DWR Quilt Along: Layering, Quilting & Binding the Curved Edges

This post will be short and sweet, because there's really only one part of this process that might be foreign to you (sorting out the binding at the curved corners). 

To prepare the backing, you'll cut your yardage into two 1 1/2 yard pieces. Sew together down the length to make one large panel. Baste, quilt (I did free motion) and trim off the excess batting and backing.

Prepare your bias binding using your preferred method. Personally, I love these instructions from The Dread Pirate Rodgers. Her method looks a little scary at first, but her instructions are amazingly detailed, informative, and there's virtually no fabric waste, which I love.

Start pinning your binding on one of the end rings, making sure to leave a tail. It's best to start at an end because you'll have plenty of room (without any pesky corners) to attach your tail ends once you've worked your way around the quilt top.

Pin until you reach a corner. Now there may be a better way to do this, but this method is what's worked well for me in the past. Make a baby miter, finger press, and pin in place. You don't want to do a full-on miter with all the folding (like you would with a regular square corner) because it gathers up way too much fabric at the corner, and it's nearly impossible to miter the back side.

You may have to work your binding a little bit to get everything in place before you pin. 

Once you've finished pinning the entire top and begin sewing your binding down, this is how you'll need to navigate the corner. I made 1/2" binding, so I sewed until I was 1/2" above the corner and pivoted to go down the next curve.

Once you've finished sewing down the top of the binding and start flipping it toward the back, here's how you'll situate the fabric at the corners. At your first corner, go ahead and clip down the binding that's on either side of the corner into it's rightful place, so there's not a bunch of excess fabric floating around. Grab the fabric bunched at the corner...

...and following the natural inclination of the fabric from the miter you made earlier, tuck the right side under the left using your finger until there's no excess and the binding wants to lay flat with no puckering.  Once you have the front in place, the binding should naturally fall into place on the back as you fold it over.

 If you machine sew the back of your binding (like me), you'll sew down one side and pivot at the corner, just like you did for the top.

And voila! You're finished! I immediately wash and dry my quilts after binding because it crinkles up nicely and hides most of my flaws - there's nothing like a good run through the machine to hide your quilting sins ;)

And here's a crapload of pictures. I document every last inch of my Double Wedding Ring quilts because they're so difficult to make!

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Updates.

1)  How did everyone's gift presentations go for the Quilting Widow(er) Appreciation Day this past Saturday (the 24th?). My hubby loved his new quilted Marvel pillowcase...so much so that I didn't get a chance to take pretty staged pictures of it before it was in use (see below)

Aren't my sleeping boys precious? I'm gonna get an earful about this picture later. He caught me trying to take a photo once before this (I thought he was asleep, but he was still partially conscious), and I got a groggy verbal warning, LOL! I pounced again 30 minutes later once the snoring started. Snoring = definite sleep.

2) I hope to have the last post for the DWR Quilt Along ready by the end of this week. Not that I don't love you all, but we had 3 family birthdays last week, and some things are just more important than quilting :) Thanks for being so patient with me this summer. I've had a lot of unexpected speed bumps in my personal and professional life, and it's been a real challenge to keep the Quilt Along going. I have my DWR quilted, so all I need to do is bind that beast, snap a few photos, and the post will be ready!

3) I'm sick of owning too much stuff. And that means another DESTASH. Between myself, my family and my friends, we've participated in FIVE moves this summer, and there's nothing like moving to make you realize how much stuff Americans own. Ever since we moved in April, I've just been feeling sick about the amount of fabric I have. I've been destashing a few things here and there the past couple weeks, but I really needed to get control of myself and do a major overhaul. I finished the first wave tonight, and hope to do a second one this weekend. I love fabric, and there's nothing wrong with buying it, but you know there's a major problem when you can't even remember what you own. Recently, I can't tell you how many times I've bought fabric online/in a LQS/swapped on Flickr, only to find out I already have a cut of that exact print in my stash. That's bad.

It's been weighing on my conscience, and then I read this post, and it's so true - you can't take it with you, so what's the point of my ridiculous hoarding? And that's what it is - hoarding - really! I know we all joke about hoarding fabric - but I honestly do! I keep fabrics for years because I'm terrified to use it...or if I do actually cut into it, I feel this compulsion to buy more to replace it in case I ever need it again. I'm crazy, what can I say?

