Marking the right spots for perfect rows | Strip alignment made easy

Yesterday, we cut all the fabrics strips we needed for the memory quilt’s lattice. OLFA rulers and the OLFA Splash Rotary Cutter 45mm made the whole process so much easier.

Today, the only tools we need are pins, the OLFA 6″ x 12″ Frosted Acrylic Ruler and a pencil.

OLFA 6” x 12” ruler and pencil

Sewing a long strip between a row is almost as easy as it was yesterday to sew the 2½” x 12½” strip between the photos.

When I work with strips that divide rows, I make sure all vertical rows are aligned perfectly. The important step to ensure alignment is perfect is to mark the six 2½” x 58½” strips before you sew them.

This is where I use my pencil and the OLFA 6” x 12” ruler. I lightly mark on the back of the horizontal strips to indicate where the vertical strips need to intersect:

1. The first mark needs to be at 2¼” then 12”.
2. The subsequent marks are at 2” and 12”, respectively.

TIP Mark both edges at once and mark all the strips at the same time.

Mark the back of the strips to indicate where the vertical strips intersect.

Now, line up the marks with the seam of the vertical strip on each row. Sew a strip between each row and on a strip on both the top and bottom of the quilt.

Pin the horizontal strips to ensure the markings align with the vertical strips.

After you sew the horizontal strips to all rows, sew the rows together. The row intersections should be perfectly aligned.

Perfect alignment of the vertical strips

With all the horizontal strips and rows sewn together, the quilt top is complete.

Completed quilt top

When making a quilt top, not all steps need many tools and notions. Today’s demonstration only required pins, a pencil, the OLFA 6″ x 12″ Frosted Acrylic Ruler and a sewing machine.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you some tricks I use to quilt and bind.

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Cutting strips with OLFA rotary cutters – it’s SHARP!

Go to part 5: 6 simple TIPS to go from QUILT TOP to QUILT DONE!

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