I hate my quilt top
 

Has anyone else ever worked hard to make a quilt top and hated it when was completed? This is a first for me! The pattern was a tulip where you were suppose to take 4 strips of different colors from a jelly roll to make the bud. Instead I made it with 4 strips of the same material, but there are 32 different tulips. The background fabric is Kona snow. To me it's just washed out. Ready to either ball it up and toss or donate it to Salvation Army. Not wanting to purchase 6 yards of fabric for backing and binding to quilt it. Maybe I should have followed the pattern instead of going out on my own. Have you done anything like this??

Linda, I have one that I hate. I got it last year as a kit (free with a Bluprint membership), I even big stitched the whole thing but I absolutely hate it.
Among the reasons: the batting I used is way too heavy, I goofed up the pattern, the only thing I like is the quilting.
It's still in a heap somewhere.
I completely feel your pain :) I may just donate mine and then I can forget about it!!!

Lets see pictures Gals?? and yes someone will like or love it so donate to a needy cause

Sounds like it will be beautiful when it's quilted....all that lovely blank quilting space.

well, if anything else you can always use it as a back for another quilt. two in one! that' what I've been doing lately.

I would definitely find another use for it like a picnic quilt or shower curtain. Or m

I made a quilt top that ended up hideous. I cut it up in wide strips to make another quilt. Still hideous so I balled it up and chunked it in the trash. Sometimes quilt failure is just quilt failure.

Sometimes the pattern is right.

Sometimes it is worth the effort to make a sample block before continuing.

Sometimes an idea ends up being an idea - that did not work as well as one hoped.

So you spent money on making the top - and really really dislike it.
Does it make any sense - at all - to spend more money on batting and backing for it?

Ever go out to a restaurant and get a meal that you did not like very much? Did you order the same thing again?

I posted a free-wheeling pink and orange quilt last year that I hate. I pulled anything I thought would go with orange and pink from my stash. I liked the blocks I used in it. I remember the bento block was one of them. I liked the combo of orange and pink (oddly). But I hate the way it looks all put together. Also I tried for the first time the point to point quilting method and it just turned out awful. Ugh.

Maybe if you just fold it up and put it away for a short time and pull it out later and it may look very pretty to you.

Yes! I have an uncompleted Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt. I ignored Bonnie's colors and made it using Christmas fabrics. The individual units looked great but I disliked the pattern when it was revealed and my version looked even worse. My quilt/blocks/units is sitting in timeout while I work on a solution. I have revisited it a few times and my opinion hasn't changed. When I have time and feel creative, I will take apart the blocks and play with the units until I find something that pleases me. Possibly I will split the units into two different quilts but I will rescue those blocks. Too much effort and time was spent making them, to not have a successful quilt.

My advice is to unsew your quilt, and take it to the point that you last liked the pieces. Then rework the blocks or units until you are happy. Have you considered using the tulip rows, as a single row, in a backing for another quilt? Depending on the number of rows/blocks, you could get 4 or 5 unique backings.

Yes! I have an uncompleted Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt. I ignored Bonnie's colors and made it using Christmas fabrics. The individual units looked great but I disliked the pattern when it was revealed and my version made the pattern look even worse. My quilt/blocks/units are sitting in timeout while I work on a solution. I have revisited it a few times and my opinion hasn't changed. When I have time and feel creative, I will take apart the blocks and play with the units until I find something that pleases me. Possibly I will split the units into two different quilts but I will rescue those blocks. Too much effort and time was spent making them, to not have a successful quilt.

My advice is to unsew your quilt, and take it to the point that you last liked the pieces. Then rework the blocks or units until you are happy. Have you considered using the tulip rows, as a single row, in a backing for another quilt? Depending on the number of rows/blocks, you could get 4 or 5 unique backings.

Yes! I used a light floral/white combination in a Jacobs Ladder block, and it doesn't have enough contrast. Mad at myself for wasting my precious quilting time on it :mad:. It is currently sitting in a bag until I decide how I want to dispose of it.

Yes, I think we all have had a few that we didn't like. One I sent to my sister. She probably gave it to salvation army. A whole quilt top all done. The the next one I took a picture and texted to my 6 sisters who all quilt. Said the first one to grab it for $25, then it was theirs. Took only a few minutes. I saw it finished at that sisters house. Looked really cute.

Yep, me too. I pieced a Turning Twenty lap quilt that is ugly. It has been tucked away for quilting for at least 10 years. I have finally decided to rip it apart and put the pieces in my scrap box waiting to do a Trail's Mix.

I can't believe so many will spend time making an ugly to them quilt top into something not so ugly. If you feel guilty about getting rid of it then that is the ugly you need to rework.

I have seen tulips that are two colors. Would it work to applique another color into the tulips, or maybe use some fabric paints and change the appearance of the tulips. Please post a pic so we can make better suggestions. And yes, I hate most of my quilts until I get them quilted and washed. Then it's like a new object. Much better.

I've seen a lot of cute quilts lately that have appliqued butterflies or bees on them. It really changes the focus of the view. Maybe even some birds.

I don't know if the pattern has sashings, but nice trees of different greens elongated in the sashings might add to the look. Or alternate the tulip blocks with a fabric that includes all the colors of the tulips, or use the fabric as a sashing. So many things to think about.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613788[/ATTACH]It was to be a cute baby quilt. The pattern was fairly good, the fabric colors good, but the workmanship was dreadful. I think I sent it to one of my three freebie girls.

give them to a homeless person, they will find them beautiful!

