Quilt As You Go Connections

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

9 Responses

  1. Thank you for this great Tutorial. And congratulations for your blog, I love it !!

  2. Needled Mom says:

    Great description of the project. I have always loved the look of the Quilt as You Go projects.

  3. Debbie says:

    These instructions are really great, Leah! I was just thinking about doing QAYG for a commission that I have, but only want to do the whole quilt by machine with no handwork. Duh! Reverse the process. Now why didn't I think of that! She had already admired some decorative seam stitching on another quilt, so problem solved!

  4. Quiltluver says:

    Hi Leah,
    I learned a quicker method if you are interested. It produces a 5/8 inch sashing.

    Cut 1 strip 1-1/8" wide and 1 strip 1-3/4" wide (1 for the front and 1 for the back.) It doesn't matter which size is for front or back. The length = block size or you can leave it longer and trim as you sew.

    Fold the 1-3/4" strip in half wrong sides together and press.

    Then, instead of treating the front and back separately, you pin the raw edges of 1 strip to the front (right sides together) while at the same time pin the 2nd strip on the back and sew both sides on at the same time.

    Then you take the 1-1/8 strip and attach that to the 2nd block the same way you indicated.

    Then all you have to do to finish is either hand or machine sew the other side down (with the folded strip). Just make sure the sashing covers the previous stitching line from the other side–just like sewing folded binding.

    Trim any extra sashing down to the block size.

    Once you have the rows sewn together, then you use the same method to sew the rows together–the strips are just longer.

    I've also dones some fancy machine stitches down the middle of the sahsing after it has been sewed together.

    I hope this makes sense. Karen

  5. Leah Day says:

    Hi Karen – Yes, that is an easier way of doing it, to attach both strips at the same time.

    Just make sure to keep things organized so you don't get confused which strip goes where!

    Let's go Quilt!

    Leah Day

  6. Khris says:

    Thanks for this tutorial. I have put a link to it on my freebies blog. Hugs Khris

  7. Charlene says:

    Leah, I am doing my first quilt as you go. I saw on a show where you put the back of the blocks together and sew them, then you trim down the 1/4 seam that shows on the front. Then you take your sashing and sew it over the ugly seam on the front. I am doing the decor stitch going down the middle like a zigzag

    Its a nightmare, you have the decorative stitch going every direction as it goes over that seam. I am to the part where I have to put the rows together , covered with the sashing. What looked like fun, is turning out to be a nightmare. Thought I would share my disaster , lol

  8. Leah Day says:

    Oh no Charlene! I'm so sorry it's not working out.

    Try straight stitching one side onto the block, then hand stitching the opposite side. Once it's totally secure, then try a decorative stitch.

    Keep playing with it and it's sure to work out!

    Leah Day

  9. tyranhec says:

    Hi Leah,
    I love your method for "quilt as you go" and as you said it can work for most quilts that have sashing between blocks. I've searched the web as i'm looking for a method of "quilt as you go" were you don't have any sashing between blocks on the front. Can you help or point me in the right direction as i can't find anything. My blocks are 12" finished and the whole quilt will be about 96" when finished. I'm new to free motion and have completely fallen in love with although still very much a beginner, i'd love to be able to free motion a quilt of this size in one go, but don't have the confidence yet and I only have a domestic machine.

    kind regards
    nikkie

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *