pattern calls for a nested seam. Sine Y-Seams radiate instead of cross, you can save time by skipping this regular piecing step.

y-seams

 

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Glossary

Patch
An individual fabric shape joined with other patches to make a quilt block or sometimes a one patch style quilt. These may be cut from templates, rotary cut or free hand cut.

Same As: Piece


See Also: Double Nine Patch, Four Patch Block, Nine Patch, One Patch
Piecing
The process of assembling quilt blocks from pieces of fabric sewn along their edges to form a whole.

See Also: English Paper Piecing, Assembly Piecing, Machine Piecing, Chain Piecing, Paper Piecing, Hand Piecing
Press
Method of using an iron to press seams and blocks. This means simply pressing downwards on the seam with the iron from above and not moving the iron back and forth which can distort the block or seam.
Star
A large central star, made up of diamond shaped fabric or a square with right triangles, to form the star points from the center out.
Author
Quilting Contessa

Quilting Contessa is a collection of various authors around the world that have submitted articles for the QuiltingHub 'How To' quilt wiki.  These are authors that do not write enough to have their own authorship, yet provide valuable content for the site.  If you wish to submit an article, contact us on QuiltingHub.

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