Week 3: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

This is the last post in the “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along series.  We’re going to lay out and sew the quilt top together, add borders, and cut the binding.  Post your quilt top (blocks together and borders sewn on) on Flickr and you will be entered to win a quilt kit from 1 Choice 4 Quilting for their next Sew Along!

Sewing the Quilt Top Together

You have all your blocks and rows sewn!  Now it’s time to choose a layout.  Make sure all your blocks and rows are pressed smooth and flat.  Seams should be pressed open.

You will lay out your pinwheels and stars in alternating order.  Place one sawtooth row between the top rows and bottom rows.  The brick row goes in the center.  When you are happy with the layout, you can begin to sew the star and pinwheel blocks into rows.

Sew your blocks together by row, pressing seams open.  When you sew the rows together to make the quilt top, align the seams and pin them before sewing.  Ignore that my seams are not pressed open in this next photo.  I pressed some seams open and some to the side to experiment which was easier and worked better.  But I found out pressing open is better for lining up your seams and creating less bulk.

I pin both vertically and horizontally when joining rows to keep the fabric from shifting around.  The vertical pins keep your fabric from shifting side to side, and the horizontal pins keep your fabric from shifting up or down.  If you pin both ways everything should stay lined up perfectly while sewing.  I know some people who split the difference and put their pins in diagonally, but this doesn’t work well when you are trying to line up seams.

Cutting the Borders

Once your rows are together, you will add the borders.  Change your rotary cutter blade and have a cup of coffee or tea to perk you up and get your brain stimulated!  You must cut this part correctly because there is no fabric left over. 

Start with the skinny border from the gray apples print.  With fabric folded and selvage ends together, cut six 1.5” x WOF strips.  Trim up the selvage ends to straight edges.

Since you are on a roll and your fabric is already pressed and squared up, go ahead and cut your binding fabric, too.  Cut seven 2.5” strips x WOF.  Put your binding fabric aside.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Now let’s cut the solid border.  If you bought the quilt kit, the solid is the Moda Bella saffron.  Find your leftover piece.  Press and fold so selvage ends are together.  Cut seven 2 1/4” x WOF strips.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Join your gray apples fabric together end to end to form one long strip.  Press your seams open. 

It is important to measure your quilt top and cut the borders accordingly so your quilt doesn’t ripple at the edges.  Measure the width of your quilt at the top, middle, and bottom.  Your width should be somewhere in the ballpark of 48.5 inches.  Take the average of your 3 measurements.  Cut two strips this length from your skinny gray apples strip.  

Sew one strip to the top of the quilt.  Pin vertically and horizontally to keep the fabric from shifting.   In the photo below, the skinny apples strip is underneath the quilt top.  I put it underneath so I can make sure my seam allowances stay open when being sewn.  You can also see in this photo that this time I pressed my seams open.   Once you’ve sewn the border to the top of the quilt, press the seam toward the border.  Repeat the steps to sew the other strip to the bottom of the quilt.  Press toward the border.

Now measure the length of your quilt from top to bottom on the left, center, and right.  Take the average of these 3 measurements and cut two strips from the skinny gray apples strip.   Sew one strip to each side of the quilt, pressing toward the borders.  Once your skinny apples border is sewn on, square up your corners.

You will basically repeat the same steps for the solid border, measuring the width and length, sewing on the strips, and pressing toward the borders.

Yay!  Your quilt top is finished!  Don’t forget to post your pics in the Flickr group!  I can’t wait to see your Easy As Pie quilts!