How I Finally Sewed the Curves: A Third Method

Here's a closeup of some of the curves in my curve pieced quilt. Everything looked straightforward but there were a few issues.

Whenever I took pairs of curves off the wall to sew them together, the darn things grew! They never fit back in the right place. There was always a gap to the left, the right or between the sewn section and what remained on the wall! Finally I pinned all the curves to each other.

But when I removed the top from the wall, showers of pins scattered across the floor. I must have picked up a thousand pins.

Curves overlapping each other,
before trimming and turning the seam allowance

So I put it back on the wall. See how the curved edges are slightly uneven in the photo above? As I turned the seam allowance under, almost every short wedge left a gap in the top. I hadn't overlapped the curves enough and the uneven raw edges hid that fact. Trim both inside and outside curves evenly first!

With a clean raw edge, turning was much more successful. I pinned parallel and as close to the curve as possible before steam pressing the top.

Curves with seam allowance
turned under and pinned on the outside

Next, I grabbed part of the seam allowances on the wrong side of the top between my thumbnail and index finger. Then I removed the pin on top with my other hand and repinned it along the pressed seam line. I repeated this process until the seam was pinned along the fold line on the inside of the quilt top. See the photo below.

Curves pinned on the inside

I sewed along the fold line, removing pins as the needle reached them. It's easier to remove the pins if they point towards the needle.

Machine sewing the curves
along the pinned seam allowance

I pressed the seam again when the stitching was done and then trimmed the seam allowances to a quarter inch.

It's neither Sherri Lynn's nor Vikki's method but it worked for me.

Enjoy the day, Ann