Quilting Basics ~ Matching Seams & Quick Piecing Techniques
Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studios is back for part three of her Quilting Basics series! Part one covered preparing and cutting your fabric, and part two focused on the quarter inch seam and pressing techniques. Be sure to visit Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studios for her latest quilts, and learn more about Jacquie in her Sew,Mama,Sew! Board Member intro.
Today Jacquie teaches us all about Matching Seams and Quick Piecing Techniques:
A Good Match!
You’ve prepped your fabric, your pieces are cut and you’re piecing away. You have your units sewn and now it’s time to start putting things together. In most quilts you’re probably going to have to join units and match some seams. It’s not as difficult as it looks to achieve.
How you join units will depend on how you decide to press your seams. I’m going to demonstrate methods for both. As you gain experience with joining units you may be able forget the pins. I tend to use a pin or two, especially if I want a perfect match. That said, try not to focus on perfection, it can be paralyzing in quilting. A smidge off here and there won’t affect the beauty or utility of your quilt. A very experienced quilter gave me some wonderful advice about perfection. She told me to “get my nose out of my quilt.” Stand back and look at your work. You’ll be surprised how small imperfections disappear and the beauty emerges. (I’m trying to let go of my perfectionist tendencies.)
Joining With Side Pressed Seams
If you press your seams to the side, when you join units at seams you’ll want the seams laying in opposite directions so you can nest the seams together. Pressing to the side creates a tiny ridge. Nesting seams takes advantage of those ridges by butting them against each other. Opposing seams will also help distribute the bulk of the seam.
With both methods I pin the side of the seam allowance that the needle will reach last. This keeps the intersection from shifting, allows me to sew up to the center of the seam, remove the pin, and continue sewing. DO NOT sew over pins. You could damage your machine, dull your needle, or hurt yourself. Again, I know from experience!
If you press to one side, you will need to be aware of which direction you are pressing your seams as you assemble your quilt so that nesting is possible. Most quilt patterns will give you instructions for which direction to press.
Joining With Seams Pressed Open
If you press your seams open, joining is a little different. You won’t have ridges to butt against each other. When matching seams that have been pressed open, align them on top of each other, right sides together.
Some quilters stab a pin through the center of the seam in the top piece and through to the bottom piece to align. I simply wiggle them together with my fingers.
Again I pin on the side that the needle will reach last. I find that’s enough to keep my seams aligned and get accurate matches. You may want to pin more or less than I do.
When I’m joining sections of a quilt that contain multiple seams to match, I usually pin more. I pin at each seam match and then again halfway between seam intersections. You will find your own way to keep your edges aligned and give you accurate seam matching.
Here’s what the matched units look like either with seams pressed open or seams pressed to the side.
Quick Piecing
There are a few techniques I’d like to share that will speed up your piecing. These two techniques can be used in many quilt patterns. The first is strip piecing.
Strip Piecing
Strip piecing involves joining two or more strips of fabric and then cutting smaller units from those joined strips. The center sections of the ‘Snippets’ quilt pictured below were strip pieced using 22” long 1” wide strips.
When strip piecing do your best to keep your edges aligned and use that scant ¼” seam. Pin if you need to.
One problem that sometimes occurs when sewing strips is that multiple strips sewn together will tend to curve and form an arc and not lay flat. There are a couple of ways to prevent this. If you have many strips to join, sew them in pairs first, press your seams then join those units and continue joining units until you have all the strip sets joined. I’ve also found when joining multiple strips, sewing from the top down on the first set, and then sewing from the bottom up on the second set will help keep the strip set straight and flat.
When your strips are joined you can line up the bottom edge with a horizontal line on your cutting mat and sub-cut units whatever size you need. Look at all the units that were made from one strip set made up of two joined strips.
Chain Piecing
Another method that you can use to speed up your piecing is chain piecing. The pairs of squares below are candidates for chain piecing.
Chain piecing involves stitching similar units one after the other without clipping the threads between the units.
I stack my units to be chain pieced with the edge to be sewn to the right. I lay them beside my machine so I can pick them up and move them to the machine in an orderly manner. This helps make sure that I’m sewing the correct side.
Stitch the first unit as usual and stop with your needle down at the end of the unit. Without lifting the presser foot feed the second unit under the presser foot without clipping the threads. Continue feeding and sewing all of your units. Clip your final threads and the units will be connected in a long chain that you can carry over to your ironing board. Clip the thread between the units and press.
