Congratulations on finishing step 3!
Now, I’m afraid to say, it is time to get the iron out.
You should now have your 8 individual rows of squares. Before we sew them together we need to iron down the seams. This makes pinning them together ready for sewing much easier and you will find it helps to line up the squares more accurately.
Take row 1. Place right side down on your ironing board and iron down the seams so that they are pointing to your right.
Then take row 2, place right side down and iron down seams pointing to your left.
Repeat, alternating direction for each row in turn.
Once you have ironed all your rows it is time to sew row 1 and 2 together.
Place row 1 on your table, right side up, and place row 2 directly below it, also right side up.
Then fold row 2 upwards so that it is lying face down on top of row 1.
You may then need to make some small adjustments to line up the individual square seams. I have tried to show this in the photo below where I have displaced them vertically. You can see that they should lie quite flat together.
Move along the row to your next seam and line up.
When happy, pin together and repeat at each seam along the row.
Once finished you are ready to sew together your first two rows.
Once again, to keep a consistent seam allowance, line up the edge of your fabric with the edge of the presser foot.
You should now have something like this when unfolded…
Do not despair if some of your fabric appears a bit puckered or if your seams are not entirely aligned. A lot of this will miraculously disappear once quilted and I do feel a little bit of wonkiness adds to the home-made charm.
Now it is time to add row 3.
Place row 3 below row 2.
Flip so it is lying face down on top of row 2, right sides together.
Align seams, pin and sew along bottom edge.
Repeat for rows 4-8.
You should now have something a bit like this…
It is beginning to look like a quilt!
Congratulations, you have now pieced together the front of your quilt.
Next up, Step 5: Ordering Border and Backing fabric and Your Quilt Batting
Oh I do love it when a plan comes together!
Thanks so much for this tutorial, it’s absolutely fantastic!!! I didn’t want to spend money on the ready cut squares, and as I had lots of old sheets with baby designs on them, I cut them to size!! Didn’t actually take that long, a couple of hours 🙂 I am now at the stage of sewing the rows together and although they don’t match up exactly, it looks really good!!! Can’t wait to have it finished 🙂 Thanks again from sunny Spain.