When we had last left off, I had decided on a pattern and laid all of the blocks out. The next step, which is the most tedious one in my opinion, is to pin all the squares together and then sew them into rows. You have to be painstaking in this; you have to make sure that you had cut the patches into perfect, uniform squares in the step before or it will throw this step off. All the squares must be evenly pinned to each other and basically align perfectly, then you need to pin the squares on each side.
As you can see above, I left a very generous seam allowance here, since I could always reduce it if I needed to. Sewing the squares together is pretty straightforward, you just need to remember to use roughly the same amount of seam allowance for each square. I usually like to get a whole row sewed at a time, taking breaks once a row is finished. It's easier that way, I have found.
Once I had sewn all of the rows, than it was time to sew the rows to each other. It's basically the same concept; but this time you are sewing the long edges of the rows together and slowly forming the blanket. This part is annoying because of how much fabric you end up with having to work around!
Eventually, after a lot of pinning and measuring and sewing, the top of the blanket is created! (And here is where I took another break, this is a *lot* of sewing!) The final step is to sew these two layers together into a blanket. I turned the top patchwork layer down, so the "good sides" of each were facing each other. Then, I shifted the top layer so it would be laying evenly on top of the checkerboard pattern on the bottom layer. (Eagle-eyed readers may note that the photo was taken before this last step!) I pinned the two layers together, trimmed off any bits of excess fabric, and then sewed the layers together.....EXCEPT! Except for one side of the blanket, where I left a space about the length of one block.
This is a terrible photo, I admit, but it's demonstrating the next step. Once I finished sewing the quilt, I turned it inside out. That is why I needed that hole! The best that I can explain it is to think of turning a sleeping bag inside out. It's a slow process, and you'll need to be careful so you don't accidentally rip the hole open wider.
But once it's all been turned out, I laid the quilt flat on the ground and smoothed it out to make sure everything lined up and to get any air pockets out. The final step is to hand-stitch the hole closed. I fold a little bit of fabric on each side of the hole, pinch it together, and sew with tight, small stitches. I really try to go for a neat and almost invisible seam.
And there we have it, folks: a step-by-step guide on making a very simple patchwork quilt. You can use T-shirts instead of regular quilting fabric, by the way. Working on these is so fun, but soooo time-consuming!
Hope you all have a great day! Miss Scarlett, signing out!