Chain piecing saves time and thread and can also help you keep units in the correct sewing order. To save even more time you can chain piece your strip sets. You’ll have a quilt in no time!
Part 4, coming up next week: Maintaining Your Momentum
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141 Responses to “Quilting Basics ~ Matching Seams & Quick Piecing Techniques”
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Thanks for the advice regarding imperfections. I’m not perfect, and it’s ok that my quilts aren’t either.
I love the idea about chain piecing! Not lifing that presser foot or snipping the threads, this saves on thread and saves time from threading that bobbin more often, thanks for the tip!
This is so helpful on a topic I have struggled with. Thank you!
So helpful!
Guess I have been doing it right as I already do all those things.
Great tips Jacquie! Thanks!
Thank you! This was extremely helpful!
Very helpful.
I love chain piecing. It not only saves time, it saves thread.
Another nice tutorial. Very helpful. Now if I could just sew a straight line…
Thanks.
This post is so helpful for newbie quilters. Everyday I post a quilt block of the day with a simple tutorial on my blog. That might be helpful for some newbies who aren’t sure what to sew!
Clearly explained, Thank you!
I like the chain piecing method too, saves time and thread.
great lesson!! thanks…
I’m glad to see you included pressing seams open. Seems like that is getting a lot of buzz lately. This is the first time I’ve seen it given credit by being included in a tutorial/demo type situation. Thanks!
I wish I had this tutorial a couple months ago when I was trying to match seams for my quilt! Boy did it take forever!
very good. I agree…pin pin pin!
It’s so worth it and actually saves time in the end.
So helpful…just quilted my first project and have lots to learn!! Thank you!
Very helpful! Thanks!
I’m about to start my first quilt! Thank you for all the tutorials.
such great tips, thank you!
Good tips found here!
So glad to know that I’m doing my chain piecing correctly! I taught myself from a magazine that didn’t give many details. And I’ll have to try the strip piecing, too. Thanks so much!
The pictures help a great deal. Thanks.
I just chain pieced for the first time on my current quilt project. I’ll definitely be doing that again next time!
Thanks for the string piecing tips!
This is very helpful. I am especially interested in week 4′s article on keeping up the momentum!
Good reminders – I love chain piecing, too!!!
Thank you for the free lesson!
Chain piecing is awesome. Such a time saver!
I love chain piecing, have yet to try strip piecing though. Thanks again for the great series!
Wow this is super helpful. I am starting my 2nd quilt today, and my last one the squares just did not line up all that well. I am going to try that chain piecing technique.
Thank You for sharing your expert tips!
I have never tried chain piecing, but I’m definitely going to give it a go! Thanks for the tips!
finally learned how to do chain piecing just a few weeks ago…it’s awesome! now i just have to remember my new skillz.
I wish I had read this before all the work I did this morning! I will have to get my nose out of my quilt…
a friend and I are in this process right now, making a signature/friendship quilt for a dear family that’s moving away. Your tips are very helpful!
I’m a big fan of chain piecing!
Thanks for the helpful tips! I love the info on chain piecing. I’ve been trying to do my own version, but this explanation makes it much clearer.
I am going to follow the tip about pinning on the seam you reach last – I have a fabulous diagonal madness Kaffe Fassett quilt to make for my mum which will require a lot of seams to meet and I haven’t tried your tip before. I have also broked needles on pins and it’s really really annoying!
This very helpful. Can’t wait until the next installment
Thanks!!
Great info!
OOoo…chain piecing – that sounds like such a great idea! Thanks for this tute!
I’m getting more and more tempted each day to start my first quilt!!!
I find the speed piecing techniques save not only time in the sewing process, but other parts, too. Less time spend winding bobbins, as less thread is used. Less time up and down to the ironing board–I can take the whole section with me. It is still a contemplative process, that is the nature of quilting, but one that I enjoy more.
That’s a great tutorial, thank you!
I am loving all of these lessons! I am dying to start making my first quilt….so all of this is perfect! Thank you, thank you!
Is it my imagination or does the block with seams pressed open look neater? I’m going to have to make a habit of pressing my seams open.
Thanks, I really could of used the advice about not worry small imperfections. I do like how you touched on both methods of pressing to side or press open.
