New quilter messed up quilt
 

I am a very new quilter. For some reason I decided I could make a king size quilt. Well, after having several mistakes it is now finished. I spent a lot of time and money on it. I'm terribly disappointed. I chose low loft batting. The quilting just hasn't popped out. What should I do?

Leave it and enjoy it. Start making a new one. Great job for sticking to it and finishing it. A king size quilt is a big project. I still make mistakes.

Have you washed it? Once it's been washed and gone through the dryer, the quilting pops more.

From what I understand, the old "traditional" quilts had very low loft batting.

A king-sized quilt - finished - is a great accomplishment!

I agree about just enjoying it! We all have plenty of stories to share about our first quilt & this will be yours. I'm assuming you hand quilted it (I can't even begin to imagine doing a King-sized quilt FMQ on a DSM for a beginner). If that's the case, you're in very good company. Many antique quilts were made with whatever batting-type material was around -- sometimes that was just a layer of flannel -- and they were nearly flat. Over time, as the quilt became more worn, or if the quilter had managed to gather enough flour sacks to piece together a new top/backing, she would layer them on top/bottom of her existing quilt -- sometimes with a bit of extra "batting" -- and would start again. There have been many people who have taken a vintage quilt either to be repaired or appraised only to find out that it was multiple quilts in one. Maybe at some point this quilt will become that -- your original quilt will be encapsulated in something new & thereby preserved for generations to come as a hidden treasure. In the meantime, I hope you can still find ways to enjoy it.

If it's a low-loft cotton, it will crinkle when laundered & the quilting will likely become more defined. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen with low-loft poly. But there are many quilters out there who choose low-loft batts specifically so it stays very flat & the piecing is the star of the show. Perhaps you'll find a silver lining yet in your "mistake".

I see you are a new member an this is also your first post.....wait until you see all the goofs we make. You will have a good laugh. You will get "too much" advise from us, but it is all the best we can think of at the time. So lift yourself up, dust off your mistakes, and go again. And please post a picture of what you are talking about so we can see it, good or bad. This is Jane from Virginia, welcome to the forum!

enjoy your work--wow, tackling a king size quilt as a beginner and quilting, either by hand or by your DSM is a huge accomplishment also. So now it's time to start planning the next one!

One of my first quilts was a queen and I wanted a subtle change in blues. I chose the churn dash pattern and I cut my pieces out with a template that I had made myself from the pattern in the book. I don't know what happened but the pieces did not sew together correctly. I marked my seams ( I sew by hand). I checked and rechecked and the pieces looked like the right size but did not sew up correctly. I forced them together and because the were out of kilter I trimmed them up to twelve inches and sewed those blocks together. I did not realize that the seams would not match. I finished it, washed it and put it on my bed and I tagged it "The Blue BooBoo". I spent a lot of money on it and I have been using until this year. I made a new one that only has a few boo boo's.

Use the quilt and enjoy it! Some of my favorite quilts are the ones that didn't turn out just like I wanted. I now use them as everyday quilts and they're washed once a week and are now the softest, most cuddly quilts. I always use 100% cotton batting. After the quilt is done, I machine wash and dry it and the batting shrinks inside the quilt and gives it that "quilty" look and you can see the quilting stitches better because those areas aren't as crinkly.

My first quilt was also a king. It was a trip around the world and I didn't like it. But one of my friends adored it so I gave the quilt to her.