noelle o designs

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whoops, I did it again…

Whoa there! I got ahead of myself on the pioneer scrappy quilt- I showed the finished quilt top and forgot to post the sewing-together-of-the-rows part.

Here is where I left off- all the finished rows, lined up and ready to go, (pictured above) patiently waiting their turn on the ironing board.


The goal is for every corner of every square to line up perfectly with it’s neighbors- like the picture above.


This (above) is what it likely to happen as you sew the rows together; the corners move out of line and cause an unsightly and imprecise gap in the flow of squares. It happens now and again and to everyone (don’t beat yourself up). My rule is if the discrepancy is under a 1/4″ from being in line, leave it and just try your hardest to keep it from happening again- no one will ever notice, including you 5 minutes after you’ve sewn it. If you plan on entering it into a quilting contest, then madly pick out the offending seams in your goal of 100% accuracy on the corners and that blue ribbon will finally be yours.


Here is how to try to keep the squares lined up as you sew. Remember the #1 rule of accurately cut squares. If you adhered to that rule this part will flow smoothly. Once again, pick a seam allowance and stick with it. Begin with the first and second row,  place the rows  facing each other, right sides together. As you sew honor your previous ironing job by following where the seams have been previously ironed flat in the last step.


Take your time and make little adjustments as you go, fold or lift back the top row to watch and make sure corners are lining up.


You will inevitably run into this problem (above), one corner lines up but the next is way off- that purplish square is for whatever reason a little bigger than the orange and white plaid square- and this is where you must intervene.


On these occasions, I use a seam ripper. The best sewing tool ever invented- for so many reasons. It’s small enough to help ease the fabric under the presser foot, pushing the longer square of fabric a bit more while the shorter square stretches. The trick: go slow, manhandle and maneuver. I hold the corners exactly where I want them with my left hand and ease the fabric with the seam ripper in my right hand. If the discrepancy in length is within 1/4″ or so this method should work well. If the square size is extremely different you might need to go back and check your sewing within the rows.


Once the two rows are sewn together, iron the seams flat on the back…


… flip the rows over and iron on the front side too.


Keep building on rows until you are half way through the quilt top. Set that part aside and build the second half.

When both halves of the quilt top are done, sew the two parts together and your quilt top is finished.

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