Gravity quilt... How challenging is it?
 

I've been quilting a little over a year and have made 4 smaller quilts, but none using triangles or other bias cut pieces. I love the new gravity pattern and am very tempted but wondering if that's too much to chew off?

i do have limited time to sew and sometimes only get in a few hours a week?

thoughts?

Welcome to the board from NJ. If you are confident in your sewing skills in general you should be fine. The only issue with bias edges is the stretch. Use LOTS of starch. I use liquid Sta-Flo at a 1:1 ratio. I'm not familiar with that pattern but depending on how the instructions tell you to cut/piece the triangles, you could also sew a line of 'stay stiches' very close to what will be the cut edge (between your seam line and the cut edge) to keep the edges stable. Usually best done with larger pieces. Remember to 'press' not 'iron' when working with those cut pieces. Handle them as little as possible until they are sewn into your top.

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)

Welcome from Arkansas-You'll never know until you try-what have you got to lose? Just go for it!! Loads of help from us-just ask & someone always knows the answer!

Wow, that is a gorgeous quilt! Welcome to the forum and will look forward to seeing posts of your progress. http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/2014/11/gravity-quilt.html

Welcome to the board. In my opinion, I think you might get frustrated and have a UFO because of your limited skills and your time limitation. Try making something with bias edges to get your feet wet and get acquainted with quilting bias edges. Diamonds are one of the most difficult items for quilting accurately. Jaybird patterns are not what I would suggested for a beginner quilter.

Wow, for a moment there I worried that quilt in the link given would be blown away while the photos were being taken. Gorgeous!

I have had my eye on this quilt also, it is so striking. I think we should both do it. No 'Y' seams!

My biggest worry is not the piecing, but the quilting.

If you scroll down the pictures in the link you can see where they have laid the quilt on the ground near the water. I cringe just thinking about such a beautiful quilt on the dirty/wet ground.

Go for it! What fun!

I think it's entirely do-able for anyone who has good accurate cutting and seam-stitching skills. The pieces are relatively big, so it goes fairly quickly. I think the pattern is written very clearly and with great illustrations which makes it easy to follow her method. I'd not want to do it without the super side kick ruler-- though of course you can make it with just the templates in the pattern. I just prefer the speed and accuracy of cutting with a ruler. You may run into issues with pressing-- Julie usually presses seams open, which I don't love, but I do follow her suggestion to do so with quilts like this one where many points are coming together.

It's a beautiful quilt and I'm sure you will be proud of it when you get it done. My only concern is that it might be so intricate that you would get discouraged with it before you got through. But my guess is that if you really want to do it, you can. Welcome to the board from N Texas, 60 miles north of Dallas and 30 miles south of Durant, OK. froggyintexas