They aren't mistakes -- they're "design features" that show something was hand-crafted with love!

Enjoy the process, focus on one stitch at a time, and before you know it, your masterpiece will be created. There really are no quilt police!

Welcome from central New York. Get a few basics under your belt and start on a small project. When you think of it, a placemat or mug rug is just a very small quilt. Best advice I can give is not to be too hard on yourself, keep your sense of humor and just enjoy the process and outcome.

You need some confidence? Here - have some of mine! I've dived into the quilt pond and gone in over my head so many times I've lost count. But I learn something with every quilt I make (even if the lesson is "don't do that again"). There's mistakes in a lot of my quilts, but I love them as much as I love the quilt. Here's a lesson I learned from my Mom - "if they're looking that close, they're looking too close". Just enjoy the process. You may need to establish a close personal relationship with your seam ripper, but, so what? It's the process, the feel of the fabric, the hum of your machine, the chance to create art - that's what you will enjoy, just as long as you dive in!

Welcome from Michigan! I always think the best way to start is to take a class at your LQS.

As someone who is a perfectionist and riddled with anxiety issues, I feel your pain. The thing that helps me get started is to 1. have inexpensive fabric to "waste" 2. find a small project that looks fun and that I'd like, and an optional 3. make it for someone that will be grateful just for the fact that you made it for them. Making it for someone keeps you accountable to having to DO it, and it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when you see their face light up with happiness from having received the gift.

When I first learned to sew, back in Jr. High, we did boxer shorts, a t-shirt, and a pillow. The pillow I made was basically one quilt block, a basic 9 patch squares. So easy it hurts. It turned out a heck of a lot better than the t-shirt or boxer shorts! haha I still have it somewhere, I think. It might have gotten soaked and rotted while in storage, I'd have to look. But I still have it in my mind's eye and it was pretty.

The quilt cache someone else posted.. oh crap now I have something else to get obsessed with! Making potholders, sounds fun! That may be my next project after all the bajillion small baby projects I'm making right now.

I'm not quilting yet, well, I am making a couple tie-knotted baby quilts, but I'm making little stuffed animals and bibs and things. I have to keep telling myself a mantra of "It's for a baby, babies don't care" to get over my perfectionism. My therapist says that's a good thing to do. Someone else said it well too.. If they're looking that close, they're looking too close. or something like that. I know from personal experience, no one who truly cares for you and appreciates the gift, will ever start knitpicking it. And anyone that I've ever made something for, has had no skills whatsoever in crafting, so they wouldn't be able to spot an error even if it bit them in the nose.

Happy hunting! And get to work!

Welcome from Michigan .. making mistakes is not fatal. It is a way to learn. Start small.. I would not even show you my first quilt unless you needed a laugh.s. But don't t be so upright about it.

I truly understand what you are saying. I have worn your shoes. In many ways I have been worse, as I love/hate taking classes, as I feel like I am the dumbest, slowest, clutziest person in the room. I still am scared to cut if I REALLY like the fabric. I am currently taking some classes on Crafty- purchased when they were half priced. there is a free one on there that is very good. I purposely purchased fabric specifically for that class, (less expensive) so that I if I screw up, I won't be out so much. Instead of the expensive fat quarters they use, I bought yardage that matched. My plan is to take a few months, and only quilt things for myself, as I have given everything else away. I am going to try new techniques, and not be so critical of myself. As Nike says, Just Do It! Though it is a real struggle for me, I love being creative and constantly learning. I also have made many things for other people, I think because my love for them was greater than my fear. Maybe that mission will help get you started. Mary

Too funny! Mistakes are going to happen whether a beginner or a more experienced quilter. Just keep your ripper handy. :D

May I suggest that you not come on the board to 'learn' while you are working on your first quilt - unless you run into a problem. Knowing that you have so much to learn and then coming on the QB to confirm that you have so much to learn is intimidating you!

Get yourself a good beginner 'how to' book, choose a simple pattern and get moving. Call it your 'learn by doing' quilt top. Set a goal to learn how to cut straight strips/squares or rectangles and to learn to sew straight quarter inch seams. That's enough to learn on your first 'learn by doing' quilt top. (My 2nd "learn by doing' was a checkerboard pattern using only two fabrics, which forced me to focus on those two things.) Only get on QB for a 'second opinion' on technique if your book is not clear enough, or, better yet, ask a member of your guild to look over what you're doing and critique it. Most guild members are approachable and very glad to help.