Sewing the diamond sets together...
This is the fun part, to see your quilt come to life.
  Okay, here are two strip set pairs the same.  I have two dark diamonds at the top of the set on the left.  However,  I can flip one of the strip sets over and put the dard top left diamond at the bottom  (the one with the pink rose) to make the contrast better. So when you are arranging strips, remember that you can flip them around.

You will sew the strip sets into long rows as on the right.  Look at the quilt charts to see how many you need in the long row for your quilt size.

If you are making the "built-in border" you will need one diamond added to the bottom of your sets to make them an odd number of diamonds in the row.  Just pick apart one of your sets and use one of the single damonds.
 

If you looked at the chart, you will need to sew the diamonds into rows now.  For the basic quilt on the WWW site, you will sew a strip with 21 to 23  diamonds in a row down. (Depending on how long you want the quilt to be. Remember: for the built in border you have to have an ODD number of diamonds down and you may need to add one diamond on or take one off  because of sets of four.

Sew as many rows across as your quilt calls for.  You need even rows across.

If you are adding the "built in border" you will sew one border set piece to the top of your strip and one border set piece to the bottom of your strip.

If you are making the plain borders you can just use the 20 and equal sets and not have to add or take off.

You don't have to go by the quilt in the WWW site.  You can make yours shorter and wider or whatever. 

Let's sew the rows. 
Now you have start to sew the diamonds together into rows. 

You have two angles to sew.

All you have to do, is flip one section over and line up  the diamonds so the angles are aligned. 

But what is really important, is that you have a 1/4" little triangle sticking out on both ends. 

If you sew with the perfect little 1/4" sticking out, your stitching will come across exactly at the place where the triangle pokes out on both ends.  That is a perfect alignment!

These diamonds are forgiving... they are on a bias and they are cotton... you can pull and push in a little to make them fit! 

With a perfect seam, the edges will line up on both sides. 

Strive for that... it really isn't hard to do!

Bad  stuff  below!
If you line them up so the edges are exactly even, you will get the mess on the right.  Your diamond strips won't line up evenly.
Bad... bad... bad...
Sew the rows

Extensive pinning is not necessary when the seams alternate like this.  Not to say I don't pin!  If you do feel better pinning, it usually only takes one pin in each seam.

1) Now here is what you need to with your seams. 

You need the seams on one row going one way and the seams on the opposite row going another way.  They won't all go as above though.  (see below left)

If the seams are facing the wrong way, just push them where they need to go... it won't hurt!

That is so you can butt the seams together when you sew and they will just melt together... honest!

(And no, butt isn't a body part... it is really a quilting term!)

Now, if the bottom seam is away from the needle, which it will be on every other row it is a little harder to match. With the top seam away from needle, seams can shift because the pressure foot pushes it away from  the bottom seam. You may need a pin on these seams. 
All for now... I need a handful of margarita flavored "jelly-bellies", mab
 
 Introduction and objective 1)Supplies and fabric needs  2) Basic quilt / quilt with "built-in borders"

2b) standard mattress sizes

3) Larger quilt chart 4) Sew your strips together
5) Press your strips 6) Sub-cut your strips 7) Sew your diamond rows together 8) Sew your diamond rows together,  page 2 9) Admire the work of these "frenz" and see their "stripper quilt" pic's!
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