Julienm1

I'm so frustrated. I have a very short distance from lmy design wall to my sewing machilne. I take a row of blocks, pin them, walk to the sewing machine, sit and sew. Sounds like it the perfect plan, right. NO NO NO....not again. Every time it seems at least ONE block is rotated. LOL...When I think about all the sewing an UNsewing. I've made this toddler quilt twice and it still isn't done. This quilt should have taken only two days to sew up and I'm starting on Day 4!

Maybe I need to snack more or not sew early in AM or late at night?

I usually don't have a problem like this but I usually number the blocks with washable markers and blocks don't have any directional "issues". I can't wait to lget this quilt done and added to the donation pile. Next quilt will be much easier.

michelem

I’ve done this too….so frustrating. Two things I've found that help. I bought round sticky dots at Staples, number them and use to keep things in order. And if I am just doing a few blocks in a row, I pin the two pieces together where the seam will go. Pin reminds me in case things get turned around.

GingerK

I have those pins with the numbers and letters on them. They have shortened my unsewing time significantly.

Stitchnripper

That is so me. I can mess them up right on my sewing machine! That's why I am Stitchnripper!!

sewingpup

I just sighhh...and do my labor-intensive method. I cut small squares of waste fabric, lay out my blocks like I want them on my bed. Then start labeling the squares and pinning them on the upper left-hand corner of each block about a half inch in so I can leave them on and not stitch them into the seam allowance. I usually number the rows using letters for the columns. Like 1-A, 1-B. 1-C etc. then 2-A, 2-B. 2-C ect. Each block gets a tag. It takes time up front but really saves times during the stitching and if I happen to drop the pile of unstitched blocks on the floor, I can just pick them up and find where they go without having to do the whole layout again. Sometimes a slip will fall off and sometimes I stick myself with a pin. I will remove the tags after I got a row stitched together but will usually the tag on the first and last block of the row until the rows are stitched together to. This is what seems to work best for me. I don't have room for doing a layout in my sewing area, so a design wall is out of the picture for me.

Barb2018

Yup I do that too but I use squares of paper with row and column numbers. I pin every block in the upper left corner away from the seam line. Then I can rearrange blocks but always know what the original orientation was.

WesternWilson

One thing I have found very helpful is having a design wall right beside my sewing machine, really helpful if you are making a complicated block or a one block wonder/kaleidoscope block.

I am able to set up such that when sitting at my machine I have a pressing station on my right (one was made locally by the spouse of a quilt shop owner that clamps onto the table I use for the sewing machine...what a lifesaver that little pressing station has been!) and on my left is a wall on which I have put up a big piece of black batting.

I can sit and fiddle with the block pieces on the design wall, sew them up, press them and put them back in place without having to carry them over to a wall...in which case the chance of error increases exponentially! It is just too easy to get back to the machine and sew the wrong sides together...

I do move around a lot between the main design wall, pressing table and cutting table, but when doing a fiddly bit, this all-in-one-place setup works very well to reduce unsewing events!

Snooze2978

What I do is take the 1st 2 blocks, put them facing together and just pin them, then take the next 2 and pin, add to the top of the pile. They don't have to be pinned neatly, just pinned to stay together, then once at the machine, I'll pin them correctly and sew. I also don't cut between each set of blocks until I'm done sewing so they stay in the same order, then I cut the thread between. I then put them back up on the design wall making sure they're in the correct order and start taking them off once again pinning as I did before. So far I've kept them in order. I know this seems time consuming but so is frogging seams so which would you rather do?

sewbizgirl

I guess all of us have to find a way that works for us!

I lay some of the blocks on a big cutting mat when I take them down off the design wall. Then I carry the whole mat to the sewing machine to sew them together. Then I can go back and take down another section of blocks.... until the whole top is sewn.

b.zang

I'm like that - so easily disoriented! There are some good tips here, though, and I'll need to give some a try in the future.