Q101: Layering and Sewing Your Layers

Now that the front of my quilt was completed the next step was to begin layering it. It is quite simple. I used three layers. The front of my quilt, then batting, and then my bottom layer which I chose as a mint mink fabric. I laid one on top of another and then cut away the excess. I tried to get pretty close here but leave a little room in case the layers shifted as I began to sew the layers together.

Begin by laying all three layers together, cut, and then pin like a crazy woman! I pinned each square going down all the way through the bottom layer and back up to the top layer. The corner squares I pinned the two outside sides. So essentially I pinned a complete rectangle all around the outside part of the quilt. I am being so specific because I had literally no idea what to do on this part because the blog I used to quilt mine was so vague. If you think I am being too specific, too bad!

The next step is pin all the way along each row so that each individual square is secure. I choose to pin close to each seam on either side so that when I was sewing I was hopefully securing that my mink fabric on the bottom layer was almost unable to move. It is a lot of pins, if you don't have that many pins you can always sew a row, take off the pins, pin the next row, and then sew again. 

I would pin 3-4 rows and then sew, then I would repeat. I chose to do all of my horizontal sewing first. I went through and lined up the seam with my presser foot, then would sew a straight line horizontally all the way through the quilt taking out the pins as I went. Below you will see my pinning and then my sewing take shape! 

Now moving the quilt across the machine, that was quite tricky. I would suggest rolling up one side of the quilt and working your way from one side to the other. It is what I did. Then when I got past the half way point I would roll up the other side and flip the quilt around so that it moved easier. Lots of pinning, sewing, and rolling happening in this stage.

Once you have sown all your horizontal lines which are to the above and below each seam it is time to do the vertical ones. That goes faster because you don't need to pin anything. You just slide the fabric through your machine and it can't move too much because it is already sewn down above and below each side of each square. I only left my pins on the very outside squares. Once everything was sewn down I took all the pins out. I did not sew the very outside I only sewed along seam lines. I don't know if this is the best method, but it is how I did it! 

Once I finished it here was the final product! 

Here are some close ups! 

Here is what the back looked like! 

I love how it came together. I wouldn't go back and change anything! Hope this helps you on your quilting adventure and I can't wait to see some of your designs and quilts. Please feel free to share comments below. Next we will be talking about the dreaded binding. Which for myself personally was the hardest part to figure out and finish. Next blog will be Q101: Binding Your Quilt-The Final Stage