Hi, itís Jenny from, the Missouri Star Quilt
Company. We have a fun tutorial for you today. Shirley and Linda from the comments section
of the Quilterís Daily Deal have asked for a tutorial on the ìquilt as you goî method.
So we thought we would make you girls happy and put out a tutorial on that. We love it
when you guys ask for certain things because it helps us with our ideas. Now the ìquilt as you goî method, thereís
all kinds of ways to finish your quilts as you quilt them. You can send it in to us,
you can do it yourself, and this is one of those options. Sometimes we just need something
small and we want to finish it quickly, and this is a really good way to do that. I generally
do this on smaller quilts like table runners or baby quilts. It seems to work really well.
So if it gets any bigger I think it would be a lot of basting and pinning and things
like that but Let me show you how we do this. This is the
as you go method so, you donít finish your top. You quilt a piece at a time. So, first
weíre going to start here with a piece of backing and I thought weíd do a quick little
table runner to show you how to do this. Youíre going to lay that backing with the right side
flat, or on the bottom, facing down. Then youíre going to layer a piece of batting
on. One of the important things about this is that you get the top edge straight. You
can trim up the sides but you want your top edge pretty straight. So, here we have our
batting laying on top of our quilt back, and the
first thing weíre going to do is, see we have all these little strips and you cut strips
for this project, this quilt as you go. Youíre going to cut them in all different sizes. So, we're going to start here, letís start
with this little snowman one. Thatíll be really cute. So, we lay this down, face right
side up. OK, so then what weíre going to do is we are going to go to the sewing machine
and we are going to sew this down here. Right along the top, just to anchor it. So, letís
go back to the sewing machine. OK, now Iím sewing right along this top edge. I havenít
really pinned anything because weíre just lining it up here and Iím using a darker
green thread so that you can see it. Weíre just going to go all the way across this top,
and youíre going to see this come together so fast! What weíre doing is weíre sewing
through all three layers so that it will already be quilted as you finish it up so letís finish
up this little strip. Alright, there we go. Now remember you donít
have to back stitch or anything because all these seams are going to be included in something
else. So, now weíre going to go back to the cutting table. OK, so here we are back at the cutting table.
You want to make sure that your backing is still smooth on the back and laying straight.
Your batting is still smooth, and you can see weíve anchored this piece on here with
this one stitch along there. Next youíre going to take the next strip
that you want to put on there and youíre going to lay it face down just like that,
right sides together, and because weíre getting into the strip way a little bit youíre going
to want to pin this. So, you line it up with the edges and weíre just going to put some
pins in here to hold this strip exactly on the edge of this other strip. Itís really
important that your strips are cut nice and straight. I rotary cut mine. Theyíre all
cut different widths so that it gives it a fun look on it, you know you really can do
whatever you want. This just opens up a world of ideas for finishing quilts and making quick
projects and gifts. Alright letís go stitch this down and weíll
see how this comes together. Alright, OK so now weíre just going to stitch ºî up, on
this bottom seam right here. I think you girls are going to crack up when you see how fun
and easy this is! I did a darling baby quilt for one of my grandsons using the strip method.
Cut out little cars and put them on the borfers. It was really fun, and it was all quilted
when I was done. I just had to trim it up and put a binding on. Now as you noticed I
removed those pins out as I came to them. And now weíve got this sewn down and weíre
going to go to the ironing board now and press this open. Here we are at the ironing board and as you
can see this is laying up. Weíre going to pull it down and weíre going to press that
over. The seam presses right into it, and if you look on the back, see how you can see
this is already quilted, and if you look on the back thereís your first quilting line
right there. Normally I would use thread that blends but Iím trying to do this so that
you can see. So letís go add another strip! OK so again, weíre going to take another
fun colored strip, this red one right here. Weíre going to lay it right sides together.
Weíre going to pin and weíre going to head over to the sewing machine. So, each time
you do a strip it gets further and further in on the quilt, and itís important that
you make sure that your backing is smooth under there, and that itís all lined up nice
and straight. Letís see, you donít want to pull, by sewing
these seams weíre quilting through all three layers at once, and so, now weíre going to
go head over ,and iron this down. And weíve got the next row and you can see that the
quilting is happening on the back. It just makes it really fun and quick! Letís head
to the ironing board. OK, so now weíre pressing this down just
the same way. Just press it straight over. The seam is enclosed inside. We can
add another strip on here letís go do that. See hereís our quilting on the back. No need
to send it in you can do it right from your sewing machine. OK, now weíve added quite
a few more strips, and weíre here to our last strip and at some point youíre going
to have to turn the piece around, because you donít want all this in the throat of
your sewing machine. So weíre sewing on this last strip here and
you want to make sure the further on you get down the quilt, youíre going to want to make
sure that you pin a little more. So, that things donít slide around. Your edges are
going to be off and not exact, but thatís okay because weíre going to trim it up. So,
letís see how this goes. This is one of those things where if you need a gift that afternoon
you could really make this happen. This is so quick and fun. OK, letís head to the ironing
board and iron out this last strip. Now weíve pressed this flat right here and
what weíre going to do is weíre going to pin it down. You can see our back through
it. And you can see that things arenít even, but thatís alright, because weíre going
to trim it. So weíre just going to go along here and pin it and were going to again sew
along the top of this and anchor it just like we did at the top. So letís head on over
to the sewing machine and sew this top piece down. OK, so weíre almost finished up here. All
that will be left is the trimming and the binding, which we love to sit and do in front
of the television, (laughter) or wherever weíre sitting! Alright, there we go! Letís
go trim it up. OK, now weíre going to straighten out these
ends. Trim off that excess batting and backing. There we go. See how nicely that cleaned up,
and the top is already done. Now what weíre going to do on these sides is weíre going
to cut off the edge. See weíve got some selvedges and things like that, and you want to come
in here and to make sure that your ruler is lined up straight you want to make sure that
your lines are along your sewn lines, and then weíre just going to cut along here like
this. Clean up that edge, see how quickly that cleaned up. Sometimes, like
down here see, I have a wide selvedge. Iím going to need to come in a little further
than that or itís going to show even under the binding so I may need to bring that in
a little more. Yeah, I think I will, but letís go ahead and do the other side. Isnít this
an adorable table runner for the holidays, and how fast was that! Really quick! Alright, I like the leeway that the edge gives
you so that you just have a little bit of edge there, so, you donít have to be perfect
about every little thing. And there you have it! Weíre going to bind this. Iíll probably
choose this cute red right here, and bind it and we have a great already quilted project
thatís ready to go for a gift or whatever we want for the holidays. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial from the
Missouri Star Quilt Company.
