NO sash Quilt As You Go
 

Sorry no pics. Here is how a dressmaker who knows nothing about quilting puts one together and is flabbergasted at how much work the so-called 'quilt-as-you-go' really is and how it actually is not conducive to machine quilting. This way the top looks like a real quilt without the ridiculous sashes stealing from the fluidity of the design; the back is not one piece visually but it is not noticed with the quilt lines. Even HUGE quilts can be done this way.

Paper piece or strip or scrap or selvage quilt directly onto batting, with 1/2" overhang all around the batting.

Square up blocks to within 1/4" of batting foundation for seam allowances.

Sew blocks together to create rows.

Start with row one. Cut and place back to top, wrong sides together.

Going across the entire row of blocks machine quilt (do not even need walking foot) straight lines or wavy lines every couple of inches.

Lay right sides together top of Row 2 to top of Row 1 and right sides together bottom of Row 1 to Row 2.

Sew across 1/4".

Flip top and bottom of Row 2 away from Row 1, leaving seam locked inside Row 2.

Machine quilt (do not need walking foot) either straight seams or wavy a couple of inches apart across Row 2, as did on Row 1.

Now add Row 3, again locking the seam inside. Keep adding your rows.

This seamstress method has several advantages, one being your quilting is always the bulk of the quilt to the outside of the machine. The only amount under the throat is the width of your blocks. AND there are no sashes or extra busy work. This also works first quilting a quilt top's rows to the batting and then proceding; just easier to design and sew stuff that is pieced directly to the batting to save time and steps.

For the extremely symmetrical-minded, start with the center row and work out in each direction, placing the hidden seams in exactly the same positions on each side of the quilt.

Next quilt I will photograph or video.

Notes for clarity:
"This also works first quilting a quilt top's rows to the batting and then proceding; just easier to design and sew stuff that is pieced directly to the batting to save time and steps."

If quilt regular quilt block rows to batting, instead of directly via piecing, be sure to quilt the opposite direction of the row quilting so it ends up on the front being in both directions. Also, this way works great with jelly roll strips, with lengthwise strips being a row. So much easier than trying to sew each one onto the entire quilt batting. Quite frankly, I don't even have to baste or use pins with this approach. Sew and flip, sew and flip. On smaller block rows, one does not even have to quilt as the batting is secure from quilting directly to the top.

"Paper piece or strip or scrap or selvage quilt directly onto batting, with 1/2" overhang all around the batting."

This realy is not as hard as I am making it sound; first time trying to explain with showing. Replace you paper or foundation fabric with the batting; drop it, skip it. The batting is your paper.

Sounds interesting but photos would really help as I get lost in the reading. Hope you can post pics as it would be great to find an easier method of QAYQ and DSM quilting...
Kindly,

Well, thankfully I found someone who does it this way AND demonstrates it. When she attaches the second row she is not specific but covers it in detail when attaching the third so be sure to read all the way through. http://www.candiedfabrics.com/2013/0...ing-as-you-go/

Now that you have the directions with pictures some of the other things I do will make sense. Often times I sew my block pieces directly to the batting, connect up a row of the blocks; no need then to insert the batting or baste before machine quilting the row then. The demonstration quilt is cool as it is truly reversible!

Okay, thanks to this tut I am now ready to try QAYG! I have never liked the look of previous methods with sashing in between. Just never looked pleasing to my eye. But this I love!!! Thanks so much for sharing this with us! :)

Thanks for this information. I have about 6 UFOs that need to be finished. They are not works of art and I really don't want to hand quilt them or send to a LAQ. The QAYG that I've seen has seemed cumbersome. So thanks for having a method that sounds "do-able." I'm going to try it on one of my smaller UFOs. It would be nice to have things finished!

Thank you so much. May need to contact you when I put this method into action. Hope that is okay. I am not real good at following written directions. I am a by "sight" person. Even with photos, I am still a bit confused. Really appreciate this.

Am in the midst of a "hidden wells" quilt. I have several blocks finished and ready to sew into rows. I am wondering, even though the design is not quilted to the backing, if I can quilt each row and then use this method. Thanks again. Yolanda Wood River

Yobrosew, you have done your good deed for the day. This is fantastic! Thank you so much! You are just brilliant!

I will use this method, and the sooner the better. But I started wondering what to do with blocks that already have a back and top (and batting) quilted together. Well, if I were to treat sashing OR an additional plain block as a block, I could use the same technique. In other words, I take the sashing, right side of front to right side of front of previous block and also right side of back to right side of back to right side of back of previous block. I would sew a seam, catching all four parts. Then add batting, if necessary, or just leave the batting of the previous block longer. Then add the next block in the same manner.

I have a donation raffle quilt a church asked me to make because their regular quiltmaker has cancer - and they need it in two weeks. EEEEEKKKKKK! My plate was already full. But if I use this method, I can probably get it done. If I added plain blocks in between already finished blocks, I could make the queen or king size they are hoping for.

Yobrosew, you have made my day. Thank you so much.

Cricket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pL36...eature=related

Like her method and sounds easy.

Thanks for this, I never cared for all that sashing either so I never used the technique.

This is great--like so many others I've never liked the sashing, and despite many futile hours trying to puzzle this out, it now makes sense. Thanks!

This is not clear to me. I hope someone will post pix.

Thanks for your written instructions and also for the link to the pictures. I'm bookmarking this and will try this soon.

I quilt first row, attach second row, tuck in batting, quilt. Then add third row, tuck in batting, quilt. If batting says 4" apart for quilting and your blocks are four inches or less you don't have to quilt at all, just be sure batting is in the seam allowances. This method also works with this log cabin pattern -- only the quilt is one big block. Your rows are one 'log'. http://0.tqn.com/d/quilting/1/7/y/B/-/-/logcabin.jpg . Some say this is not really a quilt as you go because each block is not quilted before attaching to another block. So maybe we should call this Quilt as You Row? Or Row a Quilt? Any other suggestions?

great info and thanks so much for sharing !!

