It's me again- with more newbie questions.
The top of my quilt is 6 long strips, 9in wide, which, in retrospect, I would never do again, but didn't really happen on purpose... I can't tell if I'm getting them lined up correctly. How can I line them up to be straight not just to eachother, but as a finished product?
Next. Once I get that all sewn together, my batting/backing all lined up, where should I start pinning? in the center? I got basting pins- do I really need to pin every 4 inches or can it be further apart?
-I am machine quilting it, down the ditches between the 6 strips, then the plan was to ditch again every 9in or so (because of my blocks). That's why I'm wondering about pinning. Once that's done, I was going to do a little hand stitching, but not much.
Next next. I found pre-cut/rolled binding today at JoAnns in a patterned-not-plain-fabric. I believe it started at 2 1/2 inches wide, is rolled and pressed in half with one folded edge and one raw edge. I obviously have to fold the raw edge under- is there a 'set' size that my binding should be once it's finished? Do I fold and press that raw edge into itself until it touches or just about touches the center fold, or further out? Do I leave myself some extra batting/backing to fold in there, or not so much?

Thank you all. Sorry for all the questions, I know I'm just in the new-quilter-panic mode, but I am such a perfectionist. I don't want to find out later, DOY- wish I would have known that!- about silly, simple things.

THANK YOU!!!!

I'll answer this part. The binding you bought sounds like it's ready to use. You leave it folded in half and line both raw edges of the binding up with the raw edge of the quilt and sew it one with a quarter inch seam. Then you turn the folded edge over to the back and hand sew it down.

Remember, your work will improve with practice.

Most of us end up doing some trimming to square up our quilts at the very end or even as we go along. I think it would be rare to have it end up being perfectly square.

As to pinning, if you do not pin your layers enough, or closely enough, you may end up with puckers on the back and you won't know until you turn the quilt over. Start pinning in the center and work your way out. When SID I try to keep the pins out of the ditch areas so I don't have to take them out as I go.
Check your quilt over carefully when you are done pinning to make sure it is laying nice, flat and smooth.

deedles215 It sounds like your binding is ready to go AS IS. First you try to square up your finished quilt up. cut all 3 edge layers off evenly (top, batting, backing) DO NOT turn under unfinished edge of binding. Just lay it along the TOP with that edge even w/ edge of quilt, right sides together, (It will be sort of upside at this point, and pinning as you put it around the whole edge of quilt. Make sure NOT to catch any of the other folded edge!. Leave at least 2 inches extra at the end for turning under when you get to that point when sewing, so they overlap. Sew these 2 pieces together w/ (with) a 1/4 inch seam. This should insure that when you bring the other edge(already turned under) over to the back side that your pre folded center edge will match the very edge of your quilt sandwich and the very (folded) edge will line up with the edge of the front binding. Or close enough as it won't show. Then by hand take tiny stitches along very edge of back binding to sew it down. Then again, at this point. if you are real "gutsy" just try to match the edge of back binding to edge of already sewn front binding--sew on the machine. Have good luck and have FUN.
imak

all that I said only applies if your binding is folded in half and only one of the raw edges is folded under already!! And the second raw edge is NOT turned under ! If it is just folded in half with both raw edges it is to be applied as the first person said. Hope I haven't totally screwed you up!!! LOL

imak

Hi
I hope when you sewed your strips together you stitched one row from the top down and the next strip from the bottom up.
When you sew strips together you should NOT sew them all in one direction as this will not keep it square.

Scrap quilter

I am glad that you are asking all the newbie questions... helps all of us out

Nope, I didn't. I started at strip A, sewed them together all the way to the bottom, then started at strip B, all the way down...
ARGH. So do I have to rip all those seams out, or is there a way I can make it work without completely damaging the integrity of the pattern on top? That's the point I was at last night.

"pins, pins, pins - pin like crazy before you sew"

Now that the strips are done, I sat there for almost an hour last night trying to justify the edges together and pinned ev 3 inches- but since my strips are not all perfectly square, it's not working... My worry is that if I try to 'force' the strips to be correct to eachother, they wont' be correct as a quilt and it will look dumb.

"all that I said only applies if your binding is folded in half and only one of the raw edges is folded under already!! And the second raw edge is NOT turned under ! If it is just folded in half with both raw edges it is to be applied as the first person said. Hope I haven't totally screwed you up!!! LOL

imak"

The binding is folded exactly in half, leaving one edge with 2 raw edges and the other with the fold. No, I understood what you said. I watched the youtube video that b.zang posted and I was like OH! I thought I was sandwiching the 3 layers right in the middle of the binding fold, then tucking both raw edges into themselves, making 7 layers I'd have to sew through... but what was suggested makes more sense, and is, I'm sure, how it's supposed to be done.

I'm going to go down now and take pictures of the issues I'm talking about and post them here... I think you all get it, but maybe it will help. I really don't want to tear all those seams out, but I don't know where to move forward from here.

Why couldn't I just have started with a 9-patch?! lol...

Here are the pictures... the binding, strips (2 out of 6) and how much I've gotten pinned. I guess in the picture it doesn't look as if I'm really that off, but when I'm counting on 1/4 in seams, I'm afraid I'll cut it too close.

