Jardin de Versailles quilt (French general)
 

Has anyone made the quilt by French general ‘Jardin de Versailles’? I am not a veteran quilter but I saw this quilt in FG’ shop and it. Being one not to shirk from a challenge, I bought the pattern, fabric, cut per directions and now it’s time to sew and yikes. What did I bite off??? 😳. Is there anywhere to get help if I have questions? I know I can do it, has anyone made this quilt?
thanks

I just went and took a look at the quilt. It is lovely. The color palate is very soft and I like it a whole lot. I would call the pattern manufacture and see if they could offer you some hints. I for one have not made it . I do hope someone here has made it or is making it to give you a hand with it.

You can do, it's just a panel with borders. A round robin. One step at at time!

It's really the fabrics in this case that makes the quilt.

I'd probably start by doing all those little quarter square units as warm up and what I call "Front Loading" getting the time consuming repetitive tasks done before the fun of putting together the top.

I made a QST recently and I use tape on my rulers to help me with my vision/consistency issues. I had precut squares that varied between 6-6.5", cut them on a diagonal, and then trimmed them down to a consistent 7.5" (non-standard ruler) square. The tape line is the diagonal mark between the 7.5" marks on the sides. I use that and the printed line on the ruler to make my QST square quick and exact.

It's a gorgeous quilt. You can make it!

Take it one "bite" or a stitch at a time. Break it down into small tasks or blocks. If you have problems, give a shout and the members can usually offer solutions and help. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies, I feel less intimidated.

Welcome to this board, lots of help and knowledge here.

One step at a time. You can do it! Welcome from Illinois 😁

I agree that taking just one step or block at a time and it won't be so intimidating to you. It will be beautiful. I love the French General fabrics-they are so beautiful. Please share a picture of your progress as you go. Good luck and have fun making this project

I've re-written this post twice, as I don't want to be either too negative nor too positive. Let me start with a quick story. My sister-in-law took a quilting class years ago and decided quilting was not for her. I kept wondering what happened. Then, one day she noticed a Blue ribbon winning quilt in my cabinet that was gifted to me by a dear friend. It was a Dresden Plate (no wonder she decided quilting wasn't for her). Fortunately, the quilt shop ladies talked me out of starting on a huge project like that. I had planned a queen size Log Cabin quilt as my first endeavor, but ended up making a disappearing nine patch for my first. It was easy to make and was just a lap quilt, so not too big. I also had it quilted, so that took a lot of pressure off.

This quilt is gorgeous, but doesn't appear to be an easy quilt to make and it's a large quilt. It will take a while to make it. Unless you are a lot further along in your quilting skills than I am, it will take a lot of ripping and resewing. Of course you can do it. The question is how long will it take and will you burn out before you get there.

I would suggest you look closely at the pattern and see what you are going to be required to do. Then break it down into sections, which seems doable (maybe make all of a certain kind of triangle or just one border). When you get one section done, maybe put it away for a while. You might want to have some easy sewing projects that you can do that will give you a sense of accomplishment. Then go back to your French General quilt and tackle another section.

This is just my opinion. I lose interest if a project takes too long. I got stuck on one quilt last year and didn't accomplish much in the way of quilting. So, just take my opinion with a grain of salt.

bkay

I can't get a close enough look to see what the units of the quilt are like. It doesn't seem to be too difficult. Have you made any quilts?You might try something simple to see if you like it before beginning this one.

Speveral says she's not an experienced quilter. She doesn't say much about her skills past that.

I blew up the photo so that I could see what the different borders were. There are tons of quarter square triangles, some curved pieces, squares in one border are set on point, and it has two "piano key" type borders. All of those triangles are small and the quilt is a queen size.

I'm not an experienced quilter either. I generally make 2 or 3 quilts per year and have been quilting four or so years. At least half of those quilts have been I spy quilts (easy). I looked at that pattern and said, "I'd never finish that quilt".

Of course, if I Really wanted to make it, I could. I'd have to be in love with it to tackle it, though. It is definitely doable, but it's certainly not an easy quilt.

bkay

I took "not a veteran quilter" as someone who has basic skills to do the consistent 1/4" seam, who has made some projects, but that hasn't been quilting consistently for 20 years as opposed to beginning quilter.

