It depends on the size of the quilt. for my king size quilts, i usually will divide the quilt into 4 quadrants, sew them together and then sew the 4 quadrants together. although, I have never sewed blocks together vertically.

I am making a tumbler quilt, and I found in order for them to fit together properly, I had to sew them together top to bottom. Otherwise, they would not fit together correctly. Usually I do go across and then down, but with the tumblers, I could not do that.

I usually do it in the blocks -> big blocks -> bigger blocks method. I hate doing long seams, so when I'm going row by row I often balk at that point. So by breaking it up I get it done faster.

Neither. I sew the blocks into four patches. Then I sew the giant four patches into even bigger four patches until I have the top in four quarters. I only have one full width seam to sew that way and only have more than half the top on the machine once. Plus the whole top comes out straighter and squarer that way.

I know Eleanor Burns sews down the rows, but i've always picked up mine going across and sew them that way. I do try to press one row one way and the other the opposite. that does help with matching seams. and no, i don't put one row in one way and the other the opposite end. I just sew.

I number my block across with 1A, 1B 1C...... the 2nd row as 2A, 2B, 3C.......

As I number them I pin them into pairs and sew them altogether. Then I pair them up again until all the rows have been sewn. Then I sew row one to two, row three to four and continue sewing until I have the blocks all sewn.

I also sew them together in 'chunks' of blocks, like 3X3 or 4x4 I hate those long seams and this way you usually have to sew only one. The only thing is I have to pay close attention to how I press my seams because I want them to nest.

It appears several of us sew our tops together into squares, then bigger squares....to me known as the Mary Ellen Hopkins "Twosie-Foursie" Method. This cuts down on the amount of seams you have to abut in rows across the quilt, which, indeed, makes the quilt fit better, squarer.

Jan in VA

the twosie-foursie method makes sense....{sure could have used that info before I made an irish chain--what a mess that was to match & SO frustrating!}--thanks for that demo, JAN, ...where DO you find these little tutes?

I write and do the graphics on all of these myself using the Paint program on my laptop. Thanks for the comments. :)

Jan in VA