BUILDING A QUILT: Piecing, Ironing, and Basting
There’s a standard order of operations when it comes to building a quilt. First, you cut and piece your quilt top, then iron and baste the three layers before stitching them together and finally binding the edges of your quilt. Follow these steps and helpful tips to learn the basic foundations of making any quilt.
Piecing
The first step of making a quilt is piecing your quilt top together. Whether it’s squares, triangles, curves or combinations of the three, you’ll need to sew pieces of fabric together in order to create the design of the quilt. Traditional quilts are made up of blocks, or square units of patchwork shapes that are usually repeated to create the design of the quilt. A few of the projects in Simple Geometric Quilting follow the traditional block method, but most of them, like many modern quilts, use a non-traditional, freeform construction method.
Squares and rectangles are the most simple, straightforward shapes, and they are a great place for beginners to start. The piecing of triangles and curves is more complex, so I’ve detailed those techniques in the Half Square Triangles Technique Tutorial and the Curves Technique Tutorial to help you master those shapes.
In the last chapter of Simple Geometric Quilting, I cover combination quilts including the Tent Rocks Pillow, Purifoy Wall Quilt, Oregon Crib, Virgin River Throw, and Golden Hour Queen Quilts, so feel free to reference all the techniques in the book as you create those geometric quilts with a full toolbox of shapes.
Piecing Tips
I refer to the right side and the wrong side of the fabric in many of the patterns. The right side is the top, front-facing side. The wrong side is the back of the fabric. For all piecing, you want your stitches to be on the wrong side of the fabric so your thread and seam allowance are hidden on the back side. That means when you’re piecing, the right side of the fabric will be facing each other.
The seam allowance for piecing is always 1/4”. Many sewing machines come with a 1/4” foot where you can use the edge of the foot as a guide for the edge of your fabric. Measure the distance from your need to the edge of your foot to make sure its 1/4”.
Use a shorter stitch for piecing to make sure your seams are tight and sturdy. I usually set my stitch length to 2.0 (2mm).
Gently guide your fabric through your machine, letting the machine do all the work. Don’t pull or push it through, otherwise it can warp your fabric and mess up your stitch length.
Press your seams after piecing the blocks or strips of your quilt, either with your finger or the tip of your iron. There are two ways to press your seams: open or to the side. Both have their benefits and people have strong preferences in both directions. My suggestion is to try both and see which one you like best!
OPEN: To press your seams open, either use an iron or your fingers to open the seam and lightly press it open I prefer to press my seams open, as I’d rather them all be the same instead of worrying about which direction to press my seams.
TO THE SIDE: To press your seams to the side, use an iron to gently press your seam to one side - usually toward the darker fabric. Keep in mind that you’ll need to alternate the direction of the seams that meet at an intersection and “nest” them in order to reduce bulk.
If you’re working with 100"% linen, use a wider seam allowance. Because linen is a looser weave and more prone to fraying, it’s best to use a 1/2” (12 mm) seam allowance to avoid your linen coming apart at the seams. Just make sure to account for this and increase the size of the fabric pieces you start with.
Ironing + Basting
When you’ve completed your quilt top, you’ll need to iron it along with the backing fabric to smooth out any wrinkles and make sure all your seams are pressed and flat. The next step is basting your quilt, where you temporarily attach the three laters (top, batting and backing) together with pins or spray adhesive to hold it together while you’re quilting.
To make sure your quilt lies flat and smooth, it’s important to press your seems and iron your quilt top and backing. I set my iron to the highest setting for ironing cotton and linen, but you should check what your iron recommends for the fabric you’re using. I like to use a starch alternative with a dry iron - the starch will help release the wrinkle and give your fabric a bit more stiffness, which makes it easier to baste your quilt. Iron your quilt top on the wrong side, making sure all your seams are pressed and intersections are as flat as possible. Let the weight of the iron do all the work. When you’ve ironed the top smooth on the wrong side, turn it over to the right side and give it a final press. Do the same with your backing fabric.
Next, you’ll make a “quilt sandwich” by stacking and temporarily attaching your three layers - backing, batting and quilt top - together so you can quilt your quilt. There are two common ways to baste a quilt: using safety pins or a spray fabric adhesive. They each have their benefits and drawbacks (see below). Try either or both and see which works best for you! I personally prefer pin basting, so these steps are based on that method.
Find a table or floor space large enough to lat your your entire quilt. Start by spreading out your backing fabric, wrong side facing up, and working from the middle outwards, smooth our all the wrinkles and bubbles. When your backing fabric is as smooth as possible, tape along all four edges with painter’s or masking tape, pulling the fabric slightly taut as you go.
Then, lay your batting out on top of your backing fabric, making sure to line up the edges as best as you can. Smooth your batting from the middle outwards taking care not to shift your backing fabric underneath.
Finally, spread your quilt top out on top of the batting, leaving a few inches of batting sticking out around each edge. Carefully smooth your quilt top from the middle outwards until all wrinkles, creases and bubbles are gone and the quilt top lies as flat as possible.
Take your safety pins and pin all three layers together every 4 inches or so. When you’ve pinned your entire quilt top, carefully remove the tape from around the backing fabric and roll or fold your quilt sandwich up to move it back to your sewing machine.
Once you’ve finished piecing, ironing, and basting your quilt, it’s time to move onto quilting and binding in the next blog post!
