Briarberry

Let me clarify something, I am a fairly new quilter. I found a picture of a quilt I want to make but it doesn't have a pattern. It's just a simple scrappy quilt, you alternate a solid white square with a variety of red/pink prints. My question is - how do I put the squares together? They are 5" squares (I just decided that was the size I wanted). Do I make rows or turn it into a 9 patch? I am not an experienced sewer but I love to quilt, so far I have only attempted rag quilts and smaller projects like table runners. One of my runners ended up a bit crooked when done and that was with a pattern. I am being extra careful not to stretch the fabric when ironing and my seams are fairly accurate. I piece on a old Singer 185 or my Singer 99K which both do excellent straight stitching so that's not an issue. The quilt will be big, queen sized for my bed. Any advice from all you great quilters would be appreciated. I am learning so much from the posts on this board.

Scissor Queen

I would lay them out in the pattern that I wanted and then put them together in pairs and then put the pairs together into four patches. Then I would put the four patches together in pairs and the pairs of four patches together into giant four patches until you have the quilt top in four giant sections and then sew the top half together and the bottom half together. One of the biggest advantages to putting a quilt top together this way is there's only one full width seam to sew and you only have the whole thing on the machine for one seam and then borders. It will also come out straighter overall.

Briarberry

Thank you for the speedy response. I knew someone would help me. This way sounds much better than what I was thinking of doing. I am off to finish cutting the squares and hopefully I will get a start on the piecing later this weekend.

GrannieAnnie

I lay pieces out as desired and then pin them into rows using a small slip of paper to mark the row number----------always in the far left corner.

After the rows are sewing in strips, I come back and sew one row to another.

Scissor Queen

I almost always put my quilts together this way. One of the tricks I use after I get them laid out how I want them is to pin a row and block marker to them. I use little squares of paper that have R1B1, R1B2, etc, etc and I pin them right side up at the top of the block or square. Pinning them right side up and at the top tells you which way is up if they're directional and helps you keep them in order too. Plus after you have the markers pinned to them if you have to you can pick the whole thing up and not lose where each square goes.

QuiltnNan

I just want to say that I LOVE your avatar!!!

Briarberry

Thanks, bet you can guess my first name plus I love Big Bang Theory.

Suze9395

I like Scissor Queen's method, it's very user friendly. I do not have a design wall and when I lay out quilt blocks I cannot leave them out. I have taken to using a plastic tablecloth, I layout my quilt on the fuzzy back and then I can roll it up and move it as needed and everything stays just as I want it. I even took a quilt to sit and sew this way today, it worked really well.

jaciqltznok

I lay out mine this way too and never make a block bigger than a 16 patch!

w7sue

When I am marking my blocks with row markers - I purchased template material and cut it into 1" squares. Then, I used my paper punch to punch one hole in the center. I used a sharpie to mark each row/block -- 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 (row 1, blocks 1, 2, 3) under the hole. Then I place them in the upper left corner of each block using a straight pin - in and out of the fabric through the hole. Then you can pick them all up and never have to wonder how you had them laid out - never get one in upside down or whatever because they have all been placed in the upper left corner.