An Asian Inspired Wall Quilt - Part 4

The Final Assembly Phase

Adding the Borders

I tweaked the first border to change the straight piping to a rick-rack and like it much better.

1st rick-rack border

Having got that all squared away, it was time to put on the 2nd set of borders.  To square up the quilt, I always measure through the center of the quilt, first horizontally, and then vertically.  I also tend to apply the horizontal borders first and then the vertical ones, to give the quilt a long, slim look.  Doing it the other way makes it look shorter, somehow.

To determine the length (or width) of the borders,
measure through the center of the quilt

The border strips were cut at 1-1/2" for a finished width of 1"

Second border

and attached.  Prior to sewing them on, each border was folded in half and at the half mark, pinned to the center point of each side and along the sides of the quilt.

Quilt with second borders attached

Assembling the Layers of the Quilt

Time now to layer the quilt with the backing fabric and batting.  The black backing fabric was cut 3 inches bigger than the quilt top, and the creases were ironed out.

Backing fabric is ironed to remove creases

It was then folded in half twice and pressed to aid in the placement of the batting and quilt top.

Backing fabric folded in half twice and pressed

The same was done with the batting.

Batting

The batting is cut to the same size as the backing fabric.

The batting is cut to size

Now it's time to assemble the three layers.  The backing is taped to the table using painter's tape, and the batting, that is also folded in half twice, is placed on the right top segment of the backing.

Folded batting placed on taped backing fabric

The first fold of the batting is opened to the left.

Batting is unfolded

Then opened all the way and smoothed out over the backing fabric.

Batting is smoothed over the backing

The quilt top is aligned in the center of the batting and backing.

Quilt top is centered on batting and backing

Pinning the Layers Together

The necessary tools and equipment are laid out - brass safety pins, a little bouncy ball because I don't have a marble and a curious tool, called a Quick Klip, to help in closing the safety pins.

Tools for pinning

Here are some other tools that can be used in place of the Quick Klip - a popsicle stick, teaspoon or seam ripper.  These save your fingers from being pricked while closing the pins.

Other tools for pinning

The bouncy ball is slid under the quilt sandwich and placed in the center.  This raises the quilt off the table top and will save the surface of the table from pin pricks.

Bouncy ball raises quilt off the table top

The safety pins are left open when first inserted and then, using any one of the tools above, are closed one at a time.  The tool acts as an extra finger to avoid handling the sharp end of the safety pin with bare fingers.

Safety pin is closed using tool

Here is the fully pinned quilt.

Quilt is all pinned

Quilting the Quilt

Once the quilt is pinned, it is easily transported to the sewing machine.  In order to stabilize the quilt, it is quilted-in-the-ditch within the seams of the second borders.

Quilted-in-the-ditch within seams of borders.

I decided to quilt a cross-hatch through all three layers of the quilt.  Beginning at the diagonal, 1" painter's tape is adhered from corner to corner.  Another length of tape is applied right next to it.  This acts as the 'spacer' so that another length can be placed adjacent to it.

Painter's tape used to mark lines for cross-hatching

The 'spacer' is then moved adjacent to the most recently applied length of tape, and so on, until the entire quilt top is gridded.  The two pieces of tape in the top right corner are there because there is a tiny corner section that needs to be quilted.  Once that is done, the smallest piece of tape will be removed and the quilt top will be quilted on either side of each length of tape.  The cross-hatching will, therefore, be one inch apart.

Gridded quilt top

Here is the quilted wall hanging.

In Part 5 - The Binding and Finishing Phase, the strips for french-fold binding will be made and the wall hanging will be bound and finished.

Cheers!