How does Jenny do it.
 

I have watched gobs of Jenny's tutorials and have learned a lot from her. One thing I don't understand is how she does things so fast. She cuts fast, she sews very fast and most of all she irons not presses her blocks. How do you think she keeps things accurate?

A very good question.

I didn't think she did much cutting. I thought she focused mostly on using precut fabrics for her patterns. That saves time, as long as the cutting was accurate (which I think it usually isn't!).

Jenny does this for a living and has a whole lot of experience and excellent tools. Plus we don't know how many times she has to do it to get it right for the video. You know the old saying, "Practice makes perfect" don't you? Plus as JustAbitCrazy said, she used a lot of precuts.

People use to say that about Eleanor Burns. I have seen her quilts and she is not always that accurate and I think it is probably the same with Jenny. Speed and accuracy just don't mix. I have never gone to u-tube and seen her videos but I have been quilting for over 25 year so I have been there and done that. I saw her for the first time on F&P episode and really couldn't follow her. But she sure does have a huge amount of energy which I would love to tap into !! If she made an energy drink, I would BUY IT!!! :)

I do think she's of the mind set that quilting should be fun and let's try to be as accurate as possible without stressing over everything. I'm thinking she is giving us the gist of the pattern and it's up to us to do with it what we want. I wouldn't watch as much if it looked stressful and not fun! Her attitude is something I would love to emulate in everything I do! Would love to go to the shop and meet her someday!

If you watch her sew on the videos, her stitching is far from straight ... actually quite wicked at times.
I have heard her mention it, with just a comment like, oh it won;t really show when it is done.

I was watching a video recently where she was doing some quilting for bags .... and sorry, yes it did show and would show as crooked on top of charm squares is only emphasized more and more.

Perhaps her whole thought pattern is to be less intimidating to the beginners, by not being a total fuss pot in what she does?

I bet she's more careful when she's making quilts that aren't part of a tutorial. She probably goes quicker than usual on the videos so she can show everything and keep it interesting, and not get bogged down with slow stitching and fussing around with perfect cuts.

And personally...I'm a little bit sloppy too, so her style totally works for me. My quilting time is limited (for some reason my employer demands I actually WORK several hours every week day for my wages, it's crazy) and I have a million and one quilts I want to make, so when I do get time I'm very excited and tend to work fast so as to get the most done possible. For some quilts that does work for (nice square-and-rectangle type patterns) but for others, not so much! Which is part of the reason I work on many things at once. Some projects are good for quick 15-20 minute sessions, others need a slower pace...those are weekend projects. :)

I think she is stressing the pattern/precut combo first and I think she just sews together to show us how the cuts should look. My thought is she figures if you are watching her demo you know that the seam should be straight...and I often think if I had to sew a seam standing up( as in the earlier shows) my seams would be a heck of a lot worse...I see that since she now has a BL she sits and sews. Whichever, I still enjoy watching her demos......I have done a few of her ideas....not with precuts ..just using what I have on hand...

Bonnie Hunter is the one that amazes me with her speed and accuracy. Watching her webcams leaves me needing a nap, lol.

I'm sure she is more accurate when making a quilt. She just does the Speedy Gonzalez for us. :D

What I have learned from taking Bonnie Hunter's classes, cutting has to be accurate, every piece the same. Seams have to be accurate, every seam the same. The quilt blocks will go together with no problem at all and will go together fast. Some of Bonnie's seam don't match, she doesn't stop and redo. She is very precise in her cutting and seams and will cut slivers off fabric pieces to get them perfect before piecing. The secret is in the details.

It also might be like the cooking shows - where a lot of the prep work is done off camera.

Well, now, it wouldn't be much fun to watch me in a video. Half the time I would be taking out seams.

Jenny and Eleanor and the rest are showing the basic steps and to really try to get that perfect seam as best you can. Jenny uses the pre-cuts. Her ideas how to make things a little easier probably come from when she was constructing costumes for the different movie companies when she worked in California. You need to be quick and make sure there would be no wardrobe malfunctions. I have learned a lot just from watching her videos.

IMHO - I think she's presenting an idea; a concept; introducing a new pattern. I don't think her intent is to focus on precision and accuracy because that's up the the individual quilter. Her objective is to generate excitement, hold your interest ((our attention spans are much shorter than they used to be)) and drive traffic to her site, which she does quite well.

Personally, I like watching her videos.

Jane

Jenny's and Eleanor's finished samples are usually a bit off somewhere -- but they sure do have a lot of fun playing with fabric, and that's what it's all about for most of us, isn't it?

Having said that, most of the time part of the fun for me is seeing how accurate I can be -- but I don't stress over it when things end up a bit wonky or less than perfect.

I agree, most of her demos are just for entertainment not accuracy. Jenny is very entertaining and fun to watch. I like to watch her demos even if it is something I will probably never make. It's up to the person making the project to make it accurate.
Sue

practice, practice, practice

Personally, it makes me feel better about my accuracy (or lack thereof) when I see the top names sew a crooked or mismatched seam. I've seen a few quilts in magazines that have a less than perfect seam or two so I guess if the professionals don't stress over it I won't either.

