Chain Piecing Quilt Tutorial | A fun and quick quilting technique to join your quilt blocks

Half square triangles chain pieced together | Quilt Tutorial: Chain piecing | Shannon Fraser Designs

Cha-cha-chaiiiiin-pieciiiiiing! 

If there’s one technique that revolutionized my quilting it would be this – chain piecing. 

Simple? 

Yes! 

Super handy? 

100% 

So, what the heck is chain piecing?   

Half square triangles all connected after being chain pieced | Quilt Tutorial: Chain piecing | Shannon Fraser Designs

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. 

If you’re new to the technique, then I’m happy to report of all the quilting techniques this one is super EASY. 

Picture this, you’ve just finished cutting a bunch of squares for your next quilty project. You have a stack that needs to be pieced and you’re feeling a little daunted just by how tall that stack is looking. 

Fear not! 

This is where chain piecing is your friend 😊 

Plate full of half square triangles in shades of greens and blues | Quilt Tutorial: Chain Piecing | Shannon Fraser Designs

Instead of stitching your block together, cutting your threads and starting the process over again, chain piecing entails continuously feeding your quilt blocks through the sewing machine one after another, without cutting your threads in between (see picture below).

Stack of half square triangles being chain pieced on the sewing machine | Quilt Tutorial: Chain Piecing | Shannon Fraser Designs

Pictured above is the Winter Star quilt pattern available in the shop.

Say whaaaa? 

That’s right! 

You don’t need to cut your threads after each block seam. This saves a TON of time and thread!

Plus, it’s a super FUN way to stitch through a large stack of blocks (or when joining rows, etc.).  It works for anything that involves a continuous straight stitch.

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL 

Since it can be easier to see a technique in action vs. having it described, I filmed a quick video (this was actually shot allll the way back in 2018) to show you just how it works! 

 

MATERIALS

This one doesn’t require many tools and materials to tackle. Here’s what you need to chain piece: 

  • Lots of quilt blocks or rows – featured here are the Plus Infinity quilt blocks. 
  • Thread – I swear by *this one for all my piecing. 
  • Sewing machine - and *this one has me vroom vrooming through my stacks! 

That’s it! 

 Half square triangles all stitched together after being chain pieced | Quilt Tutorial: Chain piecing | Shannon Fraser Designs

This is all about technique rather than being tool or material heavy. And it’s worth repeating, this technique saves tons of thread! 

And since we’ve already established that investing in good quality thread is important, making good use of your thread becomes even more important.

Use this quilting method to increase speed and efficiency in your piecing and save thread at the same time. Love a win-win! 

Happy quilting! 

xo

Shannon

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