Surfacing sewalong week 3
The second row
We’re really in the swing of things now! By the end of these next two weeks, we’ll be past the halfway mark in piecing the quilt top. This time, we’re focusing on the second row, which includes sections 4, 5, and 6.
As you sew, you’ll notice a shift in the piecing. The top row features larger, simpler shapes – more background pieces, big squares, and arches. But as you work your way down, the pieces get smaller, with plenty of drunkard’s paths and small squares to keep things interesting.
The construction process changes too. In the top row, you need to be mindful of the sewing order to avoid tricky Y-seams (the pattern illustrations will help guide you). Further down, the sections can often be sewn in columns.
Confession below… This pic is just for show!
A quick note on organisation
I almost hesitate to bring this up… but let’s just say my approach to the queen-size version was much more organised than the throw-size, and I’m paying for it now (hello, recutting and resewing!).
If you’ve been cutting on the fly without a clear system, now’s the time to get organised. As more colours and shapes come into play, it’s easy to mix things up. Keeping track of similar colours can be surprisingly tricky!
Personally, I rely on piles – an inherited habit from my mum (along with my sisters, our go-to house tidying method: shove it in a pile!). For my queen-size quilt, I kept fabric colours in numbered piles with their cut pieces until I was ready to sew. Then, everything moved to the design wall.
Joining sections
Once you’ve pieced sections 4–6, take a moment to follow the pattern’s suggested order for joining sections. It’s designed so there’s only one long seam to sew across the quilt, rather than any down the entire length.
Size variations this week:
If you're making the throw (or baby/wall hanging), you'll be piecing sections 1–3 together.
If you're making the queen-size quilt, you'll be sewing sections 4–6 and then attaching each to the corresponding section in the row above.
Seam-matching tricks
Matching seams neatly can make all the difference, so here’s my go-to method. Grab your hump jumper and let’s get started.
Below, you’ll see two sections of the throw-size quilt I’m working on. When I sew them together, I want to perfectly sew over those seam joins highlighted with pink circles. The challenge? I can’t see both sides of the quilt at once.
To make things easier:
I figure out which side has the most seams I need to match (in this case, the left-hand side). When I sew the final seam, that side will be facing up.
I fold back the seams, match them up, and pin them as I showed you last week.
With the right-hand side facing up, I sew just three stitches over any key seams I want to check. (In this example, that’s just the seam at the bottom of the straight green edge.)
I check my stitches and if everything lines up, I flip the sections over and do the three-stitch technique again with any key joins on this side.
Once I’m satisfied with my seam-matching I sew down the full length of the pieces.
I hope this helps you get those crisp, clean joins!
Have a question?
If you have any questions about matching seams don’t hesitate to reach out. You can leave a comment below, send me an email, or get in touch on social media. I’m here to help!
Share your progress
I’d love to see how you’re going with your fabric cutting. Share your progress on social media using #SurfacingSewalong or #SurfacingSlowalong.
If you’re yet to join us, you can start your Surfacing quilt at any time – the posts will always be here for reference, so grab the pattern and get started.
