We have reached Week 5 in the Carly Quiltalong. It's time to start piecing our blocks together!
Before you get started, make sure to lay your quilt blocks out and double check that they are all facing the right direction. Now go back and check it again. You should also check that there aren't too many blocks with similar colors or values right next to each other.
I like to take a picture of my quilt with my phone because it can be a little easier to see issues in a photo rather than in-person. Then I take a black a white photo, which helps me make sure I have a good distribution of values. You don't want too many dark fabrics or light fabrics clumped up together.
When I piece my quilt top, I try to avoid sewing lots of long rows together. Instead of piecing the rows together like this:
Or you can sew the blocks into two, long sections. Then sew those sections together in one, long seam:
Or you can piece your quilt top like I do:
Once you are done piecing, make sure to press your quilt top nicely and then trim any long threads off the back of the quilt top. The is extra important if you are using a white or very light background fabric - you don't want stray threads to show through onto your quilt top.
One last, optional step: sew a stay stitch around the edges of your quilt. This is a long, basting stitch that is about 1/8" from the edge of the quilt top. This is not required, but it can prevent the seams around the edges of the quilt from opening up.
Next week we will talk about basting and quilting our Carly Quilts. We are almost done!
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