Setting together may give a wrong impression to you of romantic mind. Now, as John Fox explains “whar you says ‘making a call on a young lady’ we says “settin’ up with a gal” – an, stranger, we does it!” Well, setting together a quilt means business, too, because the next and final stage is quilting.

Strips between, some localities call it “sash work” and others lattice, is the next most popular set. Either three or four inches tear to no waste from 36- inch material and make nice spacing apart for such blocks are French Star, Bear’s Paw, and dozens of others. When matching the block’s background, these space the designs apart inconspicuously. If you want each block to be particularly prominent in itself use a contrasting color or a three-stripe lattice strip as 2 1/2-inch light center with 1 1/4-inch of dark either side. This is showy for elaborate blocks like the Rising Sun or Skyrocket. The corner joins have to be planned carefully in such a set. Each such square may be plain, a nine patch or even a little pieced star as shown with “Virginia Star,” which is very elaborate.

The plan of setting together determines the size and shape of your finished quilt. However, this may be decided by your wishes in the matter with a little careful planning each time. By changing the position of blocks from parallel to diagonal with the edge, the measurement of blocks varies about one third. Borders are such a potent factor both in adding size and beauty that we are devoting a chapter to them.