If your quilt isn't completely square, start by pinning the layers together in the exact middle. Then pin the quilt on each end. From there you can ease the fabric together by pinning the rest of it together like crazy!! For me, I would use more pins then you have in your picture, but then I'm a pinning fool. :wink: A lot of times you can gently ease any excess fabric into the quilt by doing it this way.

And if nothing works, sometimes you just have to give in and rip it apart. It doesn't look like you need to do this though. I'd definitely try to ease the fabric together by pinning first before doing anything so drastic as ripping it apart.

Clear as mud?

oh- now I see what you mean by strips - I thought you had just cut long strips of fabric - -

how do you have these pressed? that makes a difference in how well they go together.

I would straighten/square up the sides of your strips to make them straight. The easiest way is to get some string. Safety pin it to the carpet, stretch it out just longer than the strips. Slide the edge of the strips under the string and mark along the string line. Then straighten up the ends the same way once they are all sewn together. In this pattern, trimming a little here or there is not going to matter. Your border pieces (if any) will just have to be readjusted, but we can help you with that step too :D :D :D

I started with a 9.5 x 9.5 block of 4 blocks like bricks (unfinished, each 3.5 x 6.5), and one 3.5 sq block in the middle. I kind of ran out of fabric to have enough blocks to make the quilt the size I wanted... lol~ didn't want to go back to buy 1/16 yd of each color... so started to get creative and added the 3.5 x 9.5 white blocks. I just started laying it out... somehow came up with this pattern, but then realized I couldn't sew them into blocks like I wanted because there were no obvious 'seams', so I ended up with the strips like I have above.

I now have them sewn together, had a few extra 9 x 9 blocks that I had extra (the orientation was wrong), so I'm making a quilted pillow sham as well- going to try out the batting/binding/pinning on that first. We'll see how it goes... I'll put a picture up once I get that done. It shouldn't take me long... but we'll see! I have the top and bottom started and tumbling in the dryer right now.

ah... Always a work in progress.

I'm having so much fun though- I LOVE this! Thanks everyone who's helped to get me addicted. :)

Bearis- I just pressed them sideways however it made sense.

I did just this- thank you! I started pinning in the middle and worked my way to the sides... I have a little extra but at this point... whatevs. I'm not doing any border- just the yellow binding... I hope it works!!!

You are quite welcome! Anything we can do to suck, er, I mean encourage others to join our obsession. :lol:

Glad you are having fun!And all the advice above is great! Love the binding you have chosen!

The one thing I see that you're doing is sewing really long seams. Any time you sew really long seams any tiny differences in block sizes will amplify and you'll be way off at the ends. Put your blocks together into fours and then put those together in fours until you have four quarters and then put the top half together and the bottom half together and then you'll only have one full width seam.

Great advice! I hadn't even thought about this, which is sad since this is how I put my quilts together.

I've put blocks together in long strips and had no problems.

But I've been sewing for a long time - one learns when to sew 'em - and one learns when to unsew 'em

One of the biggest pluses to not sewing your blocks into long strips is only having to sew with the whole top together once. Even before that you are only dealing with a quarter of the top at a time and two halves once and the whole thing once.

Another tip, when you put your first border on sew with the border strip on top. That way if there's any slight easing the top is eased into the borders and not the other way around.

This really does help!

Have any of you used dark plain backing but you use light thread on front and when you check, it is showing in back. It seems to happen more when I stipple. I imagine my tension may be off. I have a 1960's machine Any suggestions what I can do if it is too late to tear it out again? Shirley

That's what I thought too. Most quilts end up as a certain number of rows. We just count the blocks. My last one was a 6X6 (meaning 6 blocks in a row and 6 rows across).

I noticed that your blocks have some lines where the seams line up. I would focus on those and pin the matching seams, 2 rows at a time. When you align the next row to the sewn ones, alternate where you start. If one row is a little longer than the other between pins (matching seams) you can ease in the overage, just pin like crazy between the matching lines and make sure you keep the longer side on the bottom of the machine when sewing.

Once you have the top together and pressed you'll be amazed.

When I sandwich a quilt, I use painter's tape (the blue tape) to secure the backing to the table. Backing is right side DOWN on the table. (In case you never did this) Keep the backing taught but not overstretched. I kinda mark the center of the backing.

Then I fold my batting in quarters and lay it on the backing to match up with the center. I open the batting and smooth it out, patting out any wrinkles. Again, don't overstretch the batting.

I repeat the process with the top. FOld in quarters and align with the center of the batting. I open the top and pat it down without overstretching. It's one of those "gut-feel things" - hard to explain. If you start smoothing the top from the center outward, you'll get the feel for it quickly.

If the quilt is larger than the table, I set the ironing board at the end of the table and use it to support the overhanging quilt.

I pin about a hand-width apart. That has served me well in the past. (Warm and Natural as well as Warm and White are happy with that.) Your batting should give you a guideline.

Before I pin, I think about the placement of the pins. My method is SID (stitch in the ditch) so I don't want pins where I have to sew. It will all be easier with practice.

Good job so far!!!! Keep it up and keep us posted.

Very creative way to get the blocks to the size you want them! Sorry, no advice from this corner. You have a lot of good suggestions already. Keep us posted on your progress! :)