I have learned an important thing over my 30+ years of quilting. The more organized you are, the more enjoyable the experience. Organization starts with cutting the fabric and continues on through piecing the blocks and the quilt top. The following are some of my tips to keep things organized and running smoothly.

Cutting the Fabric

Tip #1: The first thing you need to do after gathering and preparing your fabric for your current project is to read through the pattern and find all the cutting instructions. Most patterns will have the instructions all together on the first page, but others may not. I recommend cutting all pieces out prior to beginning so you know if you have enough fabric. Discovering you are short on fabric long after you have bought it can result in you not finding any more of it.

Tip #2: Once you have all the cutting instructions, be sure to cut the largest pieces from a particular piece of fabric and continue on to the smallest pieces. Some pattern cutting instructions may not be organized that way, so you can make your own cutting list if you need to. Here is a sample cutting instruction from one of my patterns to show what I mean:

You can see by the list that I begin the cutting with pieces cut from the widest width of strips. Once I cut the 3 1/2″ squares, I can then cut what remains of the 3 1/2″ strip down to 2 1/2″ and cut those pieces.

I also recommend that you buy a little extra fabric than is required by the pattern to cover for cutting errors and pre-washing. I always add extra in my fabric requirements but other designers may not.

Tip #3: As you are cutting, since you are cutting everything out at once, I recommend labeling your pieces and stacking them according to the blocks they are in. 

By doing this, you can grab a labeled stack and lay it out for sewing and not worry about whether you have the correct pieces.

Sewing the Blocks

Tip #1: Once you are ready to start stitching the blocks, you can keep things organized with little “layout” boards that you can stack up by your machine.

I made these by cutting pieces of cardboard 13 x 13″, because most of my blocks are 12 x 12″ finished. You can also make smaller boards if you make smaller blocks more often, or you can make some boards that are larger. I have a few boards that are 19″ square. I can fit pieces on them for 4 blocks that will be 6″ finished.

Once you have the size cardboard square you want, cut a piece of scrap batting that measures about 1/2″ larger than your square. Lay the batting on a flat surface, then lay the cardboard square in the center so you have batting overlap on all 4 sides. Fold the batting over the cardboard edge and secure it to the back of the cardboard with a glue stick. I use a permanent glue stick so it will stay secure through constant use.

Here is a block laid out on one of these mini design boards, all ready to stitch the pieces together.

You can lay out all your blocks on individual mini boards, stack them up and carry them all to your machine. This helps you not to mix up the pieces for each block. Also, it’s a time saver. You don’t have to stop and lay out the pieces for the next block. It’s already laid out on the board below the one you just finished.

Here’s a stack of mini boards:

Tip #2: If you don’t want to use mini boards like above, you can stack up your block pieces ahead of time for chain piecing. On the left below is the block I want to make and on the right are all my pieces for several blocks stacked up and ready to stitch. 

As I stitch the smaller pieces together for these blocks, I can press the seams and place them back where they belong in the piecing sequence.

Piecing the Quilt Top

My final organization tip is my numbered pins.

Once I have my blocks laid out on the design wall or on the floor, I pin the “1” pin to the first block in the first row and the “2” block to the first block in the second row, and so on. 

I keep the pins in the first block of each row to mark the block order and the row order as I am piecing the quilt top. After spending a lot of time laying out blocks and getting the perfect layout, the last thing I want is to stitch one of the blocks or rows out of order.

So, those are my organization tips. Share some of yours in the comments below. I will choose a commenter to win my pattern, Stars Ablaze.

The drawing will be on Monday, March 2nd. Good luck!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne