Sewing Granny Squares Together

Hello Lovelies,
I thought I would do a little tutorial on how I'm sewing my granny squares together for your lovelies . I've also included the method I'm using for weaving in my ends .

You can sew together any motif that fits closely to the next . The effect you get when sewing together motifs is much more solid than the Join as you go method.
Both are lovely . Joining as you go saves time it is true and I like the effect it gives .

For this blanket however I wanted the more solid finish that sewing together motifs gives.

So here we go :-

1. To start hold 2 squares together , right sides facing and using a large needle and a workable length of yarn start in the very corner of the 2 squares..........

2. Draw the yarn through a corresponding stitch from each square .Pull through the yarn , leaving approx 6 inches to sew in later. Then reinsert you needle in the same place , locking your stitch by putting the needle through the loop before tightening..........

3. I join my squares by catching the back loops only . This is not as tricky a it first sounds . The back loops are at the outer most edge of the squares when you work from the wrong side so it's just a case of taking a little time to make sure you only catch these loops........

As you can see I'm stitching over and over ...whip stitch.

4. Once you have worked you way across to the opposite corner the right side should look like this.........

Can you see how working in the back loops only creates a line of raised stitches ( the front loops of the joined stitches ) and these eventually make a nice "frame" to each square...........

you lock the final stitch in the same way you did the first .

5. Next its time to weave in the ends . Insert your needle through a few stitches , taking care your needle cannot be seen from the right side ........

I've recently started to lock this weaving by bringing out the needle ...then back stitching one stitch......

then reinserting the needle where this back stitch began ....and then run the thread through more stitches ...............

before cutting the yarn flush.You could do this more than once and it's the same method I've  used to weave in ends in the squares themselves

I'm constructing my blanket by selecting suitable squares first........

This random thing is trickier than it looks :0)

Next I join all the squares in that row......

Then I attach the new row to my growing blanket by pinning the blocks right sides facing, being careful to line up the corresponding squares .....

I'm then sewing along the row in the same way I've shown you I sew the blocks together.
It is time consuming but I'm loving the final result and since this is a smallish blanket it doesn't seem too bad.

I hope this is helpful and clear. Do please tell me if you spot any errors or would like further explanation .
And a BIG thank you for all your kind comments on this project :0)
Jacquie x