I think Jennie has one of the most positive attitudes of anyone around. She is the one that made quilting fun for me and I love watching her tutorials. So she sometimes sews a crooked seam, haven't we all?

I also enjoy Jenny's tutorials. And because 99.9% of what I make is for my family, I don't stress over seams and points that aren't 100% perfect. For me, I enjoy the sewing and quilting process. If I stressed over it, it would feel like a job and then most of the pleasure would be gone. If someone wants to take my things apart and check my seam allowances or check my points, then go ahead. Life is to short and I have way to many projects I want to make for me to worry about perfection.

I looove to watch Jenny and Eleanor's tutorials! I thought it was just me who seems to go slowly.

I totally agree - I love to watch her tutorials, so many ideas and really quick ways of doing things. I have made 3 quilts using her method of making a chevron quilt and they all turned out great. I am however very cautious when it comes to my cutting and also my seams, I think she is just demonstrating easy ways to make different patterns for quilts. As someone else said, a lot of prep work goes on behind the videos.

What does she have? BL?

BL = BabyLock

I heard Nancy Zieman say one time that she does her worst sewing on camera. I think all of these great sewing pros are just showing us how to do something. We can then do it as slow or fast as we want to get the results we want.

I love watching both of these ladies. If I had to make sure my quilts had to be perfect, I would no longer quilt. I have enough stress in other parts of my life.

Well, I have seen Jenny in person and she is just as bubbly and happy off camera as on! And while she does use almost all precuts she does use yardage as well and ALWAYS stresses using your local quilt shop first. She has great ideas for "easier" sewing of quilts, which is great for me. Her quilts are to be loved and used to death, which is what mine are, and are not for quilt shows. She showed many of her quilts during her presentation and if there were crooked seams, etc. it was not evident. Love, love Jenny. She makes quilting more exciting and happy!

I love her videos and have made two of the quilts which turned out great. I did not use the precuts, just cut my own. I don't go nuts over accuracy since I don't sew for contests. I make quilts to be used, to be loved, to be worn to a raggy frazzle, so if there's a little ooky somewhere I don't stay awake worrying about it. I do the best I can and with failing vision it isn't perfect but none of my family seems to care and they are the ones I make quilts for. When it isn't fun any more I'll do something else.

Nancy once had a guest on her show making something with pinwheels. The guest had sewn the HST's and Nancy was supposed to lay them out in front of the camera in the pinwheel formation. She had the first two in position and tried to lay the third one in place. She turned it around two or three times, but couldn't find the right way. So funny! I just wanted to crawl in there and fix it for her. It looked so easy from my prospective. Then she just dropped it and showed us the finished pinwheel (with perfect points) that was prepared beforehand.

Our sewing isn't always perfect, and videos aren't always perfect either. I think they are more fun to watch that way.

I love,love her MQ tutorials!, in fact, Sarah on site did the CC after my request for one! Jenny makes things so much
Easier to understand how to do those blocks. Im sure not everyone can sew straight all the time either! I've made bags that she shown and a few blocks of the other project and been very happy with them that otherwise probably would have driven me bonkers to understand or do! Lol. So glad for videos so I can go back time to time to view and sew! I use lots of my blocks from my go! System from my stash rather than buy precuts which basically the same thing.

That would be my guess.

....love Jenny's enthusiasm. I've watched her tutes and seen some bobbles but I've seen some catastrophes at a national quilt class I took too. Everything cut wrong. If perfection is required I think most of us will struggle. What's amazing about Jenny Doan and her family is the vitality of their business. Necessity brought them into the business but I really think good old fashioned hard work has brought them success.

I was fortunate to meet the wonderful Jenny Doan at her shop a couple of years ago. She personally took me around the shop and the warehouse. I think that she does things in a quick manner for the tutorials but also said that she quilts to enjoy it and does not stress over perfection. She is a woman after my own heart. As my late mother used to say "someone on a galloping horse will never see it."

I agree with Geri B

I absolutely agree. I have done a few things using her tutorials, and they do work, and I have two more with the fabric already picked out. The alter ego pattern and the mail pattern. Love them both.

I had a class with Jenny a few weeks ago....she is so upbeat, motivating and delightful- everyone loved her! Her philosophy is to enjoy the process and not stress. Her finished quilts are NOT perfect if you inspect them- wheat recipients really do that though!? I"m not a huge fan of precuts and went essentially to meet her because she does do wonderful things, but her trunk show was amazing. There were so many ideas she showed on a design board from each block...different layouts with a ton of results. Her Husband was her helper and was awesome, too. She does move fast and even if you don't like precuts- she has a lot to offer!!! Oh, her entire family is involved with the company- computer stuff, camera work, ordering etc.

Going way back to when most of us were little girls we we taught about perfection and it has really hampered a lot of us from being able to just enjoy the doing.

I am always hearing in general conversations about how grown women talk about how imperfect they are. Much damage has been done over many years of striving to be perfect. Jenny Doan and Eleanor Burns are great examples of how much fun any endeavor can be. Be it quilting, cooking, gardening, etc. Hurray to them for making it less stressful and more fun. We can take their inspiration and fly as high as we want with it. The methods they show us only help us to get more creative in our own lives.
peace