Thanks for sharing
As long as I have been quilting it never freakin’ occurred to me to pin the side of the seam allowance that the needle reaches last. I always nestle them so it’s usually not a problem, but more than a few times I have had imperfect seams and it irritates me (only when it’s a gift. for me, no problem). Thank you for this!!
Great tips on strip piecing – I always wondered what I was doing wrong that the sewn strips tended to curve – now I know how to fix it, thanks!
Thanks for these excellent tips! Imperfections usually are not seen on finished pieces. Recently I started looking at the details of relatives sewn items or some bought pieces to check if these are perfect and have seen that not all the hem lines for example are a perfect straight line.
Thanks for all the great tips. I especially like the one about perfection. I have my nose to close to the fabric. I need to step back.
Great tutorial and will help me in teaching my daughter beginning quilting.
great pics for joining the blocks accurately!
I start my chain even before with kind of a “dummy”:
I start some stitches before the edge of a double layer of scraps and the chain stitch my first unit.
This gives a much nicer beginning and I*m secure that the feed dogs don’t eat my fabric.
I love all your tips w/ the pictures. I think the perfection part was one of the things holding me back from starting!
I love crisp points. I can’t get over how great a quilt looks when the points are crisp. Thanks for this!!
Awesome, very helpful!
I think I just became a “seam open” quilter! I’ve always wondered why when making a garment seams are open and when I started quilting they are to one side. That block looks much flatter. Thanks for the tips
Love this series! Thanks for the great tips!
Thank you for the great tips and information on piecing!
I’m going to try that pinning technique of the last side to see if my seams will match up better that way! Thanks for some great tips.
I volunteer at my local middle school helping the students to make donation quilts. They always think chain piecing is the most amazing thing!
I love the advice to ‘get your nose out of your quilt’. As a recovering perfectionist, it’s a wonderful reminder about priorities. Thanks!
Great tips and advice. I’ve struggled with matching seams and will take some of your tips onboard. Thanks so much.
I just started my first quilt yesterday and laughed about not aligning the seams – small imperfections but I love it just the same because its coming together so nicely. If I’d read this first it may have helped. Can’t wait for more advice as I start my next quilt.
The pin placement was very enlightening!
I love Quilting Month! Thanks for even more handy tips. You ladies are lovely!
So many great tips. I can’t wait to finish my first quilt so I can start another using all the great info you have here!
I’ve pieced one quilt top in my whole life, and a few of the blocks on it didn’t quite match up perfectly. I love it anyway! I decided when I wanted to try quilting that I would strive for excellence, not perfection. It looks good, even though it’s not perfect!
Great tips – really liked the one about sewing long strips in one direction and then going the other direction for the next one! Thanks
I must try the seams pressed open! Thanks for the tips, they are very useful.
Thanks for the tips! I’m already a firm believer in chain piecing.
It makes it go alot faster!
Amy
I use a foot that has a little ledge at 1/4″. With that it’s way easier to keep consistent all the way.
I know for me this is a great reminder of what needs to be done to make matching seams.
Thanks for the tutorial.
this is wonderful! thanks for sharing you techniques. I love to do quick piecing and sewing like this.
* the feed dogs grab that bottom fabric and pull it a bit, if you put the seams facing down on the bottom then they will be pulled up and bit and your seams will be perfectly nesled.
http://patchworkposse.com/blog
I like chain piecing, too! I even do it with my regular sewing when I can to save time and thread.
Love the great advice, I got to get quilting again, it looks like so much fun!
Just starting so this is VERY helpful!
Thank you – this is so helpful!
do you shorten your stitch when you chain piece?
This tip about chain piecing is very helpful! I am sure to try it out on my new quilt. Thanks!
Great tips – thanks!
I love chain piecing. It makes everything go so much faster.
As a new quilter these tips have been outstanding! Thanks!
chain piecing rocks!
Great tips! I’m going to give chain piecing a try. Not sure that I get the strip piecing, but maybe once I’m sitting at my machine it will click.
Chain piecing rocks.
Thanks for this — it’s very helpful!
I wish I was HALF as skilled as you are, Jacquie!! I love your work, and really appreciate you sharing your experiences and expertise with us. I’ve learned a lot already, and share these techniques with other newbie/self-taught quilters and sew-ers I know.
Thanks!
Yeah. I should totally read this!! My poor seams.
Great tutorial! Thanks Sharonj.
