after I pressed them good, I pinned them in place and use a neutral thread and done a small stitch on machine before I pieced all of them together. You can use any thread or stitch that you want. I just didn't want it to stand out much and take away from my plates. I made 3 blocks yesterday, going to make a table runner out of them and I used school glue to tack them down and pressed before I done the stitching around the plates. Hope this helps you. Dolores