Do you buy quilt kits??
 

I see all these beautiful quilts on this board, I'm just wondering, do most quilters buy kits or do most buy a pattern then pick their own colors etc...thx :)

I don't buy kits. I prefer to buy my own fabrics. I also like to "re-design" patterns to fit my particular ideas.

Same here, plus I make some up as I go. LOL

Usually, when I see/buy a pattern, I am seeing it in different colors. I haven't bought a kit yet, but have seen some very pretty ones and want to try one in the future. I usually am making a quilt with someone specific in mind and try to tailor that quilt to the persons decor/tastes.

me too
I always think I'd see my quilt everywhere if I made it from a kit. Unpleasant thought.

I do both. I like kits because I'm wishywashy like nobody's business when it comes to choosing colors-and the more colors, the worse I am. With a kit, someone has already done the matching for me. Occasionally a fabric (or a line) will catch my eye, and then I hang on to it until I find a pattern to go with it. I very very rarely buy just the pattern first.

I don't buy kits, infact I just use my stash and pick a pattern that looks interesting.

I don't buy kits, as all the fun is putting the fabric together....and I have a lifetime stash I am working off of.....

I only bought a quilt kit once it was my very first quilt. That was over 33 yrs ago. I am always afraid that I will somehow be short in one or more of the fabrics so I shy away from them. Some are just too expensive too.

Ditto this.....I will buy a kit if I love the sample quilt or wallhanging. If I need a quick gift and don't have a lot of time, buying a kit saves the effort and time it takes me to put fabrics together... I work in a quilt shop and I spend a lot of time cutting and packaging kits. They are very popular with our customers.

I have bought kits before and found that there is always enough fabric with some left over. I too have a little confidence problem when picking lots of colors. So in that respect, kits can be great. I am not imagative enough to change a pattern so a kit works for me sometimes. Some though are just too expensive to buy as lump sum.

Chris

I do not have a great deal of time to spend looking for fabric, so as a new quilter, I have bought several quilt kits. I get the ones with fabrics I just cannot resist. So far, I have been very pleased with each quilt I have made from a kit. To me, the time saved is worth the additional expense. As I become a more experienced quilter, I probably won't rely on kits as much.

I do not .. for alot of reasons... its limiting... size color , pattern etc... and it takes some of the fun of picking the pattern finding the right fabrics. Plus I don't want a quilt that there may be 100's of others just like it.

generally if i buy a kit i wind up changing most or all of the fabrics to ones i like better- i only buy a kit if that is the only way to get a pattern i absolutely have to have- or maybe i want the fabrics in the kit for something else & don't care about the pattern- and it is the least expensive way for me to get the fabrics- or they are discontinued & it's the only way to get them...
so, i do on rare occassions pick up a kit---but i don't think i have actually ever put one together as it is planned to be used. except i have done a few block of the months & saturday samplers over the years. to me unless its just a great sale kits seem to be a very huge waste of $$.
more often than not i don't follow commercial patterns

i do both, i have done the thimbleberries.............i love them.

I do both, and then some. I have bought kits if the fabric and design call to me. Sometimes I use what is in my stash and make my own kit. We travel quite a bit and I have a machine in my motorhome. I like to cut out tha sew wile on the road, and then spend the winter finishing up.

I do about 50/50. Sometimes the kit is just so beautiful with so many fabrics that it is a no brainer. I got one in CA and have never ever seen the fabrics out here in Indiana.

If the price is right, a kit can be a great buy. I have gotten some great deals at garage sales or on Ebay and enjoyed making the top. I have no problem inserting a different fabric if one is short or even changing it a lot, if I want so I dont worry about the kit being perfect ( if the price is right).

I like a lot of fabrics in a quilt and it is hard to get a lot of variety all at once in a quilt store becaue I dont have the time to stand around while quarter yards are cut of a lot of fabrics.

I've never bought a kit, although occasionally I've been tempted.

I've bought three kits.

One was a locally put together kit from Mamaw's Thimble in Knoxville, TN with fabric I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. Don't have to worry about anyone on this island making the same quilt. :)

The other two are Christmas wallhangings with lots of applique. I bought those at the AQS Show in Knoxville, TN, a couple of years ago.

Haven't gotten around to making any of them.

Yet! :)

I have only bought 2 kits and they were identical kits. They were from Robert Kaufman and they were The Grinch fabrics. Yep, I made 2 identical quilts; probably 100's of other people have the same identical quilt. That's okay because I didn't keep either one of them. They were gifts for 2 different people. I too love to pick my own fabrics for a pattern. I don't want a quilt that looks just like someone else's for myself!

