Hey everyone! I am so sorry this last blog post is being post so late! But now, you’ll be able to finish this quilt and work on the 2019 BOM. This month, we are completing the final assembly of our quilt. For our last fun airplane video, I found this great one that shows how the Renton plant builds a 737 in just 9 days. That factory moves so quickly and non-stop, it’s simply amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZ0WEEsuz4

To start out, if you didn’t do the extra credit or extra extra credit last month, go back and do those.

Materials:

All 12 of your quilted blocks, cut to 15” square

544” of single fold binding (1.5” cut, .75” finished)

Elmer’s washable glue with a fine tip applicator

Thread that matches your binding

Sewing:

This method for assembling a quilt comes from my experience making Alyssa Lichner’s Technicolor Galaxy Block of the Month, which I highly recommend if you are newer to quilting and sewing. She has some great resources on her website: https://pileofabric.com/blogs/modern-quilting/tagged/tutorials

Keep this chart handy, as it will help you see the layout for the blocks. I’ve given each block a number, which should make it a little easier to keep track. Like I said last week, we are going to put together the columns first, and sew the 3 of them together at the end.

Grab block A1 (Stringer Deflections) and a piece of 16” binding. Using the fine tip applicator, place a thin line (or small beads) of glue on the BOTTOM of the block.

Line up the raw edge of the binding strip with the raw edge of the block on top of the glue, leaving a bit of overhand at the right and left ends of the block. We will cut these extra tabs off later; it’s better to have a piece that is too long and cut it down than too short. Use a dry, hot iron to dry the glue.

Turn the block over, and repeat the above steps to attach a binding piece to the back. On the block, you should have a stack of binding strip, quilt block, binding strip.

Take the block over to your sewing machine, and sew through the back binding, block, and top binding pieces using a ¼” seam allowance. This process is really similar to how you would initially attach binding to your entire quilt, except that you’re attaching binding to both the front and the back.

Repeat these steps for the following blocks: A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3. Blocks A4, B4, and C4 will not get a binding strip attached to them.

 

Take all of your blocks over to the ironing board, flip the binding pieces, and press the heck out of them. Use some steam, and make sure the crease is really strong.

Put all of your pieces aside except for A1 and A2. Place A2 towards you on the ironing board, and A1 above it. We are going to glue A1 and A2 together now. Jam the two edges of the blocks together so they are touching all the way down the length. I like to use a few pins to pin one of the blocks to my ironing board to make sure nothing moves.

Flip the binding strip that is on piece A1 over on top of A2. Make sure you have a decent amount of overlap. It should be a quarter inch of overlap, but it won’t hurt anything if there is more. Place a line of glue on the top of A2, flip the A1 binding strip over, and press using a hot DRY iron.

CAREFULLY turn pieces A1 and A2 over (they are joined together, don’t forget!) and repeat the step above to glue the back strip down to A2.

Bring this piece over to your sewing machine, and sew the binding strips to the quilt. I sewed a line just inside the binding strip, maybe 1/8”? Probably a little less. The goal is to sew both the front binding strip, the block, and the back binding strip down as close to the edge of the binding strips as possible. If you end up missing some of the back binding strips, it’s no big deal. You can either rip out the line you sewed and try again (ew), sew another line of stitches, or hand attach the back binding in the small section you might have missed.

I also sewed along the top edge of the binding strip to make the stitch lines even, but this is just for aesthetics, and is completely non-functional.

Repeat this process to attach block A4 to A3, B2 to B1, B4 to B3, C2 to C1, and C4 to C3, You should now have SIX blocks that are attached together.

Trim all of the hangover bits of binding strips, so that each column has straight edges on all sides.

Repeat this process to attach A3A4 to A1A2, B3B4 to B1B2, and C3C4 to C1C2. You should now have THREE long columns that are all attached together. Getting close! Below is the same process as above, which we follow to attach the A and C column to the B column.

Grab the B column (center column) and a piece of 64” binding. Using the fine tip applicator, place a thin line (or small beads) of glue on the RIGHT EDGE of the column.

Line up the raw edge of the binding strip with the raw edge of the block on top of the glue, leaving a bit of overhand at the top and bottom ends of the column. We will cut these extra tabs off later; it’s better to have a piece that is too long and cut it down than too short. Use a dry, hot iron to dry the glue.

Turn the column over, and repeat the above steps to attach a binding piece to the back.

Take the column over to your sewing machine, and sew through the back binding, block, and top binding pieces using a ¼” seam allowance.

Repeat this process to attach a piece of binding to the LEFT EDGE of the B column. Take your column over to the ironing board, flip the binding pieces, and press the heck out of them. Use some steam, and make sure the crease is really strong.

Now you just have to attach Column A and Column C to Column B and the assembly is complete! Use the same method that we used to attach the individual blocks. My only advice for this bit is be really careful when you’re gluing and sewing. The more care you take, the better change you have of successful attachment the first time.

 

THAT’S IT! Now you’ve got a quilt that only needs binding! Attach your favorite binding using your favorite method, tag your quilt, and bask in the glory of your finished quilt!

Thanks so much for quilting along with me this year! I hope you enjoyed making this quilt, and also hope you learned something too! Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great 2019!

-Kim