Scraps Here We Come ORBC Round 9

Are you ready? Fabric sandwiches and Scraps all piled up and raring to go? Ok...LET'S DO IT!!

First of all...and most importantly....NO stitching or scraps pieces 3/4"-1/2" from the edges!! Get that? Either use a washable pen/pencil to mark the edge or use your wonderful imaginations but always remember NO stitching 3/4"-1/2" from the edges of the fabric sandwiches!:)

Yes, you can use your rotary cutter....no you don't have to use pinking shears!:)
So, depending on your design this is how you start....3/4"-1/2" from the edge!
Have I impressed that detail enough?:o Learn from my mistake....the following photos were taken BEFORE I realized I needed to have the batting and backing bigger than the front! I put my scraps far enough away from the edge but my backing shifted a little on one of them and the backing wasn't long enough....you'll see later what I did to fix it!
Put a few pins in the corners and the middle of your sandwich for now and randomly lay out your scraps depending on the design you want to do....

I didn't pin my scraps on....a glue stick was my best friend! I filled up one fabric sandwich at a time and then glued the scraps on.

I laid my four fabric sandwiches on the bed how I was going to stitch them back together so I could see that my rows would line up but really, it doesn't matter if they don't. If you have a certain pattern in mine like 9 patch or checkerboard then yes, you want them to line up. Another good thing about the glue stick is you can unstick a scrap and move it! Also, if you have directional backing like I did with the birdcages make sure your fabric sandwiches are all going in the same direction!

Once I had my final layout I put a few more pins throughout the sandwich. I used straight pins but I did stick myself a lot! Then it is time for sewing them on...see my starting and ending point? That's what you want to do, start in the middle and just go around and around and you won't have puckering.

Starting with a scrap in the middle, at least 1/4" from the edge, stitch all four sides and when you get back to where you started just backstitch a couple of stitches. Then move the sandwich over to the next square and do the same going around and around until you have sewn all the scraps down. This is why I did it in smaller fabric sandwiches because if you try to turn a bigger quilt through your machine for all those small scraps....well....I think we all know it would be a bugger!

Once you have finished all you have to do is snip off the threads!

If you lay out your scraps in perfect rows and they are all the same size all you have to do is go back and forth and up and down each row sewing down the edges like the mini quilt on the right in this photo.

That was half the fun with each different Ticker was figuring out the easiest way to sew the scraps down.

I think I have covered it all in the scrap sewing down stage. If you don't understand something please ask...I see what needs to be done in my head...you can't see what's there....which I guess could be a really good thing!;)

Next up....sewing the quadrants together!

~d

PS...is anyone brave enough to try sewing their scraps down using free motion stitching? I wasn't this time but I am curious!;)