Squaring up: How to straighten wonky curved blocks

Last week I blogged a video tutorial on how to piece the curved blocks in my Palma Quilt pattern and this week I wanted to follow it up with a little hack that I came up with for squaring up (or blocking) the curved blocks once they have been pieced.

How to correct wonky curved blocks

I find that despite my best efforts to prevent it, I often end up with wonky blocks when I’m working with curves.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s the nature of the beast and while I’m sure there are ways I could improve my piecing to help prevent it, I’m not going to let it stop me from moving forward (or should I say onto another quilt haha!).  And I’m definitely not going to let it make me redo a block unless it’s completely unsalvageable!

One way that I try to help the maker using my Palma pattern is by allowing for a little ‘wriggle room’ in the templates for the Palma Quilt.  That way, when you come to squaring up a wonky block you have a bit of breathing room, which is also why my Palma Quilt isn’t as scary as it may seem!

A hack for squaring up curved blocks

This approach to squaring up a curved block is one that could definitely be used on any type of curved pieced block, as long as it has a rectangular shape of some form.  If you’re interested in learning more about squaring up your curved quilt blocks here is another tutorial by Color Girl Quilts that might be of some help.

Let me know what you think about my squaring up hack in the comments and I’d love to know if you have any tips for improving your curved piecing technique!