TIPS, TRICKS, AND TUTS TUESDAY 01-13-15

It's time for our second TIPS, TRICKS, AND TUTS TUESDAY.  I hope you're liking these posts and maybe learn a little something.  For you seasoned quilters you might not get anything out of it, but I am seeing comments from new quilters, which prompted me to do this.  I LOVE seeing all the newbies or oldies coming back to quilting and feeling like they're a newbie.

Today let's talk about chain piecing, or some quilters call it clothesline piecing.  The example I'm going to show you is a 9 patch friendship block.  This chain piecing not only will save you time but save you thread, which will save you money... I know, it's not a huge savings of money but hey... every little bit counts.  So let's get started.

First lay your block out on a surface next to your sewing machine like this.  I'm making 4 blocks so they are stacked on top of each other.

Now, pick up the column 2 square and turn it upside down on the column 1 square and take it to the sewing machine and stitch the seam.  Without breaking the thread, pick up the column 2 square, turn it upside down on the column 1 square and take it to the sewing machine and butt it up next to the one you just sewed and feed it through, sewing that seam.  Continue with the same manor with the last square in column 2.  Still don't break your thread.

Continue with the method until you reached the bottom of your stack of blocks.  Not cut them apart in groups of 3 (the 3 column sets of each block).  I only cut one at a time but some cut them all at once.  You can see my scissors in the photo below where I'm going to cut the first set of columns apart.

I finger pressed the seams just so you can see the detail better.  I lay it next to my stack of column 3 blocks.  Now pick up the first block in column 3 and flip it over on top of the column 1/2 set and take it to the sewing machine and sew the seam.  

Continue with the flipping blocks in your stack and placing the on top of column 1/2 set until all blocks are sewn.  Still don't break your thread...

When all squares are sewn together in columns or rows cut them apart again in groups of 3 like my scissors show you below for each block.

This is what your block will look like at this point.

Notice the threads holding each square together with the next one in the close up of the photo below.

Now flip the column 2 set onto the column 1 set and sew that seam.  Your seams should nest together (in other words, the seam on top is pressed to lay in the opposite direction of the seam on the bottom).   Continue until all the blocks are sewn. 

Now flip column 3 set over onto column 1/2 set and sew the final seam for each block.  Again you are never cutting your thread, just feeding the next thing to sew into the machine.  I forgot to take a photo of the finished blocks but I think you get the idea.  Below is another example of chain piecing, this time making half square triangles.  As you can see the diagonal line is drawn and I'm stitching down one side.

I just butt the next square right up to the last one sewn and continue on...

See my trail of squares....

You can really put the metal to the pedal and sew a lot of half square triangles fast with this method.   Just think how long it takes to pull the sewn square out from the machine, pick up the scissors and cut the thread, and cut the thread at the beginning.  Plus you don't have all those strings to deal with at the end that you forgot to cut or have cut and didn't land in the trash bin.  

I hope this helps you in some way and makes some kind of sense.  It's difficult to show how to do something with pictures; which is why William has been after me to make YouTube videos of this sort of thing.  He's really been working on me hard and I think I'm about to cave in.