layout organization help needed
 

I'm making an Easy Does It quilt, but with some modifications (mostly because I've got far fewer colors than the pattern calls for). It's got two different kinds of strips, and because of my modifications, one set of strips has to go end-for-end; A end on the right this strip, B end on the right next, etc.

I laid them all out on my bed to get them organized, then (I thought!) I carefully stacked them up and moved to my sewing room, where they're draped over the ironing board. I've already taken out and resewn three strips, and I'm not even halfway down the length of the quilt yet. One of them I got on backwards (A end instead of B) and two were just out of order. It finally occurred to me to put a safety pin in the top right corner (as I'm looking at it); that at least has kept me from putting any more on backwards.

But there's GOT to be an easier, more organized way than this! At one point I was seriously considering taking everything over to the neighbor's, pinning it to her clothesline, run an extension cord and sew right there. So what do you do? How do you keep your strip sets organized while you're sewing?

I've got a grid of numbers printing right now. I figure I'll cut them out, lay the whole thing out on my bed again, then pin the numbers on. Which will work for now, but is there a better/easier way to stay organized?

I lay it all out on my floor and sew the areas from there..Lucky noone usually needs to walk thru that area

For now, I use safety pins & pin the rows together usually first to last rows. It saved so much frustration & time in always having to lay everything back out each time I was ready to work on it. Maybe someone else has a better method?

Sue

A great time saver if you have a digital camera is to take pictures of your layout! You can do it in parts or the whole thing! Great to print it out for a referral! :thumbup:

After I get them laid out I usually use post-it notes and mark things A1; B2, etc. and then pin the notes to the blocks/rows as appropriate. I don't have a large flat surface to work on, other than my cutting table, that the dogs don't walk on so sometimes I have to work in sections on my cutting table. I also bought 2 flannel-backed tablecloths and sewed them together for a 'design board' but don't really have a large enough wall without something in the way to hang this either.

I, too, use post-it notes (pinned on). I lay out my original plan and then label my rows across A1, A2, A3, etc. next row is B1, B2, and so on. Then I stack and pick them up in order and can sew with confidence and not have to worry about interruptions, or where I left off. The initial fussing process in the beginning is well worth it in the end for my convenience.