Do you ever read the instructions and feel like you are not getting it?
 

I'm fairly new to quilting - about 16 months now (or 22 quilts) - so there are obviously a ton of techniques that I've not tried yet or even know about. For those of you in my shoes - do you ever read the instructions and just not 'get it'? On some patterns it takes me forever to figure it out, or find someone who's made it to ask questions to, and afterwards I have a big 'DUH' moment :)
I wonder if this will become easier with more experience/techniques under the belt or if this is because I read and comprehend very literally. And sometimes I do miss a step when it's not specifically in the instructions.
When making a new pattern, I do make one block to understand the process and I do stay with it until I get it 'right'.
Just curious if others experience these 'DUH' moments too?

Thanks!
Jan

yes, sometimes, iti's hand on practice that brings the technique to light :)
22 quilts in 16 months!!!! wow, you are a busy quilter.

This happens to me all the time, not just with quilting. I learn by doing, reading instructions frequently confuses me.

Short answer: YES. :)

I too always make one block first. Usually out of scrap fabric.. just to make sure I "get it".
Sometimes I can only do one step at a time, just to be able to wrap my brain around it.

I've been quilting a whole 17 months. Guessing this is a forever learning process.

When I used to sew/make clothing for the public and we would talk about my charges. My response was: If I have to read the pattern, it gets more expensive! Most times just looking at the pictures and from experience.. it was enough. :cool:

Thanks Nancy - My husband has been ill for the last 10-11 months and by the time I get home from work, he's already laid down for the evening. So while he's in the bedroom, I cut and sew. This way, I'm right here should he need me :) He is finally getting better so when he's back to normal, he's a quilt widower :) I do not hand quilt any of mine, they are all LAQ'ed but I do LAQ the majority of them myself.

I have been quilting for about 12 years and I still run across directions that I have to study to figure out. It does help to make one block a step at a time. I am a visual learner. Sometimes I have to see someone else make it before I "get it". I love directions that have good pictures of the steps.

It happens to everyone. And that is when we usually get creative and develop our own way to do things:D.
It is always handy to post your ?'s here with a picture of the questionable matter. It really helps to understand better if there is a visual to help us decipher a problem and come to a workable answer. We all learn this way.

don't ever think you are the only one confused by instructions!

Right now at this minute I am trying to make an automatic button hole on my Bernina. Haven't done it in years and reading the instruction manual is to say the least, confusing!
peace

Pictures can be a wonderful help, if the person has a clue about taking them. I was recently looking at an online tutorial and the fabric in the pictures was dark brown. The pictures were also poorly lit. It was impossible to see what she was doing.

I have been quilting for 8 years and often find the instructions confusing. I read them and say what in the heck are they talking about. Then I read again and again and usually I have an AH HA moment eventually. Sometimes I say the hell with the instructions and do it my way. Good luck.

Yes, I am better with hands on!

I started crocheting when I was about 17 and I followed written patterns for that. I started quilting 14 years ago and have followed written patterns for that. I have discovered sometimes it's not you, it's the pattern. I have run across instructions that are so convoluted and complicated they simply make no sense. At least most quilt patterns have half decent pictures so you at least have a chance of figuring out what they meant.

After having rewritten and redesigned several patterns I tend to just design my own. It ends up being less work!! LOL

Yes. Searching for tutorials may help you. I will often re-write the directions if I find them confusing or hard to follow. I work better with a bulleted list, rather than a paragraph. I get a lot of interruptions and it's easier to pick up where I left off this way.

I also perfer to have all of the cutting done up front and pick apart the directions to make a list of all of the cutting, rather than cut some, start sewing, cut more.

It will get easier. It is an excellent idea to make a practice block. That makes you a good quilter.

I've been quilting for 9 years. I think some pattern makers are better at directions than others. You'll learn which ones to stay away from. I have a Leisure Arts book I've made lots of notes in because it didn't specify to trim the blocks down to 4.5".

The Bow Tucks purse pattern was one for me! It took me forever to understand what I was supposed to do. Now they're easy for me. Some pattern manufacturers write terrible patterns so it's not always you. And that's nothing against Lazy Girls, their directions for the Bow Tuck was fine, I just didn't get it :(

Hang in there!

I can relate to what you wrote in your statement. I've got quilt book, with patterns, I would like to make. But when I get ready to read or get to cutting, everything, seems to fall in a hole. I have better luck with templates, and telling what templates to use.

Everyone learns in one of three ways, or a combination of the three.....aural (hearing), visual (by seeing) or kinesthetic (by touch and feel)...that is why maybe reading a pattern or book is not always the best way for you to "see" it. Videos may help in this case. Or, as you are doing, building a block first (that's kinesthetic learning, by the way :)). Keep working at it, you will find a source, or teacher, or friend who "teaches" just like you learn.:thumbup:

Jan in VA

Youtube videos save us all. Most times I have to make the project as I read the instructions. My daughter has taught herself to crochet watching youtube videos. She can not follow written instructions at all.

I have been "pattern stumped" twice and just wrote the pattern designer with the questions. One designer, Marsha Anderson of High Street Designs, got right back to me with the information that clarified everything. I was also working on an Indygo Junction pattern and one of the staff and I traded emails three times resulting in a great purse.