Part Two of My Super Simple Quilt As You Go Tutorial

Last week I showed you guys how I like to make quilt as you go blocks using strips of scrap fabric. This week’s post will show you how to finish the blocks to make a beautiful scrappy table runner or table centerpiece.

I’ll teach you step-by-step how to add sashing to the quilt as you go blocks to make it look like a gorgeous finished piece of art. So without further ado, let’s dive into the second half of this two-part series.

Part Two of the Beginner-Friendly Quilt As You Go Tutorial

If you missed the first part of this two-part series, you can follow along in the tutorial from last week’s tutorial. There you will learn how we made the QAYG blocks that we will use today.

What Is the QAYG Method?

If you are confused about what a quilt-as-you-go quilt even means, let me break it down for you before we hop into the tutorial portion of this post. Quilt As You Go, or QAYG for short, is a method of quilt making that allows you to create quilted sections of a quilt instead of creating one large quilt project at once.

There are a few different ways that you can “quilt as you go,” but the method I am teaching in this two-part series is probably the most beginner-friendly method. Plus, it’s extremely fun to do! 

Instead of piecing an entire quilt top, then creating the quilt sandwich and quilting the whole quilt at once, QAYG allows you to create smaller pieces of the quilt, quilt them, and then attach them together later. The Part Two of this tutorial will be all about attaching the blocks together and finishing the quilt.

How Do You Put Quilt As You Go Blocks Together?

There are a few different techniques that you can use to attach the QAYG blocks together, but the way that I will be showing you today is one of the best options. The sashing will look uniform and supply a sturdy hold on the blocks so the seams don’t look or feel flimsy.

Step 1: Prepare the Sashing Strips

For this project with four- 9 ¼” square blocks, we will need to cut the following pieces out of the sashing fabric:

• 2-2” x 9 ¼” strips
• 2-1” x 9 ¼” strips
• 1-2” x 18 ½” strips
• 1-1” x 18 ½” strips

Press all the 2” strips in half. The 2” strips will be on the front of the quilt, and the 1” strips will be used on the back of the quilt. 

Step 2: Attach the Sashing Strips to the Blocks

Take your first block, a 2” x 9 ¼” folded strip, and a 1” x 9 ¼” strip to your sewing machine.  Line up the raw edges of the 2” strip with the raw edges of the quilt block.

Carefully flip the block over without moving the 2” strip and line up the 1” strip with that same edge of the quilt block.

Clip or pin the strips on the quilt block to ensure they don’t shift while you move the block to the sewing machine.

Sew down the edge of the block using a ¼” seam allowance.

Press the 1” seam over the ¼” seam allowance.

Take the next block and place the pressed 1” strip against the back of the next block, like in the image below.

Clip or pin in place, take it to your sewing machine, and sew using a ¼” seam allowance. 

Open the blocks and check out the back. Cute, thin sashing, right?

Now flip the blocks over so you are looking at the front of the quilt.

Fold the 2” strip over to conceal the raw edges of the second block. Press the strip over with your iron if that makes it more accessible. Pin in place.

Topstitch (⅛” seam allowance) down either side of the strip to hold it in place. 

Repeat these steps with the other two blocks. If your blocks seem wonky, you should trim them to be identical in size.

How Do You Connect Rows in a Quilt As You Go?

We will sew our rows together using the same process we used to sew the blocks together. This is the fun part because you start to see your finished quilt project come to life!

Step 3: Attach the Horizontal Sashing Strips

Take your two remaining strips, a 2” x 18 ½” and a 1” x 18 ½”, and attach them to the rows just like we did with the blocks. 

Step 4: Bind the Quilt

The final step! Exciting, right? To bind this type of quilt, I recommend binding it in the same way you would bind any other quilt project. I recommend using 2 ½” strips to create the binding.

If you need an in-depth tutorial on how to create quilt binding, you can check out this YouTube tutorial from Erica Arndt. 

And there we have it! We made a gorgeous quilted table topper with this quilt-as-you-go tutorial. I hope you enjoyed this two-part tutorial and learned a new fun way to quilt.

QAYG projects are a blast to make and don’t take a lot of time to complete. This project took me about two hours, and it was so much fun to show you how to make it!

Thank you so much for reading this far! I really appreciate you.

Happy Stitches!