As a visual learner, I too was having trouble understanding this tute. But after reading the wonderful addition of the blog tutorial a few times, it was clear. THX so much!

I could have made it easier, I now see (visual learner, too!) by saying it is a rag with the seams inside and no quilting even necessary! I hope some post pictures of their steps/phases and/or their finished projects.

Yes, she has a nice method, Carol. There will be times I will use it, and thanks for mentioning it. Notice, though, that you have to do several more steps each time you join blocks.

Yep - I stopped reading after a few lines, so I have no idea what you were talking about. Pictures always help!

I knew it was hard to understand and posted someone else's tute I finally came across but must have gotten lost to you amongst all the other comments. http://apicdn.viglink.com/api/click?...t232261-2.html

Stopped reading after a FEW lines? yeah it was confusing but anyone after just a FEW lines even if articulated well would most likely not know what one was talking about. I am a new to the board, as is obvious. I did ask how to post pics, and answering that question would have been a little more helpful than (and welcoming), "Yep - I stopped reading after a few lines, so I have no idea what you were talking about....." If pictures are expected after just a few lines, my apologies as I had no idea this was a picturebook style blog to accommodate those not desiring to read past a few lines.

Wow.... a bit snippy aren't we?

This tutorial plus the pictures really made this click for me. Thanks for sharing! My head is buzzing with possibilibees. :)

The blog post helped a lot. I don't free motion though. I wonder how this would work with straight line quilting. Obviously one would have to put a line or two of quilting where the batting butts up. Maybe a serpentine would work but you'd have to make sure you caught both battings in the stitching. I do like this idea. I don't mind sashing but don't always want it.

I only sew in straight lines or carefree wavy lines and both work real well with this. And my, does it go fast! It does help if the quilt is over the left shoulder as putting through machine. It is surprising how just a little drag from the quilt hanging straight down can slow the quilting down.

The response to the snippy, "Yep _ I stopped reading after a few lines, so I have no idea what you were talking about. Pictures always help!" is snippy? Or the the original snippy is snippy? The first was rude, unwelcoming, and totally unnecessary. The response snippy could have been left unsaid.

FYI. That's par for the course on this board. I just ignore that kind of stuff. You were helpful and I've never seen this method, and apparently a few others have not either. So thanks for sharing-most people here are pleasant and helpful/grateful. :)

eta: I lie-I don't always ignore it. Sometimes I get into a war of words and usually wish I'd just ignored it but I have a big mouth and can't always do it. At any rate, don't let it turn you off this board.

I don't understand :-(

I get how it works on the front, but am deep in the dark on how the back can come out right.
Anyone work their way out of the same confusion and willing to share?

Hoosier here; North Central. Hi, Neighbor!

The back is not all one piece/sheet. It is strips of fabric that is cut the same size and shape as the rows. You will have rows on the back side as well, which is why the demo here: http://www.candiedfabrics.com/2013/0...ing-as-you-go/ was able to create a completely reversible quilt; instead of backing she used another quilt top. She does not show the piecing example the first time she attaches a row but if you scroll down there is a pic of it when she attaches the third row, I think.

I'm just a bit north of Logansport.

About a little over an hour away; north of Warsaw. Man, what a small world. I checked your blogs; we also home educate. Like I said, small world. (Your zebra gifts are great!)

I mostly quilt selvage quilts but since all good things come to an end including the boxes of selvages I was gifted I have started trying to see if I could get another passion going in quilting, which looks like will be my version of paper-piecing or piece-by-number. I am on the hunt for a good, fun owl pattern. Nice to meet you!

Thank you. I think I see what she means now. It's not what we normally think of a QAYG but it is a way to build on the right of your work as you go. In your original post I thought you were describing something where you quilt front back and batting together first, but I guess that was just for the first strip.

One more question- why not make your first strip twice as wide- you could do the right half and then flip it. Still keeps your work off to the left but saves you one join in your batting?

I did mention in the original post the quilt front block sewn directly to the batting. In this block I used the batting as foundation and then trimmed a 1/4 seam allowance. I would attach a bunch of this side-to-side for a row. No need to put batting between top and bottom now. This way if my blocks are not too big and/or I use flannel back I can skip the machine quilting altogether. Or I may just run a three lines about 1/2' apart down the middle of the row for machine quilting. I am not real familiar with uploading photos so may have to magnify to see.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]441521[/ATTACH]

Thank you. Sounds like you have found a technique that works well for you. We all conceptualise differently I think. Vive la difference!

After I watched the video from the website posted, your written instructions made sense. I have two quilts that I have made blocks for that are good candidates for this method.

Would love to see some pictures.

Thank you for your instructions. It makes perfect sense to me. Now I am anxious to give it a try.

Thank you so much for this information and the resulting website to watch. I am also a dressmaker/curtain/whatever sew person who started quilting 8 years ago. I have read numerous books about QAYG and have knew instinctively that there is a simpler way to do this. Thank you.

UPDATE No pictures. However I have found quilting each square to batting (or flannel which is my choice for the 'innards') followed by sewing these into rows and then doing this approach without the backing of rows being quilted is great! The warmth factor is increased as there are no quilt stitching holes on backside and has a baffled effect similar to a down comforter. Works ideally with squares 8" or less but even the 10" squares work well, especially if the backing is flannel (one I did was paper pieced onto muslin and then flannel for backing). Anyways, this way is so easy-peasy because it is east to machine quilt each block individually and no quilting with a big heavy quilt!