First Project - Step 3 - Sewing

FINALLY!  We can sit down and actually press the pedal to the metal!

There is one big difference between clothes sewing and quilt sewing...the seam allowance.  Quilt seams are 1/4 inch.  Using a quarter inch foot will help with this. If you don't have a quarter inch foot it's not the end of the world.

What ever method you use for measuring a quarter inch seam, test it.  Sew a seam on a test strip and measure it.  Even the special foot isn't always accurate. Here is a very good post on testing the accuracy of your quarter inch seam and/or foot.

Laying out the pieces.

Design Floor

Design Wall

I will lay out my quilt pieces on my design wall (or my design floor or my design bed....where ever).  Then I sew them in order. 

Hey, you'll rack up steps on your ped-o-meter walking back and forth to the sewing machine.  (Every cloud has a silver lining.)

Design Floor

Design Floor

This layout is "on point."  Not as hard as it looks.

I like "on point" because it makes almost any quilt more interesting.

Design Wall

Design Wall

This is the circle quilt I made my daughter.  It is the hardest quilt I've done to date.  And, it took the most time.

The planning and the lay out took days!










Enough about lay out. 

Here is a good video on planning and sewing your quilt pieces together.  The video is 30 minutes, you just need to watch the first 10 minutes.  The rest of the video is about actually quilting the "quilt sandwich" together (top, batting and backing make a quilt sandwich.) You're not ready for that yet.    She does a pretty good job explaining sewing the seams; pressing the seams, etc.

A word about pressing your seams.  I press the seam on the back, on the seam line, first.  Then I press the seams open on the back side.  Then I press the seam on the front side.  PRESS not IRON.  Don't move your iron back and forth...it will stretch your fabric and your block may get kind of "wonky." 

To Steam or Not To Steam.  Using steam when pressing is a hot topic.  I have people on both sides of this question in my quilting circle.  Sometimes I steam and sometimes I don't.  I don't steam Half Square Triangles.  (More about Half Square Triangles later.)

Here is a link to more videos if you are still a bit squeamish about actually sewing.
But, sooner or later ya gotta do it!

Nite, Y'all.

PS  Just read this GREAT Pinterest post on First Quilts