Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Chain Piecing

First, a work in progress:
In Progress
This one really will be given to a baby, I swear.  I'm not going to keep it, like the dots.

Second, I thought I would show you how to do something called chain piecing.  I'm sure most of you know how to do this already.  In fact you could quite possibly be doing it without knowing that it's called chain piecing.  It's a handy little trick that makes piecing a quilt top go faster and more efficiently.  I love tricks like this.  I like to be efficient.  A lot.

This is a good trick to use when you're piecing two or more sets of something, the simplest example being multiple rows of a quilt.

For this quilt I'm piecing together each column, starting on the left and piecing from the bottom to the top.
The whole idea of chain piecing is to allow yourself to keep sewing without cutting the thread after each seam.  To do this you piece together two or more rows at a time.  I'm starting with my first two columns.  The stacks on the left are in the order that I want to piece them.  We'll call them stack A (on top) and stack B (on the bottom).  To the right are the first two pieces from each stack that I'll be sewing together.
How to Chain Piece

First, sew together the two pieces from stack A.  When you're done DON'T CUT THE THREAD!  Just leave it there, sitting pretty.
How to Chain Piece

Then take the first two pieces from stack B (I know these are different than in the first photo, that's my mistake.  Nobody's perfect, right?) and sew them together.   Again, don't cut the thread.
How to Chain Piece

Now I've got the first two columns connected but I'm ready for another piece from stack A.  So, I just snip the little bit of thread between the two, leaving the second pair still on the machine.
How to Chain Piece

And voila, I'm sewing on a third piece from stack A.
How to Chain Piece

That's done, snip B off the back, leaving A on the machine.
How to Chain Piece

Ready to sew another block onto B.
How to Chain Piece

You're just leap-frogging between A and B, snipping off the end of the chain and bringing it to the front.  In theory you could do this with all of your rows at once, it just might get a little confusing trying to keep straight all of those piles and what row goes with what.  I will do it with three stacks though, especially on a quilt like this with an odd number of columns.  I don't want that last column to be left all by his lonesome with no one to be chained to.

5 comments:

  1. That is a great, clear vision of chain piecing. Thanks! What pattern is that? The half circles call to me...

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  2. ARGH! Stop being so inspiring, I'm having trouble keeping up!

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  3. love this quilt design too--so stinkin' cute! hmm... if one were too lazy to sew those quarter circles, I wonder if something similar could be done with 6-minute circles cut in half.... i know you'd lose some of the circle in the seam allowance, but half-ovals would be cute too..... seriously. i second beth's comment.

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  4. Mie tot mai mult imi place sa cos hexagoanele cu mana. Stiu ca este mai migalos dar sunt sigura ca imi va iesi exact.

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  5. Gorgeous quilt!

    I've been thinking of adding the "drunkard's path" accuquilt die to my NEED to own list- seeing something so fresh and modern done with it makes my credit card cry :)

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