Method out of Madness WOW

After umpteen seam rippings on the secret quilt layout, I knew I needed a method to get a handle on getting the squares sewn together in a chain without ruining the layout.  I use to meticulously put labels on each piece and that helped, but added time to the process. I didn't want to label 144 squares, so after some sit down and look at the quilt time - I found an easier way (I'm sure others have probably figured this out, so probably not a new thing - what is?). It worked with the secret quilt and I'm now using it to put together my pink plaid/gingham quilt.  So first I laid out the units and decided which went where.

Then I labeled the each first unit in leftmost column with a letter - in this case it turned out A-J.  I just labeled that one column.  Then I flipped the unit to the right of it on top of the labeled one and got my pairs. I carried the pile to my machine and chain pieced them keeping the labeled unit on the left to let me know to sew the right edge of the units. Worked like a charm, all the correct seams were sewn.

 

 

Then I took my sewn pairs and laid them back in my layout. 

 

Now I moved the labels to the third unit from the left of each row. You can see two moved in this photo.  Flipped the fourth unit to the left on top of third and did the next column - and on across the 8 columns that make up this top - a method out of the madness of mixed up seams to sew!

 

I'm linking to Esther's WOW. She's getting ready to release her free BOM for 2013.  Do visit and see what lovely she has in store for us.