Always said I wouldn't, but I did! (Again)
 

I posted a while back about being in Home Econ. in 1961 where we made our own patterns and did not use already made patterns. This was so we were creating and not copying. Well, as I told you, it took several decades before I actually used a pre-made pattern, and felt guilty for weeks! But I got over the guilt and now use them not just for garments, but even for quilts........only once!

Now comes the latest. Friends and I made a trip to Hamilton, Missouri Star Quilting for their 9th Birthday Bash. So many people meant long lines, but so many great bargains, fun activities, trolley rides, good food, good hotels, good ideas, etc.

Anyway, here's what I actually did and have been agonizing ever since. I bought......can hardly type.....Colorado friends said they would bar the door so I couldn't get out of the store without buying it.......Illinois friends threatened to call my husband (he always gets angry when I don't spend money on myself).....and New York friends said it was "ME", even strangers joined in.....so I did buy a.........hard to type again..........quilt kit. Now my friends back home saw it and won't let me return it. I really like the design, colors, everything. Just thought I could have gotten all the fabrics cheaper if not in a kit.
Husband is just sighing and shaking his head saying I will never learn.

The only way I can justify this is to not use all the suggested fabrics, change to some others so I am still creating and not copying.

Just chalk it up to the influence of all those MSQC shoppers! I buy kits and patterns all the time but nearly always end up making it my own in one way or another. :)

Stop it. If it is just perfect the way it is, make it and be happy with it exactly like designed. Don't "throw in" some other fabric just to prove a point.

For the sake of whatever!

You are Paying the designer, you are Paying the people that assembled the quilts for their expertise and time!

Do you feel guilty if you hire a plumber or electrician?

I like the way you think Bearisgray!!!

Ha! I think I understand but am coming at the same dilemma from the opposite direction. After years of sewing and quilting I now want to make my own designs. However, I think there are times for everything and if a pattern, kit, or quilt calls to you then go for it! You are honoring a different designer and it is just the next project up to the plate not your complete future.

Yes, of course, I try to always solve the problem myself and call for help only if needed. Like I was taught way back: You wouldn't copy someone else's Math problem answers, or someone else's English essay, so don't copy someone else's pattern. Still thinking create or copy. So will do it my way, not to prove a point, just to make it better with other colors or whatever I like, while still using the designer's pattern. That will make me happy for sure. :) Guess I should delete this post as it is not making some of you happy. Sorry :(

Buying a kit is a 'launch point'. You can fly as high as you want by changing it to suit your own design concept. Or, you can fly under the radar and 'just make it the way it was intended'. I have been known to buy kits on sale-just to add to my stash. You can do whatever you want-just enjoy doing it.

????

I sometimes feel guilty going out to eat when I know I could have prepared a very similar meal for much less. (Steak, baked potato, and salad, for example)

Is this comparable to what you are saying?

On the other hand, there are some meals that it is "more practical" to go out for because I don't have most of the ingredients on hand.

Maybe it is that way with a kit?

All this discussion is reminding of someone's tag line on the board which is "I never met a pattern that I couldn't tweak". Just takes a tiny tweak to make if your own and stop the quilt trip.

One of our guild members is Nancy Elliot McDonald. She wrote a book about Winding Ways. For a long time she would come to sew and show with a wagon full of quilts. "Oh this is winding ways #82 and 83 and here is how they are different" - then she did an amazing array of other quilts. She's running around the 500 count at this point.

Tuesday was guild meeting and Nancy reported that she found this new concept "PANELS" and she loves them. So if Nancy can be successful with the relative simplicity of a panel, then you shouldn't beat yourself up for getting a kit. Just think of how much work has already been done for you.

This is such a funny post :D
I just bought my first kit ever- it was half price and I loved it so I ordered it.

I totally understand where you are coming from with this. I am the same. I got a kit for my b'day and the first thing I thought of was 'how can I make this different?'. But for the love of the person who gave It to me, I think I'll make it just the way It is- if I can! I always change at least one detail. I would suggest make it as is, in memory and as a souvenir of your trip and how everyone made you buy it:) It will be a funny story to tell the grands and visitors in a few years!

