Novice quilting advice

[Humphriescushion]

I am very much a novice quilt maker and sewer.I am making my first small quilt -making few mistakes but having fun. I have just finished sewing all my squares together and looking a tutorials for the next stages, basting, backing etc. I am a bit confused though about the edges at the moment. My edges of my squares are still rough. Do I need to sew a quarter inch seam all around to tidy them up? I can see clearly from the tutorials, most look very tidy so I presume they have a seam.

Also not looking forward to the the binding stage so any advice on this would be appreciated.

I thought the basting came before the sewing. Can you tell us what you've done so far in a bit more detail?

I'm not sure what you mean. Are your sewn-together pieces not creating a smooth square - bits are sticking out further than others? The tutorial I used (only done 2 quilts so I'm no expert) you sandwiched the patchwork bit, batting and backing, basted them, quilted them as pieces may move slightly when quilting, THEN tidied the edges with your rotary cutter. No seam. Finally add your binding.

Sorry for confusion, just getting to grips with the terminology. All I have done so far is sewn together my blocks. It's square enough , well rectangular actually ( for me anyway) and I presume it's ready for attaching the backing and the padding next.

So all sewn together with a quarter inch seam ( ish) but I have not seamed/hemmed (?)the outside edge so it is rough and frayed. I presumed this would be sorted out in the binding stage. But on some of the tutorials when they lay the backing, wading and the quilt on top of each other the outside edge of the quilt looks much neater.

Hope that is clearer.

The binding is the very last thing you do

So

1. Sew little squares together into a rectangle (or square!)
2. Lay your backing out flat (right side down)
3. Lay your wadding on top of your backing
4. Lay your sewn together rectangle on top (right side down)
5. Baste in place
6. Sew/quilt However you like
7. Attach your binding

Message if you want more details on any of the steps

Thanks hippy, I have sewn my little square together into a rectangle. That's all so far. Do I sew a seam all along the outside edge of my large finished rectangle now to tidy it up? Will try to attach a photo

Aha! So can you see my rough edge? Do I need to seam that to make it neat and not frayed! Sorry for being so dull! Lots of tutorials but sometimes they look neat and sometimes not. I presumed it was ok to leave since the binding would sort it.

I don't know how to make it neat and tidy & perfect.
I sew together strips about 3 inches wide & then make them into binding (you can find youtube videos for this). The final whole quilt size is irregular... I'm told this is nicely... "authentic".

My next step is the backing, wading and basting. But not sure if I seam the edges first? Not making much sense am I!

Only a beginner myself but no, you don't, as the rough edge ends up getting sorted out when you bind it.

Great thanks Glorious. That's what I hoped.

And Thanks Bree, missed your answer in my eagerness!

No problem. It's all quite confusing at first.

Sorry, children husband etc all fighting for my attention!

If the edges of your squares are all lined up nicely then no, you don't do anything with them. If your rectangle doesn't have nice straight edges, you can trim them a bit.

When I baste the layers together, I baste around the outside edge too to keep it all in place.

Top tip: if your basting stitches aren't in the same place as where you're going to quilt, they'll be easier to remove

Just seen your photo... So the right hand edge of the bottom square on the right, could do with a little trim

Ok will do Hippy. Waiting for my massive ruler and roller cutter to arrive. Can't wait! What an exciting life I lead.

Did you cut out your squares with scissors?! You'll learn! The end is nigh once you've got the right tools

There's so many quick cutting methods to learn too! e.g for squares you can actually sew strips together THEN cut into squares - I only learned that after making my first square quilt

I'd add in a "squaring up" stage in Hippy's list - between 6 and 7. This video shows you a method -

Thanks Hero, think I am going to need that stage!
Yes Hippy I did! No mat, or roller, just a pair of scissors and a long suffering Dh who did all the measuring since I am notoriously slap dash! once I got the material I could not wait. Hopefully I will laugh at this quilt in years to come