Alright, now that you have sewn together each row, it’s time to press again.

 Try to press your new seams so that they will lay opposite each other when you pin them together. This is nesting your seams. By doing this it does a few things for your quilt top. One thing is it makes it easier for you to sew through the seams. Your needle will not get cought as easily. Another, is that it will make your quilt lay flatter once it is done.

Now that the pressing is done, it’s time to pin your rows together. I like to put a pin at each seam so that I control how they lay. My rows look like this once I’ve finished pinning the first row to the second.

Since I’m all for saving time and energy, I pin all my rows at once, so that would be row 1 to row 2, 3 to 4, 5 to 6, 7 to 8, and 9 to 10 ( keep going if yours is bigger). Then I chain stitch these rows.

Once you finish sewing these rows, piece the next sets together. This would be row 2 to 3, 6 to 7. You may have an odd row so there will be a bit of stopping and going, but I have found that pinning everything you can first, greatly cuts your time down.

Once you finish sewing all your rows together, it is time to press again. Here you can press your new seams either way you want, as long as it is all in the same direction.

Now, you may be wondering what I plan to do with all that extra fabric I now have. Well, its border time. Since I had 4 left over blocks, and 4 corners to my quilt, I’ve decided to place them in the corners with a 3 1/2″ border.

To make a border, measure each side. You may find that one of your matching sides is a tad bit longer than the other. This is ok, no quilt is perfect. Use the measurements of you two longest sides (remember this is a rectagle so you will have two different sizes to cut) to cut your border peices. Do not add extra length for the corners, this is where our extra blocks will go.

Decide which way you want your blocks to face and sew them on to the ends of your longest border strips.

Attach your shorter sides to the quilt top first. Remember, you can pin both ends and then sew. Once these are attached, press your new seams. Now you are ready to put the last two borders on. Line up your blocks so that they fit nicely to your other border strips. This is important so that you get a nice clean look. Pin these in place and sew them onto your quilt top. Press your new seams. 

My quilt ended up being approximately 35″ x  29 1/2″. This is a great size for a crib quilt, wheel chair quilt, or wall hanging. If you wanted to make it bigger, you can always add another border. I would recommend a 6 1/4″ border that would look very complimentary. Make it a solid border though, if you used left over blocks in your first one.

Congrats! You just made a quilt top!