Why do you have to justify it at all? Use it and enjoy it. Make your own quilting design and you've still got the creative aspect of making this quilt.

I know what you mean in making it your own since you enjoy designing. May I suggest that you make it exactly as designed to be a reminder of the wonderful trip you had to MSQC with friends and even put their names on the label along with the story. And then put those designing skills in play with a small wallhanging, table runner or a mug rug as a "gifted pattern" to those who encouraged you in this new zone. Maybe a friend themed design...

No need to make this a drama....you bought it - either do it the way the instructions are written, or go off on your own....post a pic when you've finished......

It's the way you phrase you words, it sounds as if the need to "create" or "not follow a pattern" or "not copy" is, itself, a burden. It seems as if you are compelled not to do any of these things by your training, not your choice. It appears as if you are uncomfortable with deviating from old learned behaviors. That's why everyone is trying to ease your discomfort with the quilt kit.

Do you ever do anything new or different? Do you make a cake you've never made before? Do you use a recipe? Or do you have to make up your own recipes, too? If you eat a delicious pie at a pot luck, are you copying if you ask for the recipe? Is it ok to make that pie if you find the recipe on the web? Do you make your own bread, or can you buy a loaf of ready-made? Can you buy a dress you didn't make or design? Can you get a manicure or do you have to do your own nails? See where I'm going with this? How many things do you allow (or pay) other people to do for you?

Life is not long enough to do everything for your self, by yourself. We all interact and exchange services with others. I trade my money at the grocery store for food someone else grows, picks, transports and stocks in the store. Others trade their money to me for cooking for them. They trade their skills (doctoring, lawyering, etc.) to get that money they use to trade with me for my skills. We all trade. That's what has made our lives easier and more prosperous.

Somewhere in your life a home ec teacher said you had to make your own patterns. She didn't mean forever. She meant you had to learn how to make a pattern.

Besides, you're grown up now. She's no longer your teacher and you're no longer her student. You can CHOOSE something different. It's your life, not hers.

I promise you can make that pattern right by the directions and not deviate and the world will be just fine the next day. I promise.

Besides, it's now yours. You honestly traded your money for it. It's just like a loaf of bread.

bkay

You mentioned that you could have bought the fabric cheaper than that in the kit - probably not. Most kits have what you need, so not using a stash but buying from a store each fabric will have a minimum cut - and I find most fat quarters cost more that a standard quarter of a yard. The best part of a kit is getting the pattern - you can make it again if you like it.

The power of those home ec teachers, phew. I had one who told me I'd never learn how to crochet. She was such an unhappy person, I do believe. But I learned to make a mean Welsh rarebit. Only made it once way back then for my family. I think I would have loved wood shop but back in those days girls couldn't take it.
Am looking forward to a photo of your project and a list of how you made it your own.

There has to be a happy medium. It seems that you can't enjoy the kit, only because you did not design it. Life is too short to agonize over cotton fabric. Nobody really cares, they just want you to be happy. It seems that it was really bothering you, or why did you post? I hope you find your happy place with this quilt. Good luck.

wow, so much worry over such a thing. did you ever use a cake mix? box of anything? Already made laundry detergent? Do you make your own soap, shampoo, grow your own vegetables and can them? A kit is just one of many ways to express ourselves. the kit has already been planned out. Would you take a recipe for something and say well I'm not going to follow it. And then wonder why it didn't turn out? Your decision of course, and you could always sell it or give it away to reduce your stress. Your choice.

you will gain invaluable lessons in doing a preassembled kit. Use those lessons when you begin to formulate your own designs.

And really...no one can make us do something we truly don't want to do.

Oh for heavens sake ....... you stated "I really like the design, colors, everything." You bought this because the design and colors spoke to you. Do you really think that by throwing in some other fabric here and there will really satisfy your ego.

I'm getting confused. i took your post as humorous but from the other posts it appears that others didn't see it that way.
We quilters do funny things when we are in a gang of other quilters and I took it that way.

That Home Ec teacher's voice was sure powerful in your life, huh? Did she teach you how to read and follow a recipe, or did she insist you create your own recipes? Pretty ambitious for seventh grade or whatever, if that was the case. I admire her for encouraging creativity, but maybe she went overboard in essentially guilting students like you from "copying" anything.

