Planned ahead, improvised, or combination?
 

When making a quilt, how do you go about it?

Are you completely "organized" before start? Pattern chosen, fabrics purcahsed and prepared - basically - once you start, you don't need to get anything more and you won't have many leftovers? You don't have "stash" - so you buy exactly what is needed.

Do you "sort of have a plan" when you start - bit it is subject to change as you go along?

Do you just start sewing pieces together that may - or may not - turn into blocks that will get assembled into a quilt?

You have a ridiculous amount of stash (and everything else) and are overwhelmed so don't even know where to start?

I am not the first - although I've come close a couple of times!

I try to have every thing ready to just jump in and start in on cutting and sewing. I always have the needed fabric as I buy either 3 or 5 yards of each fabric. so if quilt is full or queen size and I use several colors I have more than enough. And my thread chest is full.

I always have a detailed plan, but only some of the fabric I will need going forwards. After having sewn a few blocks, I place them together to see how the color scheme is coming together. I never hesitate to change my mind, omit certain fabrics or colors, buy more, etc. to get the look I want. Every few blocks I repeat the process to see how the quilt is evolving. I always end up with extra blocks that won't be used in the final quilt, but I join them together and use them to practice quilting.

I do two kinds of quilts....The kind from a pattern, where I have everything and I don't buy any extra, just what I need and the kind where I have an idea in my head for months and gather fabrics, books, thread, maybe rulers for it and end up with leftovers and a quilt that looks nothing like what I had originally envisioned but that I'm still happy with.

The second one is the one that really makes my heart sing.

Watson

I have a ridiculous amount of fabric, thread, and tools on hand. Yet I often need more of something for a particular quilt. I plan, plan, plan, but the plan can change during construction. I usually work from "my version" of a pattern, meaning that I either see something that I like and work up something similar after putting it in EQ8, or I start with a published pattern and still put it in EQ8, and make changes. Even when working from a kit, I almost always make design changes, fabric substitutions, and use techniques that are not in the pattern.

That said, I'm about to start two quilts that don't fit my usual modus operandi. One is the Labyrinth Walk, for which I will follow the pattern exactly. (Well, at least until I get to the border, and then I might add some more to make it a bigger quilt.) And the other is a quilt that I have in my head that won't look like anything I've done in the past, won't be thoroughly planned, and just might be a total disaster.

I do a combination and tend to go with the flow when it comes to both piecing and quilting.

Rob

I have bought fabric waiting for the perfect pattern. Other times i get the pattern and wait for the fabrics to call to me. Lately I pull fabric from stash and find something that uses the amounts I have. Look for borders after blocks are made as I make them until I run out of fabric. Therefore I never know how big my quilts will turn out. Most are donated now so there are no particular requirements. Even if I have something that will work for borders, they may not be my preference. Recipients don’t know it wasn’t meant to be and appreciate it as is.

I shop for fabrics for a certain pattern so I dont have a stash. The only thing I dont always buy is backing. I do it most of the time when quilt is complete

I usually start with an idea, size or theme I want to make. Sketch a rough draft on graph paper ( to make sure I don’t let it grow into a giant house size quilt)
then I look through my fabric shelves and see what I have that’s going to work. I sometimes * wing it* sometimes I start with a panel and create around it- every quilt is a new experience and new adventure.

I find a quilt pattern I would like to try I gather up fabric I have I like, eyeball the amount and start cutting. If I run short of fabric I make a smaller quilt or improvise. If it is a planned quilt then I buy the extra fabric needed before I start.