Strategies to Efficiently Piece Your Quilt Top
Piecing a quilt top is probably my favourite part of making a quilt. I love seeing all the pieces and colours come together, secondary designs showing, and playing around with the layout of the blocks.
Before you start sewing:
Check the accuracy of your ¼” seam. Use a ¼” foot, seam guide tape, or layer up some painters tape to help guide your fabric.
Set the stitch length between 1.5-2. Digital machines will reset every time to a default 2.5. A shorter stitch length will create stronger seams, this is important later when quilting.
¼” Seam Supports
I am using a ¼” presser foot. I also have ¼” seam tape. The red line is the needle and the black lines on either side are a ¼” out. The green tape near the presser foot is a thick stack of painters tape to help create a guiding edge for the fabric.
This machine does not have the most accurate ¼”, sewing requires some extra supports to help me stay consistent.
Piecing Strategies
Chain piecing: this creates an assembly line process each step in your block.
Lay out two piles of your pieces so you can pair them up as you go.
Sew a 2-3 stitches past the end of each seam.
Place the next pair of fabrics under the needle and continue sewing. This creates a “chain” of blocks. After you have worked your way through the pile, cut the little bits of thread between each set.
Strip Sets: Some quilt blocks have the same fabric placement and can be sewn together faster by sewing longer strips of fabric and then cutting them to size after.
The pattern may call for strips of width of fabric to be sewn together.
Strip sets are later sub cut into smaller pieces.
Making batches - such as the eight at a time half square triangle method - are also a form of strip set.
Batch Work: do one step for all the blocks at once
Sew the pieces
Press the pieces
Trim the pieces
Sew the next set of pieces
When to Pin:
Matching seams: when you get to a stage of matching seams, place a pin just after the nested seam line. The pin holds the seam in place and allows you to stop your machine needle right into the seam before removing the pin. Never sew over a pin, bad things happen.
Attaching borders or long lengths of sashing: always measure the quilt top and cut borders to size. You may not be matching seams here, but you want your border fabric to attach without a wave. Pin the ends of the border first, then the centre. From there, keep splitting each half into new “centres” with pins until they are spaced 4-6” apart.
Quilt top assembly:
Lay your quilt blocks out on a large surface - bed, floor, or design wall. Decide how you want your quilt to look then take a picture for reference! You will refer back to this photo often as you are double checking that your blocks are being joined together correctly.
Organize the blocks for sewing: You can still use a chain piecing method here.
“Fold" all the blocks in column two over column one so they are “right sides together”. Do the same for the next pair of columns (column four “folds” over column three) until there are no columns left, or just one.
Gather your combined columns by picking up the top pair, setting it on top of the pair below. Grab those two pairs and bring them down over the pair below. Repeat until you have gathered all pairs. Tip: Use a binder clip or something to mark the top of your blocks or the seam edge. An accidentally turn block will lead to a date with your seam ripper.
Sew all your pairs of blocks. Make sure to keep each of your columns separate in your chain piecing. When you are done, you can either keep everything linked or split it apart. Keeping them linked is called webbing and helps keep everything in order. I personally find it too awkward to sew and prefer to cut my chained pieces apart.
Combine the column pairs. Layout your quilt top again, you will notice that partial rows are assembled. Take your new column two and lay it over your newly formed column one so the right sides of fabric are together. Do the same with any additional columns. If you have a single column left by itself, then it will join and create three blocks sewn together instead of four. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have full rows.
You are ready to join the rows. I suggest doing these in pairs since it keeps everything easier to work with until you get to the final seam or two. When joining rows, use pins to line up and secure the seams. Place the pin just after the nested seam. This will let you sew into the seam of both pieces securing the seam before removing the pin. You will have beautifully matched seams with this method.
