Originally Posted by amma
Personally, I would not wash the sashing or border or backing fabric if you are using 5" squares that have not been washed... I think it would cause a bigger problem when you launder it the first time.
I would sew on the vertical sashing first, so that you can sew the blocks into horizontal rows. Then you can cut sashing strips that run the whole length of the row, instead of individual pieces.(
I totally agree with this advice.
Great advice.
Eliminating cornerstones from the sashing will make the quilt easier to assemble. To guarantee that the blocks will line up if you are not using cornerstones, I advise doing the following.
Sew a sashing strip to one horizontal row. Turn it over and, using a pencil and ruler, mark the wrong side of the long sashing strip at all the seams lines. In other words, draw a pencil line across the wrong side of the sashing exactly as if there were going to be cornerstones.
When you go to attach your next horizontal line of blocks to this sashing, pin the seams of the new row to the pencil lines on the sashing. This will guarantee that your blocks will line up.