I love to buy kits. If I really like the fabric it is in, I buy. I also do patterns and buy my own fabric. But I have nothing against letting someone else pick fabric for me.

I've bought two kits in 20+ years of quilting. One is (hopefully) being removed from the UFO list during Sandy. It is a Storm at Sea design with Jinny Beyer fabric. The other was removed from the UFO list earlier this year. Honestly, I have no idea when or why I bought it!! But done it is--

I do both. If I really like the quilt colors in the kit will buy it although I found that the colors in magazines are not always true. I sent one kit back because of that problem.

I had never until July. Then I bought several at an estate sale. I don't plan to make them as sold but the price was right. I also bought one because I didn't want to find 35 fabrics at about the same time.

I love kits. I also love bundles - that sometimes come with patterns and sometimes do not. My LQS will pull 5 fabrics for Take 5 or other five yard patterns and sell them as a bundle. I know the owner has a better eye - a more creative eye - than I do. I love to take advantage of her ability to pull things together. When I do put my own together there I get her advice as I go so ... might as well have her do the whole thing once in a while. When I have a lot of projects to do - for a bazaar perhaps - I get my daughter to go fabric shopping with me. She has a great eye, also. I simply don't. I tend to be very Matchy-Matchy.

I haver bought new kits one time. I had to have the fabrics in it. The kits consisted of 8 FQ.I buy used kits if they are nice quality like Moda and have fabrics from a certain line like a jelly roll and extra yardage.

One of my first quilts was a kit...a Stonehenge wall quilt using their fabrics. I was looking for earth tones with texture and their fabrics just fit the bill, and I loved the pattern. There was plenty of fabric (for what I call the "oops factor"), and had some scraps left over that I used in another project. I think it's just a matter of liking the fabric in a kit well enough...if they are the colors/prints you had in mind in the first place, then there's nothing wrong with purchasing a kit. The majority of the time I choose the fabric myself, though.

Did when I started. Found it a great way to learn. I may buy patterns now, but not kits. Welcome!

If I see something that I absolutely love I'll buy a kit if available. Sometimes I'll buy them on sale if I love the fabric at that value and might use it for something else. It is sometimes hard for me to decide when I see an attractive quilt if it's the pattern I'm drawn to or the fabrics or both. Usually it's the fabrics!

I've never bought a kit- they seem so expensive to me and I'm so new to quilting that I'm afraid I won't cut it right and end up with too little fabric to finish the project. I like to pick my own colors and fabrics. But I have to admit that I've gotten some ideas for future projects by looking at the pictures on kits :D

I have purchased 2 kits over the years, but I found that I didn't enjoy the process as much. I'm still attracted to them now then because there are some really nice ones out there, but they are not for me.

i have been tempted, but often the kits i like the most are quilts i simply don't have the skill to make (yet.)

aileen

I've only purchased one kit, but it went to my sister for a gift. I had forgotten about it when one day a package came in the mail (in time for my birthday) and it was the finished quilt from the kit I had bought her. I still have it on my bed and snuggle under it every night.

I have bought a couple of kits and have enjoyed making. The kits were color combo's that I would of never put together. Kits do have an advatage... but then again everything thing I make I tweak to make it my own...

I have never bought a kit, as I like picking my own fabrics and cutting etc. I do, however, love looking at them, and get great ideas from them.

I have bought kits. Sometimes I want what I make to look like the sample.

I have bought 4 kits, one was a wall hanging of a pictorial scene and there was no way I could get all the fabrics for the same price as they were only little bits for most of them. The others I liked the pattern and the kit was on sale for a ridiculous price. Mostly I pick from my stash.

piney

I have bought kits several times. I have been lucky so far, no shortage on fabric, and great directions.

Being a fairly new quilter, I have purchased a FQ bundle and 2 jelly rolls to fit specific patterns but after I have made the quilt once, I then choose my own fabric the next time around. I think half the fun is using your own "eye" to create the color scheme, especially when the quilt is being made with a specific person in mind. But that's not to say I wouldn't buy another fabric kit... some of them are just so fun!

I like kits because I can see the finished quilt with no surprises. I'm new to quilting (about 2 yrs) and I'm still in the match-matchy from making my own clothes. I've also made a quilt or two when I had to choose the fabric myself. I like going whichever way suits me at the time!