Quilt Along 1: Sewing

So you have got all your fabrics cut up and now we are ready to sew!

First you want to separate your charms into piles in the order you would like them to be sewed in.

I use my ironing board so as I am sitting next to my sewing machine I can easily reach over and grab the charms that I need.

You will need to sew 9 charms together 12 times. In other words 12 rows of 9 charms. * please note that all seem allowances are 1/4 inch (typical of all quilt seems)*
To sew 9 charms together I first sew sets of 2 charms in a chain (not stopping in between sewing each set).

I know it is hard to see in the picture but each charm set is linked by thread.

Then I sew the sets together creating two sets of 4.  Sew the two sets of 4 together.  Lastly, I sew the last one on to create a long strip of 9.

When you have all 12 rows of 9 charms sewed together you will need to sew rows together.

Because it is hard to take a picture of all the rows laying flat in my little apt.  I rolled out three rows to show you.

When I sew rows together I like to pin the intersections (where the seems are) to ensure good points.

First I pinch the seems so that seems are running opposite directions.

I pin the seems down and make sure that when I sew I pull the pins out before it goes under the needle.

To make things easier on you, sew 4 rows together at a time to create 3 sets of 4 rows. 

In the picture you see two sets of two rows about to be pinned and sewed together to make one set of 4.

Then sew each set of 4 rows together to end up with a completed quilt top!

Wasn't that pretty easy?

Next week we will be making our quilt sandwich so make sure you have your batting and minky fabric ready to go.
You are going to be amazed at how fast and easy it is going to be to finish this quilt up.  Just one more week to wrap up our first quilt along quilt.  Wow... does time fly when you are having fun.

To make things even more interesting I am giving away one Fat Quarter Shop fabric pack next week! I LOVE these packs so much I figured I should share in my love.  So stay tuned next week for your chance to win it!

Have fun sewing!

Take care mucho,
-Natalie