Quilt Along Day 2: Piecing Rows

On our last post, we ended up with all of our fabric cut into strips and ready to begin piecing row by row.

Choose Fabric Order

Now to begin the piecing process! I like to lay out my strips in a repeating pattern. Notice in this pumpkin quilt how there is a noticeable pattern in the pumpkin body. I do the same for the whites, but it’s a bit harder to see in the picture. I make it easy on myself by laying them across my ironing board in the order I want them to go so I always grab the correct next color for each row. Some of my customers do a random order too, so don’t feel like you need to follow a strict fabric order here.

Interpret the Pattern

If we look at the pattern we will see a row number, a column number, a cut length, and a fabric color.

Starting from the left, or the lowest column number, for each row I cut the first dimension from one of the strips. For example, for row 1, I need 27.5 inches of my white material. I like to add a little buffer to the first and last columns to make it easier to square up, so I would cut around 28.5 inches for this example. Using a graphite pencil, I mark the left side of the column 0 pieces with the row number. This helps in piecing each row accurately.

Start Pinning

Next, I cut the next column and pin it to the first piece. Continue until you reach the end of the row. Making these kinds of quilts comes naturally to me, so I like to get all of my rows pinned before moving on. If this is your first time following one of my patterns, I recommend you work in smaller chunks, around 5 rows at a time, so if you make a mistake you can correct it quickly. This is especially useful when piecing each row.

Chain Piece

Once I have all the rows pieced, I chain piece every strip with a 1/4″ allowance. I keep sewing until all the pins are removed and I have seams instead. There doesn’t need to be any order to this part, since you have all the seams pinned initially. You can see I end up with a big ol’ pile of rows. This pile signifies a completed piecing row for each section.

Iron

Then, I iron my seams. I iron so that on even rows, the seams go to towards the beginning of the row (where I marked the row number), and on odd rows the seams go towards the end of the row. This makes it so when I begin sewing the rows together they “lock” into place.

Congratulations, you’ve now finished piecing rows. Now we’re ready to start assembling blocks! Stay tuned for the next Quilt Along Post. Understanding each piecing row is a great step in quilt-making.