New Horizons Sew Along Week 5: Assemble Rows

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Welcome back, Quiltketeers, to the final dog days of summer and the final weeks of the New Horizons sew along! This week's tips are based on your sewing style and sewing space. The assembly portion of this pattern allows some flexibility so you can choose our own adventure.

I did film a *somewhat* scattered video to help with your sewing homework this week. In a nutshell I crawl around on the floor, a cranky baby wakes up from a nap, then I crawl around some more. It may or may not be that helpful, but it probably is somewhat entertaining. Also the lighting and audio is really bad...enjoy!

New Horizons Sew Along Schedule

Don't forget that the only way to enter to win a prize from our weekly sponsor is to use #NewHorizonsQuiltSA  on Instagram AND have a public profile. If you only have a private profile, you can create a public one just for this sew along and then delete it afterwards.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Week 5: Assemble Rows

Tip #1: Lay out your blocks.

You can do this on a design wall, on the floor or on a large table. If you're running short on space, refer to the layout diagrams in the pattern, then lay out just a couple rows at a time. If you opt for doing that, I suggest fully sewing those rows together before laying out the other rows.

You can see below that I chose to simply throw all of my blocks on the floor. I have a design wall that I like, but it takes about 8-10 minutes to set up and sometimes my tiny baby (cute!) takes tiny naps (not cute), so these days I'm all about taking shortcuts and maximizing my limited time.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Once your blocks are in place, add the sashing strips and side-setting triangles.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #2: Bulk sew by chain piecing each row.

When we sewed our HSTs and stitch-and-flip blocks we batch sewed by chain piecing. (Remember?) Then again last week we chain pieced to assemble those into blocks. Now once again we will batch sew and chain piece as much as possible to save time while, of course, still staying organized.

There are six diagonal rows in the throw quilt. (See above for a pic.) Four of those rows include multiple blocks and sashing strips. One way to bulk sew is to pin the next piece in each row, gather those up and take them to your sewing machine to chain piece.

When I assemble rows that way, I like to leave the side-setting triangles off until the end because they are a bit delicate and the lease amount they are handled the better.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

In the photo above you can see that two blocks and a middle sashing piece are sewn together in each row. My next step is to pin a sashing piece to the bottom of each section. Once they are pinned, I take those four rows to my sewing machine and chain piece, then press the seams toward the sashing, and come back for the next block.

Below is a video to show you what I'm talking about. Ya'll, I'm going to warn you, I still haven't figured out the lighting or the audio in my new sewing studio and in general not much time was put into this video. It was basically filmed during one of Joanna's very tiny naps. So....sorry for the quality! lol!

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #3: OR bulk sew by chain piecing sashing to blocks.

This is where you can choose your own adventure! Once you start sewing rows quickly those rows can get kinda long. Another option is to pin the sashing strips to the bottom of every block and bulk sew those! Here's a pic of me doing that with all of my purple blocks.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

As long as you can stay organized, this is a great option. Once sashing is sewn to each block, you can then start chain piecing the rows together as explained in Tip #2.

Tip #4: OR, if you can stay organized, bulk sew as many pieces together as you can.

If you have a tiny baby that sometimes takes tiny naps, frantically sewing everything together in a helter skelter-like way is also acceptable! Just be sure to stay organized. Doing it this way can easily turn into head scratching and a date with your seam ripper.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Speaking of seam ripping, it looks like my helter skelter way of sewing got me a little turned around. Can you find the block that's upside down?

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #5: Those triangle tips are supposed to hang off the edges.

I know you already know this from the Thrive sew along, but the triangle tips are supposed to extend past the quilt blocks. Those dog ears are essential for your seam allowance. You actually don't even need to snip them until next week when we completely assemble the quilt top. 

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Week 5 Sponsor & Prize

This week's sponsor is a fabric shop that's not new to SQ sew alongs but may be new to you – Lamb and Loom Fabrics. I love working with Linli the owner and trust her fabric selections when she's putting bundles together or kits for a SQ pattern. This week's prize is a $100 gift certificate to this wonderful fabric shop!

How to Win

  • Post a pic to Instagram. The photo prompt for Instagram this week is to post a picture of your sewing progress. Use #NewHorizonsQuiltSA in the caption.
  • You must have a public Instagram profile to participate.
  • Each photo posted is an entry and you can enter as many times as you want in a single week. Once the week is over, those posts do not count in the next week's giveaway. Every week we start fresh.
  • Your photo must be posted between Wednesday, July 28 and Tuesday, August 3. The winner will be picked randomly from all qualifying posts and announced at approximately 4:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, August 3.
  • This prize is open to internationally.
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quiltpattern #modernquilt

8 thoughts on “New Horizons Sew Along Week 5: Assemble Rows

  1. Mia says:

    This so helpful! I goofed when cutting my big squares and I’ve avoided dealing with it until now. I cut one side to 18 inches rather than 18.25. Any ideas on a possible fix? I think I’ll have to buy more fabric but I’m not sure.

    • Suzy Quilts says:

      Have you already cut your 18″ squares into triangles? If not, sew some extra background fabric to the squares. Just a few inches is all you need. Press the seams and recut your squares to the right size. Give yourself at least an inch from the seam on the new cut so you aren’t sewing over the seam when sewing your side setting triangles into the quilt top. You will have a few tiny seams, but once the quilt is finished no one will be able to tell.

      • Mia says:

        THANK YOU. This is what I was thinking, but then worried it would look awful. I haven’t cut the square into the triangles yet, so I think this is what I’ll do!

  2. Robyn says:

    Suzy, my goodness! The fact that you can produce stunning (& very entertaining!) content while caring for yourself and your beautiful family is humbling and joyous. Thank you for keeping it real. It is inspiring. Kudos also to your support team.

  3. Poonam Shrivastava says:

    Hi, a question about the batting for the quilt. I wanted a fluffy feel to the quilt, what kind do you suggest? Thanks.

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