That quilt does have some challenges that I would not suggest for someone who is entirely just starting.

I think most of us do have bucket list quilts that we feel we aren't quite ready for, I know I had quilts that I waited 10 or more years to make either due to getting the fabrics together, getting my skills up, or other factors. If it does get too challenging/just isn't fun for the original poster, I'd suggest having a box ready to just put everything back into the box until another time. Make sure you get every little scrap of fabric, instructions, etc. to keep together. Then, when you feel ready to go back to it, it will be ready for you. And if you decide it ruffles your feathers too much to even look at it -- give it away/sell it, get rid of it. Not worth to keep if bothers you.

In my own case, a lot of my bucket quilts didn't get made. Never did the New York Beauty or Pickle Dish because my eyes started going bad and I no longer have the accuracy I once had and is needed for those projects. But although I've had my stresses, most of the last 40 years of quilting have been fun and I have no regrets.

I totally agree with Iceblossom's suggestion to try it, and if it's truly too much right now (for either patience or skills) keep it for a future project. I've got one like that -fell in love with the fabric and bought the kit not realizing my skills to complete it were some years off. I'd only add this: be sure you truly have enough fabric - they go out of print in a few years and become impossible (or really difficult and expensive) to get more. Also, this board is a huge set of experienced people who are generous with their advice and assistance here!

I’m so glad I joined this site, I love and appreciate all the feedback.
i am on disability which has afforded me the time to throw myself into learning things I want to do. I took a couple private classes in early 2018 and someone did me a huge favor so I decided I would repay her with a quilt. So, my first big project was an Amy Butler quilt. I made a mock up first just to be sure I could do it. I attached these.... I’m a beginner, don’t forget ha!
Then I made a quilt for my niece where she picked out the fabric and pattern Which was challenging as I had to buy the Linda Warren learning curve, and, although my neice loved the quilt and it was acceptable, it wasn’t something I would have given someone who wasn’t a teenager, or my niece, to showcase my skill (lol)
The FG quilt has significance because it represents something I went through over a two year period (which I am happy to share but I am aware this is a quilting forum..... 😎) so I feel I should make it to honor that time.

Now, I do actually have a question -i have sewn the most inner squares made up of quadrants and it feels like I might have cut these wrong as there is some stretch (would that be me cutting on the bias?), I really paid attention to the direction of the fabric when I cut. Will this be a problem?

Depending on your instructions, your QST squares/hourglass blocks/other names, may be made with bias edges. The quilt I showed the ruler picture with was one.

Some people are big believers in starch for such things, I've never gotten the habit of using it. I do crisply press each seam and then (most importantly) I let my sewing machine do the work! I think a lot of problems people have with these bias edges is they are pushing and pulling on the fabric and not letting the machine take care of it for them.

I do many things non-standard, I press open and because of that I use a small stitch and I'm also a big believer in pinning a lot. I prefer to cut big and trim down but you can't always do that with kits.

By " the most inner squares made up of quadrants" do you mean those ones that look kind of like hour glasses? If so those are called quarter square triangles, or QST's. No matter how you cut them, there are always going to be bias issues. There are two ways you can handle this. If you already have them all cut out, it narrows to one: starch them until they are nice and crispy, and that will stabilize the grain while you sew them. The starch basically glues the threads together so they can't stretch. If you haven't cut them out already, you can do research on cutting 4 or 8 QST's at the same time, and make them that way. For beginners like you and I, it's frequently better to make them a little bit big, so you can trim them down to a perfect square.

You can do this quilt, and it may not even take that long. It's basically a series of small quilts, that are long and skinny, that you then attach together. And I absolutely love that center medallion of Marie Antoinette with a sailing ship on her silly, fashion-conscious head. There is definitely something we can almost all learn from that picture, lol.

Keep coming back with your challenges and worries- we will get you through this.

Patti

Indeed Patti😂😂

I have sewn all the QST and I will square them up tomorrow.
I think everyone is right- I’m going to take it one panel at a time

sidney