olivia, you don't have to. i would sew all the pieces that i get together, then put in batting, and the backing, sew that together, then add the piping, not that difficult. one of the quilts that my mom made me was from about 20-30 handkeichs, a twin size bed sheet, and a thin scraps of a left over sheet, along with the batting. abit we took it up to a cousing in Arkensaw who had a quilting maching wich could do some cool designs (mine for that quilt were butterflys connected by hearts) but i can sew a straight line on our sewing machine