09 Jul 2020

My First Quilt: Piecing the Top (Part 2)

Look at this! A FINISHED QUILT TOP!

I am so excited and proud of my first quilt top. The blocks are aligned, the corners are sharp, and nothing is unraveling. I’m sure as time goes on, and as I create more quilts, I will notice the imperfections and flaws. But for now I am just so pleased.

Finishing the second half of piecing went by so quickly. I began by pressing the seams of all the blocks in each row – I opted to press to the dark side (which means I pressed the seams behind whichever fabric was darker). I now know, thanks to Grandma, that it might have been easier to prep for interlocking the seams by pressing all seams in one row to one direction… but lessons learned. Once I had two rows pressed, I laid them on my bed, right-sides together, and carefully pinned each row together at the seams of each block. This was a tip that Grandma had shared earlier with me – by pinning at the seams of each block, this ensures the lines will be straight all the way down the quilt. Then, I simply sewed a straight stitch on the machine and joined the two rows together.

Pinning the rows at the seams of the blocks really helped keep the blocks and lines of my quilt top straight.

I was feeling more confident with my straight line sewing ability that I allowed the machine to sew faster than a snail’s pace and I didn’t need to rely on the masking (painter’s) tape guide as often. The quilt top did get heavier as I added the additional rows and I did start to feel the weight pulling on the fabric as I moved block by block. The pains of sewing a queen size quilt on small home desk are getting noticeable. I am most likely going to undertake the quilting portion of the quilt on my large kitchen island. Yes, that’s right… I am going to attempt machine quilting a queen size quilt on an old, domestic machine. Yay, ambition!

It ended up taking me 4 hours to complete the pressing and sewing of the rows. I broke this into 2 hours on a weekend, and 2 hours after work one weeknight. Those 4 hours also account for snack-time, watching YouTube videos, chatting with my boyfriend, and petting the cats. Overall, it took 7 hours to piece the top – 3 hours to sew all the blocks into rows, and 4 hours to press and sew all the rows into the quilt top. I imagine without the breaks, snacks and general life happenings, I could have completed the quilt top in about 4 hours or less. It’s really a simple pattern!

Giant and the quilt top – Four rows pieced and laid out on my bed. Sticky notes help to identify which row is which.

From all of this, I do have some tips:

Label your rows! I wrote the row number on a sticky note and pinned it to the first block of each row. This helped me so much to keep the rows organized and to ensure I was sewing the correct rows together at the correct ends.
Check your bobbin thread! After each row I sewed, I pulled out the bobbin case to check to see how much thread was left. I didn’t want to run out of thread halfway through a row and not realize; this was a way to let myself know that I was okay to do another row.
Trim up your rows! This is something I did not do… whoops. I just learned that I should have, thanks to a tip from Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts. I did notice that a couple of rows had blocks which stuck out a little further from the rest. I should have trimmed those to be flush with the rest of the row prior to sewing them to another row. However, I did not and I ended up just eyeballing and adjusting my quarter inch seam on those blocks. Thankfully, my eyeballing was correct and the rows didn’t end up distorted. But I’ll definitely trim things up next time.
Have a plan for your seams! You want your quilt top to lie flat, and seams are usually the cause of bumps and bulges in the finished quilt. My Grandma’s tip was to press all seams in a row going one direction, and to then press the seams that join the rows all in the same direction.

Following that last bullet point, I think I need to readdress my seams situation. I have yet to press the seams that join the rows together, so I still have time to implement that interlocking seams method to make my quilt lie really flat. That is a task I will tackle just before making the quilt sandwich.

A quilt top ghost! I was so excited to show off my completed quilt top, but it’s really too big for one person to hold.

Thanks to Grandma (for real, she is the best) I now have a queen size roll of batting and an almost large enough piece of muslin for the quilt backing. I ordered some 108″ wide, solid black Moda fabric online and once that arrives I can finish up the quilt backing and start the quilt sandwich. Honestly, this is the most fun I have had on a creative outlet in so long. It doesn’t feel forced (unlike my watercolor musings) and I’m really enjoying it!

It seems that a lot of you are enjoying it, too! I have received so many wonderful comments and such positive feedback. I’ve even had a few people express interest in purchasing the quilt or commissioning my services. That is such a good feeling, and I just want to say thank you so much! Once I am at the point where I feel confident in my abilities, I would like to open up commissions and also start selling quilts. But baby steps, baby steps… I want to stay focused on my first quilt for now.