Thank you, Jacquie!
this is the first i have heard of chain stitching and will definately be using it!
yeah, i stink at matching seams. luckily i don’t get too worried about it.
great advice for any level of quilter
I hate it when my squares don’t match up! Thanks for the tips on how to help that out.
This was very useful…
Thanks a lot
This post is beyond awesome. I am always wondering what to do and what not to do so I will follow some of these tips.
Thank you for the great tips. It helped someone telling me not to get too perfect. That has been a problem for me. I have taken so many things apart because the points and joints didn’t come out perfect. This info will help me to match seams and squares.
thanks for the tute. I’m glad to say that I have been doing the correct way well at least it poses the least problem in piecing.
Chainpiecing – that’s it!
Kind regards from imperfect Claudia
I agree with Mary Lou… it’s the straight line that gets me!!
Thanks for the great tutorial. I visit your blog often!
I love this method – however I stitched up one charm pack with the intention of doing another to make a quilt centre but last night was contemplating unpicking the lot to do something differient with them – but what?
Thank you for this! As a newbie I need all the help I can get.
some great tips! thanks!
Great refresher tutorial !
I am reminded to try pressing seams open…
thanks !
Thanks so much for this! I always struggle to get my seams to match up!
thanks for the tips
Great tutorial- I love all the little tips tucked inside these directions. I find the sewing strips tips most helpful! Now mine won’t be all curvy
This is a great post – I love chain piecing!
I am beginning to be a pinner. I used to just wing it but I find my quilt blocks match better if i pin. Thanks for the great tutotial.
I am definetly going to be using the open seams on my next project. I love how flat the block lays (or is it lies? )
This was so straight-forward! Thanks so much. I hadn’t heard of chain-piecing before. What a great technique. Appreciate the daily posts this month
You guys rock!
I have never tried the open seams, I always done the side pressed seams. This is great information.Thanks.
I have quilted a long time and never have I seen this discussed so well. Getting seams to match is a big part of a good quilt.
Thanks for the handy tips.
One reason I love this month is it helps people realize that everyone else is going through the same things. Once in scrapbooking someone told me that your work should look like you, and since I’m not perfect I don’t worry if my pages are perfect…when I came over to quilting, I kept the same mantra. While I want my quilts to look really great, I don’t worry about each little individual seam being perfect–as long as I’m making progress, enjoying myself and it looks good, I’m happy!
Thanks for all of the help.
Thanks for the great tips!
I was just talking about this very topic with a coworker today! Now I have a pic tutorial!! Thank you! Great post.
Thank you for the good tutorial.
I’m definitely ok with imperfections, they have character! (But I’ll use your tips anyway!)
brilliant tute: thanks guys
This is a question from someone who has never made a quilt, but will soon try: What does it mean to nestle the seam? I sew clothing for my children, so I understand the concept of matching seams, but is that any different? Also, I always lock my seams when constructing garments. Why is it that you wouldn’t do the same for quilt seams? I understand it would take much longer, but wouldn’t it strengthen the seams?
I like reading this and reviewing techniques. Thank you!
I’ve never heard of chain piecing, love it! My only (probably really stupid) question is: does that mean you don’t back stitch? I suppose it doesn’t matter if they’ll be made into strips…?
Thanks. Wish I had read this BEFORE I made my new wave quilt. LOL,live and learn I guess. Suppose I better make another one the right way =).
Thank for this tutorial. It refreshed my memory. I’ve only completed one quilt and it was in a class. And I’m happy to see other people that leave their seams “open.”
These tips are so helpful. Thanks.
These tutorials are just want I need to get me motivated to start quilting! thanks again!!
Hi All –
I am newbie, I am really passionate about sewing, and now that I am Mom of 2, I want to sew lot of things – clothes and quilting..and other home projects. Can u please suggest a good sewing machine..I dont want to spend too much money or dont want to buy a beginnner machine either, as I am sure I wont be a beginner for a long time.
please advice.
Thanks,
Joy
I’m so happy to see these tutorials. I pick up tips in every one!
Great tute!
Thanks – love the tip about sewing bottom up and top down to keep things from curling.
This is wonderful- I’ve been learning quilting by trial and error and this will help me to reduce the ‘error’ part!
Another fabulous tutorial. Thanks for all the great tips!
Great tute, I always enjoy looking at your quilts. Some really good advice about being a perfectionist too!
Great post. Thank you!