Table Topper Tutorial 2

Let's Sew!!!!

Now that all your pieces are cut and you have your hand sewing lines marked, grab a needle and thread or your sewing machine and let's sew these rows together. We will be making 5 rows that look like this:

Take a light and a dark and put right sides together:

Stitch small, even stitches on your sewing line by hand, or using your machine, sew a 1/4 inch seam to join the two squares together. There is no need to lock your seams on this step. Now I could go over the wonders of chain piecing here, and if you know how, then by all means do so, but I will skip that lesson for the few squares we are dealing with. It will go quickly with or without chain piecing, so just enjoy the process.

Join 3 of each fabric to create the 5 rows pictured above. Now we will join the rows together. First, take your rows to your ironing board and press all the seams toward the dark fabric. Make sure the rows are taut, but not pulled to tightly. If hand sewing, make sure you can see all your hand sewing lines. Lay your rows out to form a checkerboard pattern...you will need to flip 2 rows to do this. So using a black and white for contrast, I want you to look closely at the center where the squares come together. This is the aim, the goal, the hope and prayer, that you will be able to match up your corners correctly. Now do not panic...I will show you how this is done. Rarely, if ever, do I have a corner that does not come together perfectly with this technique. You have pressed your fabrics all toward the dark side (did that sound a little "scary movie"??). Now you will, with right sides together, pin your rows at each intersection by butting your seams up against each other. Look closely (squint if you have to). If things do not quite fit, this is where you make it fit. Do not focus on the rows from end to end, but from intersection to intersection. What you see below is an intersection...where 4 pieces of fabric meet. (pay no attention to the fact that I pressed toward the light fabric on this one...it showed up better in the photo this way.) Pin the seam pointing to your left. This will help when you are feeding your rows through the machine. Do the exact same thing for hand piecing.Stitch all 5 rows together in the same checkerboard pattern you laid them out in. Again, no need to lock your stitches. Press your seams in the same direction when you are finished stitching.When you have your rows together you now have a "flimsy". GREAT JOB!!!! Next time we sandwich, baste and machine quilt in the ditch!! (That almost sounded like cooking)