Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

I’ve been thrilled with all the messages coming from readers saying they wouldn’t have been brave enough to start a double wedding ring quilt if I hadn’t done the quilt along.  WOW….that makes it so worth while.

This week we take the big step and start sewing rows together.  Monday night I went up to the sewing room with intentions of adding a block onto the rows I had done and SHOCK!  I can’t find the two rows I had sewn together.  Oh my word.  I started looking around and digging but I can’t find them.  Everything got moved around when I got the last sewing machine.  I know they are likely in box of under some charity tops that came in but you can understand my slight panic.

Rather than stress too much I just started sewing new rows together.  The other pieces will show up…or I’ll make new.  I really do think they are in my quilting room somewhere though.

So I have an outside row and an inner row.  We’ll be pinning and pinning and pinning. Note:  Mine are 11 “blocks” long.  The original pattern is 10 but I’m keeping this for me and 11 is what I want…or at least what I think I want.  This may end up expanding to 12 blocks.  I’m going to test it on my bed and see once I get farther along.

If you’ve never done a Double Wedding Ring quilt you are likely thinking “HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN!!??”  I know I thought that the first time I put on together.  Deep breaths.  It’s all okay…..besides, you can’t quit now!!!

I am apologizing in advance..>>The rows are so long and the background being dark makes the pictures hard to see…also the wording of the directions in this step are a bugger to write.  ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU NEED.  I will be shocked if there aren’t some questions.

Somehow I forgot to grab a center with three rings at the end.  Ugh.  I’ll add on the melon later.  It’s not a biggie if this happens to you either.

Just like any other quilt, flip the rows right sides together.

Starting near one end match up the SQUARES ONLY of each row.

Pin the together.  I pin back the end seams like we have in the past so they don’t get caught in the seam.  The middle seams I try to nest.

Pin the SQUARES ONLY together along the entire side.  Looking at the picture below, see how the first set is pinned together…then the second set..the the third.  Continue along the side pinning only squares.

Now sew the pinned area.  I back stitch at each start and stop.  The first and last are only one square…the rest are two square wide.

Here’s the next one….

and the next.

Continue down the entire side.

Looking carefully at the photo below you can see that the centers in the middle of the photo are connected.  The curved areas on each side are not connected.

Now it’s time to connect those areas.

As the rows are right sides together, every other “block” that you see will be either back ground fabric or melon.  FOR NOW ONLY FOCUS ONLY ON THE BLOCKS THAT ALONG THE ROW WHOSE BACKGROUND FABRIC FACES YOU.  Check the picture below.
Connecting happens just as it always has.  Find the middle of the background.  Pin like we always have.

Pin only the ones that whose background you see as in the photo above.

In the picture below you can see that I have now pinned every other one.  The ones between are NOT PINNED.

The reason we do this is because the background fabric is easier to work with if it is the top fabric.  I can catch and see that there are no puckers if the background fabric is the top fabric.

Sew all of the pinned ones.  I don’t clip the threads between until I’m done.

When I open it up, you can see that every other curve is connected.

Now put the rows right sides together again.  This time the rows need to be such that the unsewn background fabric is now the top fabric.

Pin as we have done before.  Pin all of the ones along the row and sew like we did in the previous step skipping from pinned section to pinned section.

One more to sew and my rows will be completely connected.

Remove the pins and Lookie, Lookie.  It’s beginning to look like a quilt!  IT’S HAPPENING!!  YOU’RE DOING IT!!

Here’s a close up.  The last time my pieces were touched by an iron was WAY back when I pressed the sewn wedges.  Once I iron, it will all look better but for now….LOOKING GOOD!!!

Continue attaching rows following this same method until you have a quilt top.

So…there are most of the instructions.  There’s not a lot more for me to tell until we get to quilting or to binding.  So…how about we make a plan.  Let’s check in together on November 1st.  That’s the first Wednesday of November.  I’m hoping to have my top together by then.  Who knows…I have a wedding quilt to finish yet in there too.  I only know that I really want this finished by the time the mystery quilt comes out.  I’m not sure if I’m going to do the mystery…but just in case, I want it done.