How to Sew Quilt Strips Together and Press Seams for Beginners

May 11

How to Sew Quilt Strips Together and Press Seams (Beginner Quilting Basics)

This is the moment quilting stops being theoretical and starts being real.

You have your fabrics. You have your strips. You have a sewing machine that is threaded and ready. In this lesson of the Brave Beginner Quilt Course, I walk my studio assistant, Kelly, through exactly how to sew her first strips together and press those seams so they lie flat and set her up for everything that comes next.

Kelly has sewn before, but this is her first time piecing for a quilt. There are a few things that are different here than sewing a bag or a pair of pants, and we get into all of them. By the end of this lesson, she has a beautiful straight stitch and two pressed seams, and she knows why she made the choices she made.

Lining Up Your Strips Before You Sew

Before you sew a single stitch, take a moment to line your strips up well. For this pattern, I have Kelly make sure her selvages are on the same side, and then line up the tops so she is not wasting any fabric. This sounds simple, but it is the kind of thing that saves you headache later.

Pins, Clips, or Neither?

Once your strips are lined up, you have a choice about how to hold them together while you sew.

You can pin them, clip them, or just go slow and hold them together with your fingers the whole time. I do not recommend the fingers-only approach for beginners. There is too much to think about when you are first learning, and a single slip can create a crease in your finished block.

Kelly decided she prefers clips, which is a very common beginner preference. Clips have a flat side and a curved side. The flat side goes on the bottom, so they slide more easily under the foot. I recommend spacing them about a hand's width apart and always putting one at each end, since the ends are most likely to separate.

If you do pin, I suggest coming in from the side rather than pinning parallel to the edge. That way, the pin sticks out, and you can see it coming and pull it before you sew over it.

Stitch Length and How to Back Tack

For quilting, I have Kelly set her stitch length to 1.8 or 2. This is a shorter stitch than you might use for garment sewing, and it gives you a clean, strong seam without being so small that it is hard to rip out if you need to.

Because Kelly's machine does not have an automatic locking knot, I have her do a short back tack at the start: two stitches forward, then two stitches back. Then she sews forward to the end and does the same thing to finish. That is all it takes to keep your seam from unraveling.

Where to Look While You Sew

This is the tip that makes the biggest difference for beginners. When Kelly stops, and I ask her where she is looking, she says she is watching the quarter-inch line on the machine, not the needle. That is exactly right.

You want to watch where your fabric is going, not where the needle is landing. Keep your eye moving between the edge of the quarter-inch presser foot and the line on your machine, and guide your fabric to stay right along that edge. Add an occasional check to make sure your two layers are still lined up and that neither has started to separate or bunch.

Do not pull the fabric through from behind. Let the feed dogs do that work at the speed you have set. If you feel like you have to drag it, your machine may need servicing.

How to Press a Seam Open

Once you have sewn your seam, the first thing you do at the pressing table is set your stitches. That means pressing straight down on the seam as it is, both sides together, without opening it at all. This warms the thread and settles it into the fabric.

While the seam is still warm from that first press, finger-press it open by running your fingernail along the seam from the inside. Then go back in with the iron, lifting and pressing (never sliding), and hold it open. I like to use the point of the iron to help keep the seam open, but I always avoid stabbing the fabric with the tip because it will misshape the block.

Flip the whole piece over and press from the back as well to make sure everything is fully flat.

How to Press a Seam to the Side (and What Nesting Means)

Pressing to the side means folding both layers of the seam to one side rather than opening them flat. The standard direction is toward the darker fabric, so the seam is hidden underneath.

When you press a seam to the side, it creates a small ridge where the two layers are stacked. If you have two seams that both need to match up in your next step, you can press one to the left and one to the right, and when you bring them together, you will feel the ridges click into each other. This is called nesting, and it is one of the most satisfying things in quilting. When your seams nest, you know they are lined up without having to pin and repin and check.

Open or to the Side? How to Decide

For the Sidewalk Cracks pattern, the instructions say either method will work because this is a Controlled Improv design and you cannot predict exactly where your seams will land. So for this pattern, I have Kelly choose one method and stick to it for consistency.

In general, pressing open gives you a flatter result but requires more careful pinning when you match seams later. Pressing to the side is a little bulkier but makes matching much easier through nesting. Most patterns will tell you which to use. When they do not, choose based on whether flatness or easy matching matters more for that block.

You Are Doing Better Than You Think

Kelly's seam is straight, her quarter inch is consistent all the way through, and her pressing is clean. She got there in one lesson, without perfection, just with practice and attention.

That is all this takes. Keep going.