I was anti-pattern buying because, up till this summer, could always figure them out (I do simple quilts). But after spending hours trying to figure the math on one, I gave in. Figured I pay someone else to have done the math. I'm okay with it.

Make the quilt kit as is, enjoy the adrenaline rush of breaking free from your home ec teacher's "advice," and remember what great friends and hubby you have for encouraging you to break free:)

I have made a quilt from a kit my Daughter bought for me. I had tons of extra fabrics, good instructions and I enjoyed making it.

No one has ever influenced how I do anything. I guess I don't pay close enough attention to what they say.

You're actually AGONIZING over this???? Not trying to be mean, but that is a huge waste of time and energy that you could be spending doing something much more productive, sweet pea.

Quilt kits exist for a reason, and if they were "wrong" or bad, no one would buy them and no one would sell them. Quilt designers LOVE when you make their quilts, and it's a very sincere form of flattery if you like their design and fabric choices enough to use similar ones in your quilt! Do you think they're going to be upset or come after you if you make a quilt that is just like theirs?? Of course not.

I'm saying this with love - stop being so silly, it's NOT copying, go sew your quilt and post a picture for us to drool over.

Be thankful you know how to sew. I would make the quilt as is, and maybe in the process you will not only learn a new technique on some patch, but also enjoy doing it. We are always learning new tricks in sewing, and I sincerely trust you will on this one. Put that label on and be proud that you have friends to share it with. Some of us have lost our quilting buddies to death or moving away. Teachers are for teaching, and the person who designed your kit is a teacher too. Look at it that way. Maybe she knows more about quilting then your own teacher. Enjoy it, girl. You really deserve to.

I don't understand the dilemma in using a pattern people do it all the time and love what they make. I don't think you should let it bother you. If you bought it because you like why change it. You liked it the way it was. Really most patterns have already been out there for so long not much is really truly new just revisions of old patterns.

Is everything you do original? Do you design and sew all your clothes? Do you never use a recipe that someone else has created? Do you ....? I could go on for a long time. You like the pattern. You like the fabrics. Now make the d... quilt and enjoy it!

Thanks for the good laugh. The truth is that we all have some barriers to overcome. You have already stepped beyond the pseudo guilt and preconceived barrier to making anything that is not your idea. Go with it and enjoy the new freedom. Think of your kit the same way you think of a cake mix and enjoy it.

I've been there. So excited or so happy or so angry that I was just shaking. I couldn't even sign my name.

I also "almost always" change a pattern. I never buy patterns unless it's required in a class. The last class, I changed it a lot and won first place at the show.

So, if I were you, I would change something on it, just to make yourself feel better. I can understand where you are coming from. You need to do this.

And be sure and read all the other posts on this thread. There is lots to learn here.

This was my thought also.

I would love to know what kit made you step out of the box!! Enjoy!! Life is to short to stress over your first kit!

Well, I thought your post was funny (which I think is what you were going for). I understand some of that ingrained guilt if we don't do what we were taught when we were children! I still feel guilty whenever I throw out food or waste anything.

Sometimes I buy a kit and use the fabric for a different project and the pattern for my fabric choices. Not done intentionally but have bought a kit and put it away, found it and liked the fabric for a project I was working on at the time but not for what I purchased it for. This just happened last week, I wanted to do a fall table runner and was searching for the perfect backing and found it in a kit I purchased a few years back that I never did. Used some of the fabric and found better suited (for my taste) for the kit.

Oh that Jenny Doan!! We are all curious to see which kit we are all in a dither about. Is it on the website?

You are so lucky to get to go there.

Don't feel guilty! Sound like you really enjoyed yourself! You have to treat yourself sometimes too. What a great opportunity to go to Missouri Star and plus enjoy their birthday bash!

Me too! I love it when one's creativity kicks in and we produce an original item that people drool over.

The original pattern and fabric selection is what attracted you to this kit in the first place! Make the kit. Gift or donate it if you really can't live with it. But you'll have the pattern to make as you please with your own fabric selection next time