After turning one I hated into a king size. I also hate square quilts, my advice is to get rid of it. Donate it to a Guild's community quilts or tuck it away till you can stand it. Since it is still in squares, maybe make placemats out of it.

Sounds like you like the individual blocks but not all the blocks assembled together. If that's the case, what about taking the blocks apart and making rug mugs?

It sounds to me like it might be one that would look much better after it is quilted. Hard to say for sure without a picture. Maybe put it away for a while then think about a quilting design. On the other hand, after it sits for a while you may still hate it, at which point you may as well donate it. I recently bought a kit that was on sale for a good price. Did not like the colors of the fabrics when I received the kit, but decided to go ahead and make it for a donation quilt. I could have returned it for a refund but didn't. That quilt gave me problems from the beginning! Ended up making it a smaller size because of my problems. The top is done and it is now resting in the closet. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it and donate it at some point!

Theory is good...unless of course you pay a long arm quilter to quilt a quilt that you already Don't like! In which case...if you don't like it now...you won't like it later...Donate
T

A picture would be helpful. but I have to say, I don't like 50% of my quilts at that stage, but change my mind when they are completed.

I have done that a couple times over my 30 years of quilting. One I ended up giving to an animal rescue. I later saw the quilt made into a coat for a bull dog. That was a good feeling for a quilt I did not like. The other one was a flannel quilt that I made and when I got the top finished I just did not like the look and feel. I gave the top away to someone who would finish it and love it. These thing do happen from time to time. Have you tried to figure a boarder that would pull the flower colors forward? A good boarder can make all the difference.

I have never made a quilt top/ quilt I truly hated. I always finish all my quilts and donate them, someone will love it or at least keep them warm.

I absolutely have one that I hate. I think it was my 3rd quilt. I loved the fabric so much that I bought a yard just to have. Then, I saw Jenny Doan's quartered stripes video and decided that was the pattern to use. So, I went back to buy enough to make it. I made all the blocks, but hated it at that point. It was just too much blue and too much of the same thing. My friend suggested white sashing, so I sashed it. I still didn't like it. Then I figured out that it was going to cost me about $160.00 to get it quilted, plus the batting. It's too big for me to quilt, so it's dead in the closet until I donate it or decide to spend the money to finish it. I already bought the backing fabric, plus some coordinating prints for pillows.

I never even took a photo of the top finished.

bkay

Here are the blocks, which look great. Then, you get 40 of them together and ask, "what was I thinking?".

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in most cases, ugly is in the eye of the beholder.
i have made a few that i thought were awful.
one was especially hideous.

everybody else loved it.
go figure. lol

if it's well constructed, don't throw it in the trash.
instead, donate it to an organization that will pass it on for a good cause.
some ... such as Project Linus ... accept just tops and have volunteers who do the quilting with donated backing and batting. (obviously, if you can afford to quilt it yourself, they all prefer getting completed quilts.)

do you have a local guild?
they might have one or more places to which they routinely donate quilts.

If you like the individual blocks, why not separate them and set them with an alternate block, either just fabric ( your choice of color), or pieced?
This is why l use a large design wall...blocks go up on there , unjoined, and l take a photo. If l don't like my setting, l can add sashings, blocks, drop set...anything. l take photos of my attempts. Later, over coffee, l review and often have trouble deciding between two front runners!

bkay, those would make a lovely border on a quilt with center mostly white with bits of blue, yellow, and perhaps grey.

Our Quilt Guild donates over a 100 quilts to many places in our Community and many of these were tops or almost finished quilts that somebody hated. We appreciate every single one.

Sometimes you need to get rid of something you don’t like and will never finish. Space is valuable. Out of sight - out of mind.

I've had one that I hated while I was working on it.

bkay I love those blocks. I can see them in a setting with a sashing of a white on black fabric. It would spice them up tremendously. And, if you still don't really like it, try adding some bright butterflies flitting about. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0fyiG5Use...w/s1600/b1.jpg

These are some examples of just black sashing. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...=1&cw=1129&ch=

Or...maybe sew all the blocks together, then use it as a background to make a colorful flower garden. https://www.meissnersewing.com/media...10117_lw_3.jpg

You have such a good start to ending up with a fabulous quilt.

I think we've all been there I know I have . I would set it aside and look at it later . And some times it looks better after its quilted ???

good lock :confused:

If the reason you do not like it is because the colors are too washed out it would be a great candidate for appliqued flowers or maybe a big bunny since it is tulips. I have noticed many of those quilts used a pieced background and it looks great.

I often fall out of love with a quilt top while I'm putting it together... only to fall back in love again once it's quilted.

If you hate it, donate it as is rather than wasting any more time or money working on it. The phrase "don't decorate around a disaster" is one I apply to a quilt that's just bad, for whatever reason. Pass the ugly baton and let someone else finish the race. I bet you could offer free or low cost plus shipping and it would get a taker.

If you absolutely can not stand it then get rid of it. No matter what you do to it you still won't like it. Donate it to a quilt guild, a church that has a sewing group, put it on Freecycle, Let it Go, or even Craigslist for free or just drop it off at your local thrift shop. Someone will love it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, do not keep it if it doesn't bring you joy and you hate it. It's not worth the space it takes up in your sewing studio.

If it is not alread put together, try as sashing or use a shadow box effect. I think is sounds nice but you just need to add some "zip" according to what you have said. Good luck and yes I have done that but I usually work my way out of it. End up loving it and then just can't part with it.