Welcome to December!
You made it! Time to assemble those gorgeous quilts!
Through this BOM, we hope you’ve learned some techniques that will help you in your future quilting projects. Once you’ve finished assembling your quilt top, you may want take a few moments to review all the Tips and Tricks posts from the year. To review the Tips and Tricks, visit our 2019 Block of the Month Landing Page here. You can also find it on QuiltersPlanner.com under the Patterns and BOMs tab.
Here are a few last tips to help you get your top assembled:
Tip #1: As you cut your background pieces, use some sort of system to keep track of what the fabric cuts are. We used sticky notes (you can pin them on if that helps them stay in place) to label the fabric cuts with the following information: what step it was in the cutting instructions, its dimensions and what section it will end up in. This saves you a lot of time looking for the correct piece as you begin to assemble your sections.
Tip #2: Before sewing anything, lay all your blocks out on a design wall or the floor. Make sure if you have directional or fussy cut fabrics, that everything is facing the right direction. Double and triple check the block placement and compare with the pattern diagram to make sure you have it all correct.
Tip #3: As you sew your blocks into sections, use a stiletto to make sure all your block seams stay laying in the direction they were originally pressed. This will help keep your finished quilt top nice and flat.
Tip #4: Ideally, your blocks and background pieces should match up just right. That being said, none of us is perfect! Sometimes your seam allowances are a little off and therefore your block is a little off. Not to worry; that can be remedied with simple pinning.
Place your pieces to be sewn right sides together. You can see in our photo there is about 3/16 difference between our two pieces.
Line up each end of the pieces to be sewn and pin on each end. You will see that the shorter of the two pieces is pulled taut and the longer has some excess fabric that ‘bubbles’ up a bit. Gently pull the ends to make both sides taut, making sure not to loosen any exposed seams. While keeping the pieces taut, pinch halfway between the pins along the edge to be sewn. Let go of the ends while still pinching the center and place a pin in that spot. You have now equally distributed the bulk of that excess fabric (the ‘bubble’) between both sides of the center pin. Keep using this technique to pin sections until the bulk of that excess fabric is distributed and the pieces lie flat.
Tip #5: Use the same pinning technique as in Tip #4 when putting together your sections and borders. Because these seams are much longer, you may need a helper and lots of pins!
Tip #6: Speaking of those long seams, plan breaks for yourself during assembly. It may feel like it won’t take long to ‘just finish it really quickly’, but with all those long seams, there is a lot of sewing to be done. Take a few minutes to stretch and grab a drink of water. Your back will thank you!
We’ve already seen some finished tops on social media, and can’t wait to see what the rest of you have up your sleeves!
As always, feel free to contact us on Instagram or on our Facebook group if you need any help or have questions about the block!
We’ve had so much fun sewing with you this year, and look forward to the next one!
