I already knew how to sew from 6 years of home ec in school. I decided about 10 years ago I was going to make a quilt so I went to one of the free places for pattern, found one I liked, read the directions and made the quilt. I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them and every quilt since then has been a little bit better. I also watch all the quilting shows on TV and learn a lot from them.