| Piecing Your Quilt Top By Lucy A. Fazely ©1996 |
| 1. Start by laying
out all the quilt squares, or blocks, on a vertical design wall, work table,
clean floor or any space large enough to accommodate the full size of your
quilt. 2. Select a sturdy surface to carry your pieces to the sewing machine. If your fabric pieces are six inches square, or less, then a 12" square quilters ruler would work well. Hard cover books of different sizes work well. You will want your carrying surface to be at least large enough to hold four squares, laid out as a four patch. |
5. You will want to press your seams in a manner that will reduce the bulk where the seams meet. Lay one set of rows on your ironing board at a time. Press the seams flat as they were sewn. Alternate each set of squares in the row. It will not matter which direction you chose to alternate them other than that they alternate with each other. Lift up the top piece of each set and use the side of the your iron to push it over. Make sure the seam is pressed completely open and there are no tucks covering the seam. Press each set of rows in this manner. |
| 3. Once you have a proper carrying surface, you can begin transferring your pieces to the sewing machine. You will start removing your squares from the bottom left side of your design wall. You will transfer two rows at a time. Start with the bottom squares of the first two rows on the left. Place these squares on the bottom edge of your carrying surface, in the same relative position to each other as they were on the design wall. Take the next two bottom pieces from the same two rows, and place them overlapping the first squares you transferred. Continue to transfer two squares at a time, overlapping them as much as needed to fit the first two rows completely on your carrying board. |  |
6. The next step is to sew the pieced sets together completing the rows. You will need to work with two or three sets of rows at a time. The threads that connect the sets within the rows are your guide to where you will need to sew a seam. Find two sets that are connected by a thread. Flip one over onto the other and sew along the side connected by the thread. Do the same with another set of rows and alternate between them until the rows are completely sewn together.
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| 4. Take the carrying board, with your overlapping squares, to your sewing machine. Next, you will just flip and sew your squares together. Flip the top square on the right over onto the square on the left. Line up the sides of your squares and sew along the right side of the squares. Flip and sew the next set of squares, leaving a stitch or two between the sets. Continue to flip and sew each of the sets of squares until the squares of the first two rows are completely connected to each other in the same order as you had them on your design wall. Do the same with the rest of the quilt top. Clip the threads only between the rows. Do not clip any threads within the rows. |
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7. Layout all your double rows
in the proper order. Press the seams alternately from each other.
8. Sew double rows together completing quilt center. Press seams to either side.
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| (NOTE: If you have an odd number of rows, stack the last row on your carrying board, starting with the bottom square. Take your last row of squares, and sew each of the odd squares to the right side of the last set of rows starting from the top.) | |||
