I Used to Think That Quilting Was All About Perfection...
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Florida
Posts: 5,910
Oh, it's so true, we are our own worst critics. I don't think I have given a quilt to anyone who says, you could have done better. Of course, if you made the exact same quilt the exact same way, your mistakes would be different. I now enjoy the process and don't worry about the product as much.
#32
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,016
I remember as a new quilter entering a quilt at a local show and overheard several say, really she is entering that? Didn't bother me, I wanted my granddaughter to see the quilt she loved displayed. She was so proud of her quilt I made being in a quilt show. I had no hope of the quilt winning anything next to the appliqued hand quilted beauties of the guild members. I had to laugh at my pitiful mismatched seams and wavy borders. I won Viewer's Choice! No one was more surprised then I was. Don't let other's opinions about your quilt hold you back.
#34
Power Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,131
Perfection are for those quilter's who enter their quilts in competition. I am out of that rat race being disable, and enjoy making quilts for Foster kids. No labels are allow so it is done anonymously. I do try to make the best quilts I can so these kids who have next to nothing of their own possession now have a quilt & coordinating pillowcase they can be proud to own. Quilts should be made with lots of LOVE!
#35
My aunt told me the imperfections is how you know it was handmade.
As I thought about her words, I realized the imperfections tell a story. See a stitch that wandered? Maybe the person took their eyes off their work a moment to give their child or grandchild a quick kiss on the forehead.
A seam doesn't line up? Maybe their spouse bumped into them as a prank to have fun with them. Or their concentration was broken by them thinking about something or someone.
Imperfections are stories and are why handmade quilts are much more charming than mass produced machine made quilts.
As I thought about her words, I realized the imperfections tell a story. See a stitch that wandered? Maybe the person took their eyes off their work a moment to give their child or grandchild a quick kiss on the forehead.
A seam doesn't line up? Maybe their spouse bumped into them as a prank to have fun with them. Or their concentration was broken by them thinking about something or someone.
Imperfections are stories and are why handmade quilts are much more charming than mass produced machine made quilts.
#36
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 160
I started a simple quilt for my neighbor's wedding. It turned into the quilt from +++++. If things could go wrong, it did. The top is finished now and it looks pretty good. I, too, think the work comes from the heart, it's the thought that counts.
#37
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Sonoma County, CA
Posts: 4,299
I don't think there's anything wrong with STRIVING for perfection as long as we realize it's not something we can ever really attain, at least not full time.
I think the phrase, "Finished is better than perfect" should be emblazoned on every sewing machine!
I, too, have to resist pointing out each and every mistake on my quilts, especially if someone exclaims about how "perfect" it looks. Now I just smile and say something like, "The mistakes are there if you look for them, so don't look for them!"
I DID recently bring out my first quilt and show it off to a group of ladies from work that I'm teaching quilting to. A couple of them were hesitant to even get started for fear of "ruining" things, so I pulled my first quilt off of our bed and held it up for them to admire it, then brought it up close and started pointing out all of the mismatched and crooked seams, the quilting that went way off course, my wobbbly and flat binding, the puckers on the back... My point being that even with ALL of those flaws and mistakes (and there were lots, I had no idea what I was doing when I made it), the quilt still looks pretty good and nobody noticed any of it until I pointed it out. That seemed to help get them over the hump and lose some of the fear.
My rule of thumb is that if it survives a trip through the washer and dryer without falling apart, it's perfect. Perfect enough, anyway.
I think the phrase, "Finished is better than perfect" should be emblazoned on every sewing machine!
I, too, have to resist pointing out each and every mistake on my quilts, especially if someone exclaims about how "perfect" it looks. Now I just smile and say something like, "The mistakes are there if you look for them, so don't look for them!"
I DID recently bring out my first quilt and show it off to a group of ladies from work that I'm teaching quilting to. A couple of them were hesitant to even get started for fear of "ruining" things, so I pulled my first quilt off of our bed and held it up for them to admire it, then brought it up close and started pointing out all of the mismatched and crooked seams, the quilting that went way off course, my wobbbly and flat binding, the puckers on the back... My point being that even with ALL of those flaws and mistakes (and there were lots, I had no idea what I was doing when I made it), the quilt still looks pretty good and nobody noticed any of it until I pointed it out. That seemed to help get them over the hump and lose some of the fear.
My rule of thumb is that if it survives a trip through the washer and dryer without falling apart, it's perfect. Perfect enough, anyway.
#38
Thanks for the great thread. I am in the process of hand quilting a wedding quilt for my niece. I then have do do wedding quilts for my 2 sons and my other niece in the next year. I have been putting off quilting the one in the frame since i didn't think that things were lining up right. I am the only one going to be noticing this so I am off to spend the day quilting.
Thanks
Thanks
#40
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,016
Perfection are for those quilter's who enter their quilts in competition. I am out of that rat race being disable, and enjoy making quilts for Foster kids. No labels are allow so it is done anonymously. I do try to make the best quilts I can so these kids who have next to nothing of their own possession now have a quilt & coordinating pillowcase they can be proud to own. Quilts should be made with lots of LOVE!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post