Beginner's Guide to Quilting - UK (2020-02)

So you’ve cut your fabric shapes, now it’s time

to start sewing them together into beautiful

projects! Read on to learn how...

ALL ABOUT

PIECING

Piecing your patchwork is where the

fun really begins. You get to see

smaller fabric pieces slowly spring to

life as they become part of your

finished project. If you’re making a

patchwork quilt, you’ll often sew up

smaller shapes into larger units, or

‘blocks’, which you then piece together to

form a quilt top (see our ‘Blocks’ chapter

on page 107). You can piece by hand or

with a sewing machine. Some quilters

love find hand stitching very therapeutic,

while others opt for machine for speed

and durability. It’s entirely up to you!

You’ll find all sorts of ways to sew fabric

pieces together, depending on the shape

of the pieces you’re working with, but

here we’ll focus on the basics. We’ll start

off with sewing straight seams (for

example, piecing two strips of fabric

together), then move on to sewing seams

that join up with other seams. You’ll

come across these when you sew rows

of squares together.

Get to grips with

seam allowances

Getting the seam allowance right is an

essential for patchwork and quilting.

Once you get to grips with this, you’ll

understand one of the key building

blocks of making perfect patchwork.

When you’re sewing up patchwork

shapes, units and blocks, a ¼in seam

allowance is normally used. In fact,

a scant ¼in (slightly less than ¼in) is

recommended, because a small amount

of fabric often ends up being taken up

when your press the seam.

Make sure you sew with a consistent

¼in seam allowance throughout your

projects, unless you’re working with

instructions that say otherwise. This will

help to make sure that your fabric pieces

fit together once your final project is

assembled. You can check your seam

allowance by sewing two pieces of scrap

fabric together and measuring the sewn

seam with a ruler.

If the seam is too wide or too narrow,

adjust the needle position on your

sewing machine.

Pin it together

Tempting as it is to reach straight for

your needle or sewing machine, hold

off a moment! You’ll find it’s much easier

if you pin your pieces together first. This

will help you to line up your edges neatly,

ensure your pieces fit together well and

keep the fabric stable as you stitch.

Place your pins at right angles to the

seam you want to sew, so that they can

be sewn over by the machine without you

having to remove them.

If you prefer, you can place your pins in

line with the seam, but you’ll need to

remove them as the machine needle

reaches them.

If you’re sewing a very short seam –

for example when stitching two small

patchwork squares together – you

probably won’t need to use pins, but the

01

03

04

Pins are

normally

placed at

right-

angles to

the seam to

be sewn

02

HOW TO PIN SEAMS

/in seam

allowance

HOW TO MEASURE THE

SEAM ALLOWANCE

If units to

be sewn

together

have seams

that should

meet neatly,

then place

pins either

side of

these seams

to stop the

fabric from

moving

Pins can also

be placed in

line with the

seam to be

stitched