Easy Strip Quilt Part 3 Cut and Sew Some More

Here is the final tutorial on how to do the quilt top. There will be two more on how to tie and bind the quilt. 

Once you have your panels sewn you will need to iron the seams and then cut the fabric again. Ok so how I do this is I iron two seams on the panel up and then skip a seam and iron the last two up. I skip the middle seam so I can fold the panel in half. Folding the panel in half lengthwise makes it easier to cut. Since all 6 strips are longer than the cutting mat I have I like to just fold it and then cut.

After all of the panels are ironed I start cutting. Once again you will want to line the bottom seam (the middle seam that you did not iron up) up with one of the lines on your mat. I place the mat where the long side is facing me and the short side is going up. This means I can cut more of the strips without having to re-position the fabric.

Line your ruler up and straighten out your edge. Just like you did with the first set of strips.

We are going to cut some more 4 inch strips. From each panel you will want to cut just 4 strips that are the 4 inches wide. If you want a larger quilt you should have enough fabric to cut a few more strips but this quilt I made I only needed 4 from each panel.

After you cut your strips they should look something like this. See the pattern?

Now we SEW! While it might look a little difficult this is one of the easiest parts.

Take two strips from the first set you cut. These will be matching strips.

Lay the strips down right sides together. Make sure the squares do not match each other when you flip one of them over.

Now sew the strips together. Make sure the squares you are sewing don't match. Also, sew the short sides together not the long sides.

Once again, I line everything up with the edge of the foot of my sewing machine and that makes a 1/4 inch seam for me.

By sewing those two strips together you should end up with one long 12 square strip. Repeat this strip for the rest of the strips.

After you sew your small strips to make long strips it's time to sew everything else together. Take one strip from pile one and one from pile two and line them up so no squares are matching. You should have a solid and a pattern on each end. I like to double check and make sure that these are following the pattern I want.

Here is where I pin my fabric. I take the seams and match them up. Make sure everything is right sides together. Making sure the seams are facing the same direction makes sewing easier. It's not a must but something I do to make it easier on me.

After the seams are matched I pin them together. I make sure to go through each layer of fabric.

Pin the whole row this way before sewing. Then line it all up and sew along the long side. You will be happy with the results.

I like to use the same pins throughout the process that way if I am one short I know I have left one in the last row. This prevents me from leaving pins in the quilt top and not catching it. I have found pins in old quilts months after I made them. They are a pain to get out once they are all sewn in.

After you get the first rows sewn you should start seeing the diagonal pattern of the squares.

Even more after the third row is added.

Keep up this process until you have sewn all 6 rows then go back to row one and attach that to the bottom of row 6. You should end up with 12 rows of 12 squares each.

I'm so glad my mom taught me this pattern. It is so much easier than cutting individual squares and trying to get them all even. Now don't get me wrong this is totally a hand made quilt. It is not even close to perfect but it works for me.

I will provide the link here for the tutorial on how to tie the quilt when it's done. If you have any questions on how to make the quilt top please leave a comment and I will try to clarify everything for you! Thanks for reading!