SoChick! Quilt Along... Get Ready! {Prep & Cut}

Are you ready?!

If not, it's okay... this post will help you prep for the SoChick Anchors Aweigh Quilt Along so you'll be set to jump in when it officially starts on Monday, Feb 18th!

First things first, download the Free Pattern on Tula Pink's site, HERE.

You will need:

For Cutting
- Your SoChick Salt Water Quilt kit, or Salt Water Prints and Free Spirit Solids as listed in the pattern
- Rotary Cutter
- Rotary Cutting Mat
- Clear Width of Fabric (WOF) Ruler (this will make life easier, any clear ruler will work)
- 8 small plastic baggies (for organizing all of those squares!) and a way to mark them, i.e. permanent marker, etc.
- Small Tray to hold your bagged Squares

For Sewing
- Sewing Machine
- Thread, I'm using white polyester thread, you may choose cotton thread or whichever you prefer.
- Small Scissors for trimming those threads
- Iron & Ironing Board or Mat
- Spray Starch, optional

Let's Prep:

To pre-wash or not to pre-wash... most every quilt pattern, book, or magazine, that I've read tells you to pre-wash your quilting cottons.  Then, you come across some sewing related survey on facebook, or elsewhere, and most everyone admits that they don't always pre-wash their fabrics.  So, I will leave this up to you.  

If you do choose to pre-wash your fabric, do so now and be sure to remove your fabrics promptly from the dryer and press them.  Read about pre-washing, pressing and ironing, here.  Knowing the difference between pressing and ironing your fabric will make life much easier during this QAL.

I have not pre-washed my fabric.  I don't care for the fraying, and I prefer to work with nice, crisp, fabric.  I also like the look that the shrinkage lends to the finished quilt... all wrinkly and cuddly, and whatnot.

Once your fabric is ready, it's time to cut:

Start out by labeling the plastic baggies with the letters on the pattern, A-I.  You'll want to put your squares into the corresponding baggie as you cut them.

To speed up the cutting process, I kept all of my prints folded in half.  I then aligned the fold with a line on my cutting mat and, with my clear ruler on top and rotary cutter in hand, I cut the fabric into two-inch strips.  Being careful not to move the strips, I then positioned my ruler across the strips, and cut these into two-inch sections.  This allows you to cut your 2in squares... by two.

I spread the square out after cutting so you can see them.

Put your squares in their bag before moving onto the next print:

Once you have all of your squares cut and bagged, you are ready for the next step... piecing your first strips!  We will cut our solid fabrics as we go, so don't worry about those right now.

Don't let all of these little squares intimidate you, I will stress organization throughout the QAL... this is only to save your sanity, keep things running smoothly and will allow the Quilt top to be pieced easily!  We will do everything together, one step at a time... you are going to love seeing your hard work pay off in this gorgeous quilt!

I will see you here on Monday, Feb 18th, to piece our first two strips, Row 1 & Row 8! Yippie!  The SoChick Anchors Aweigh QAL group will be set up on Flickr starting Monday as well.  I invite you to upload photos of your progress, as well as any questions you have, over there.  Of course, I will answer questions here on the blog, too.

A super special thanks to Craftsy.com for sponsoring my 1st Annual SoChick QAL... visit here to learn about how you can win a FREE Lesson from Craftsy, and visit Craftsy to check out how awesome they are!   Also, thanks to Tula Pink for designing gorgeous fabric and an awesome Quilt Pattern!

Don't forget to grab a button to tell everyone "You're In!"

<a href="http://www.sochickhandbags.com/2013/01/anchors-aweigh-sochicks-1st-annual.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://sochickhandbags.com/SoChick_150pxQuiltAlongAd.jpg" alt="SoChickHandbags.com" width="150" height="150" /></a>

See you Monday!
XxOo~ Melissa