I already own enough fabric to last me a lifetime of quilting...so I'm killing two birds with one stone. I get rid of my guilt and clutter, and you lovely readers gain some really nice fabric for a steal. I've listed some yardage of Ann Kelle and Laurie Wisbrun prints for $6/each, and also some FQ bundles for $5 to $6 each. I will refund any shipping overages, and as always, readers can use the coupon code PLAIDSCOTTIE10 in my shop for 10% off.

(The coupon is always active, so you can use it any time you buy anything in my shop - not just when I announce new fabric/patterns/goods on here :) ).

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DWR Quilt Along: Assembling the Quilt Top

Grab your first two rows, and flip the 2nd row over so that they're right sides together. Line up the centers of the first rings in each row and pin. Line up the outside edges (to the left of the center) and pin.

(NOTE: You might have noticed, but I wasn't paying attention and sewed melons along the bottom of the 2nd row when I wasn't supposed to. Since it won't technically hurt anything, I left them on. Just pretend they aren't there because it doesn't change anything about the assembly.)

 Work your way over to the right side and pin.

 Pin until you reach the end where your 2.5" x 2.5" intersection square is.

The top square should be 1/4" longer than the one on the bottom, so make sure you leave that part hanging off the end.

Once you're finished pinning, flip the rows over and start sewing your 1/4" seam. You'll start sewing from what will be the (left) outside edge of the quilt.

Stop sewing when you reach the seam at the end. You don't want to sew all the way to the end because you need those pieces hanging loose.

Pivot the fabric a little bit so that the four corners of your intersection squares meet up like this...

 Once you have them lined up, start pinning the second rings together.

 Once you have that end pinned, line up the centers of the second rings and pin. Now start pinning the rings together in the area in between the end and center.

When you reach the point where the intersection square is sewn to the end of the arc, make sure you fold back the tip of the center medallion so that it lines up properly (I have it pinned in one spot so that it won't move, but in the photo you can see I still need to line up the very tip of it by moving it down a little bit)

 Finish pinning the rest of that section.

Remove sleeping dog from fabric, then proceed to next step...

Now pin the other half of the rings, remembering to work from the outside in (pin the outside edge and center first, then the in-between area) It should look like this when you're done pinning the 2nd rings together.

Flip the rows over, and before you start sewing, make sure the seam allowances are lying in opposite directions (to make the fabric lie as flat as possible).

When you're ready to start sewing the 2nd rings together, you want to start the seam a little bit ahead of where the 1st and 2nd rings meet. This is to make sure all four intersection squares are nice and secured together at the center.

 

When you're done sewing the 2nd rings together, it's a good idea to open the rows up and take a peek at the "right" side. That way you can see if everything lines up properly before you move on to the 3rd rings. Don't worry if the intersection looks a little bunched up, because the paper causes this. Once you finish the top and rip the paper off, the whole thing will lay a lot flatter.

 Plus, it looks a lot better once it gets a good ironing. See?

Flip the rows back over the wrong side, and start working on the 3rd rings. Find the point where you stopped, and pivot the fabric at the intersection so you can start pinning the 3rd rings together.

 You're going to pin and sew the 3rd and 4th rings together just like you did the first two.

And just in case you're wondering at this point, "is it normal for my fabric to be all twisted, bunched, and crazy while I sew?" Yes, it is normal. Embrace the madness!

When you're done sewing the rows together, you'll notice that the ends don't line up. That's okay - you should have 1/4" hanging out from two of your squares (my pink square is completely finished off and measures 2" x 2", while the blue squares are finished on only 3 sides and have 1/4" of extra fabric on the raw edge). The excess fabric will be hidden when you bind the quilt.

To finish your quilt top, you'll attach the remaining rows exactly the same way. It's easy once you get the first one under your belt, because the assembly is virtually the same for the rest. The 1st and 2nd rows correspond to the 3rd and 4th rows (1 and 3 are exactly the same, and 2 and 4 are very similar - the only difference is the melons on the bottom of row 4)

Here are some photos of my rows once they've been completely attached. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the finished top - I've been working a lot this week and haven't had a chance to snap photos while it's still light outside!

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