Originally Posted by Chrissy in Nisky
Originally Posted by bearisgray
she's absolutely right.
A "block" can be a square, a rectangle, a triangle, a hexagon -
Sometimes the fabric determines what will work -
Ok, so how does a VERY new quilter figure out what will work best???
And BTW, Roben, that quilt is absolutely beautiful!!!
That is a good question. There really is no easy or absolute answer to it, though.
You can look at various pictures - there are many here - for ideas.
Some fabrics are easy to "fussy cut" - "fussy cutting" is placing a pattern/template over a particular design/part of a fabric and cutting around it. Sometimes that leaves the rest of the fabric looking like swiss cheese. One can achieve some great effects doing that. It can also "waste" some fabric doing that.
Experience and experimenting are still the best teachers. I don't know any way around that.
I do suggest starting with something relatively easy/simple and not overly large to begin with - like a crib quilt or table runner - for a couple of reasons.
1) To keep the cost down - it's still a good idea to use decent/good fabric - just don't have to buy as much of it as one would for a king size quilt.
2) to make it easier to get it done
3) smaller projects are easier to handle - and hence more likely to get done
4) if it turned out to be only a "learning experience" - it's not a major disaster cost wise
There are some excellent tutorials on this site - maybe some of the other members can point you to them.
Good luck!