Roberta

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing this link. I've been sitting here for months trying to figure out how to do this but my mind is damaged and things don't come easily to me anymore. This is just what I've been looking for, picture on each and every step.

SusieQOH

Boston, that quilt is beautiful!!!

Rhonda K- thanks for the link! I saved it.

janjanq

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Here's a picture of part of a quilt i am currently working on. Each of the four patch blocks are 4" square. I sewed 4" by 1 1/2" blue strips to one side of each square and joined the squares together into rows adding another blue strip to the end of each strip. Then I strip pieced alternating 1 & 1/2" yellow Strips With 4" blue strips then subcut into 1 & 1/2" blue and Yellow Strips to equal the width of the rows of blocks. I then pinned the sashing strips to the rows by matching The seams of the yellow "cornerstones" with the blue strips on each side of the four patch blocks. Some of my blocks are not perfect, but the sashing strips help to square them up. The seams do not always match perfectly, but unless you look close not very noticeable. I'm doing this quilt in four sections and will be joining the sections using 2 inch yellow sashing strips with blue cornerstones. This is my 1st attempt with sashing strips and my method may not be the conventional way to do them but it works for me. (So far).

Prism99

Cornerstones help line up sashing, and I use them when they are part of the pattern. However, more often I just want plain sashing. In that case, a lot of extra cutting and sewing is eliminated by using long sashing strips to separate rows. Here's what I do.

(1) Create rows by sewing short sashing strips between the blocks in each row.
(2) Before attaching row 1 to row 2, turn row 1 to the wrong side. Using a ruler and pencil, line up the ruler with a seam and use the pencil to mark the seam on the sashing. What you are doing is creating "virtual" seam lines that do the same thing cornerstones do.
(3) Pin row 2 to row 1, matching real seamlines to pencil marks.
(4) Sew, easing or stretching slightly as needed.
(5) Use ruler and pencil to mark bottom of row 2 just as you did with row 1.

The pencil marks ensure that the blocks are all lined up when you are finished.

M.Elizabeth

I agree with the quilt is beautiful, and I also saved the link!

tesspug

i agree! Adding cornerstones really seems to help me line things up nicely. If I don't want them to show I make them out of the same fabric as the sashing. No one notices once it's quilted.

Quilt30

Need a little more info. Not really sure what is the problem. Are blocked different size. What is the final arrangement? Otherwise speculation as to good solution.

Peckish

I've done it where you add the sashing to each individual block like a frame, then sew the blocks together. This works best when you use either busier or darker fabrics for your sashing.

Hopefully you can tell in this picture: under the yellow arrow, where I've drawn the white lines is where the block ends.


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GingerK

I have also 'multi-sashed' my blocks--especially when there is a significant variation in sizes. In my sampler quilt, the block sizes were 8" and 9". I framed them in either red or black, to make them 11". I found the whole thing to be too busy if I just sewed the blocks to each other. So, I then framed each block with a narrow white strip to make them stand out, and then used the black to separate them. This also gave me the finished quilt size that I wanted, and in this case, 'calmed' the top.

I used Prism's method to make sure everything lined up. My usual method is cornerstones--from the same fabric or from contrasting fabric. This is a monster and I don't think I will ever tackle anything this big again.

AmmaJudy

Wow you guys are great! All kinds of help, if I cannot get it right with all this help I better try a different pattern. Thanks for all of the suggestions.