First quilt! Please help!
#11
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: NE FL
Posts: 255
Missouri Star (online) has a very cute beginner baby quilt kit complete with everything you'd need for about $100. It's their Couch to Quilt kit. The price includes them doing the quilting. I think they also have a video tutorial that goes with it.
https://www.missouriquiltco.com/couch-to-quilt
https://www.missouriquiltco.com/couch-to-quilt
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 9,300
I'd recommend doing a Rail Fence pattern in three fabrics you love--a dark, a light and a medium. Go to a quilt store and get their advice. I'd suggest taking a beginning course as there's nothing quite like hands-on learning with a teacher right there to guide you and answer questions as they come up.
#13
Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 28
Since you already have the pattern, search youtube for the pattern or block name. You just might get lucky enough to find a good step by step. I'm very new to quilting too & the thing that helped me most was to starch my fabric before cutting. It made piecing accurately so much easier.
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Southern Indiana
Posts: 3,111
how fun!! baby nieces are fun I have some of my own
take your time is the first thing I can tell you
watch the Youtube vidoes... they help alot. I learn by watching and they give me courage
share pictures of your progress and the completed quilt - - we love seeing what everyone is doing
take your time is the first thing I can tell you
watch the Youtube vidoes... they help alot. I learn by watching and they give me courage
share pictures of your progress and the completed quilt - - we love seeing what everyone is doing
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 8,107
Have you picked out a pattern yet? What is the pattern?
An easy pattern to make is "Warm Wishes". It is made with strips and at least one focus fabric. It can be amazingly pretty for such an easy quilt. My absolute favorite quilt is a checkerboard quilt, which is two fabrics that alternate like the pattern on a checker board. It's easy, and a long time classic.
My advice is to have someone teach you how to cut the fabric, whether it is on line via u-tube or in person. After fabric and pattern choice, cutting correctly is the most important aspect of making a quilt. You can sew a seam to big or too small, but you can also take the seams out with a seam ripper. But once you cut, you can't put the fabric back together!
A 1/4 inch foot on your sewing machine is very helpful for seams that are the correct size. There are many tips for ensuring the seam is 1/4 inch, and this is a much discussed issue on this forum, so you can poke around and read them. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's not that hard either. My 1/4 inch seams improved dramatically when I realized that I shouldn't be watching the needle when I sewed. It only goes up and down if you're sewing a straight stitch. After that realization, I started guiding the fabric along the edge of the presser foot. What a difference that makes!
Here's a link to Warm Wishes pattern.
http://www.ashevillequiltguild.org/A...or%20Linus.pdf
An easy pattern to make is "Warm Wishes". It is made with strips and at least one focus fabric. It can be amazingly pretty for such an easy quilt. My absolute favorite quilt is a checkerboard quilt, which is two fabrics that alternate like the pattern on a checker board. It's easy, and a long time classic.
My advice is to have someone teach you how to cut the fabric, whether it is on line via u-tube or in person. After fabric and pattern choice, cutting correctly is the most important aspect of making a quilt. You can sew a seam to big or too small, but you can also take the seams out with a seam ripper. But once you cut, you can't put the fabric back together!
A 1/4 inch foot on your sewing machine is very helpful for seams that are the correct size. There are many tips for ensuring the seam is 1/4 inch, and this is a much discussed issue on this forum, so you can poke around and read them. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's not that hard either. My 1/4 inch seams improved dramatically when I realized that I shouldn't be watching the needle when I sewed. It only goes up and down if you're sewing a straight stitch. After that realization, I started guiding the fabric along the edge of the presser foot. What a difference that makes!
Here's a link to Warm Wishes pattern.
http://www.ashevillequiltguild.org/A...or%20Linus.pdf
#19
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 15,639
I think if you told us which pattern you picked, we could give you better advice.
Do you have basic quilting tools (mat, rulers, rotary cutter, etc)?
Depending on the intensity of the fabric color, you may want to prewash your fabric and press it. I like to add sizing back into it before I press.
That should get you started.
Do you have basic quilting tools (mat, rulers, rotary cutter, etc)?
Depending on the intensity of the fabric color, you may want to prewash your fabric and press it. I like to add sizing back into it before I press.
That should get you started.
#20
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,144
So many great suggestions. I too, learned to quilt from utube, Missouri Star Quilting Co (all of Jenny's easy and wonderful tutorials) and the Quilt Board. I never sewed until I was 55, so this has been a wonderful journey. Have fun, relax and enjoy the ride!
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