I don’t know when I learned that quilting shadows were bad, but now I fret over them. I worry I’ll miss a shadow sliver and once it’s in the quilting phase I won’t be able to fix it. Quilting Shadows are those annoying slivers of fabric which show through a lighter fabric. They are easy to avoid if you’re pressing to the dark side all the time:

Seams pressed to the darker fabric.

But, make a simple four-block and you can’t press only to the dark side:

And, I like releasing the threads in the middle seam to reduce the bulk in the middle of the four-block. This also confirms you have a perfectly matched seam.

Now, the seams are pressed toward the white and away from the darker fabric, and, of course, this one has a blue shadow.

What to do?

TRIM THE SHADOWS!

The result is a block with NO DARK SHADOWS:

I’m linking up with The Late Night Quilters’ Tips and Tutorials Tuesday.

Getting out of the shadows,

Wanda