What is the biggest mistake you made when making a quilt?
 

I have made soooo many mistakes that I can't really define one exactly, but I remember cutting out 8" squares for the background for my applique Snowmen. After I cut 36 squares out, I reread the instructions and realized they were suppose to be 9". The Snowmen had very many pieces to each one and I had the hardest time making each piece small enough to look right on the smaller block. It made the entire quilt a nightmare. I had to try all different sizes for each piece of the snowman and the trees and birds and fence and house in each block. I know to read the instructions twice and cut once, but I had to learn the hard way. What was your biggest mistake?

I once did a paper pieced block with all the seams on the front side of the fabrics. Otherwise, it was perfect. The only one I ever tried that was "perfect". And the last one I ever tried.

I was about to do a hand quilting job on a large Texas Star with muslin background. I ironed the top and was horrified when rusty water came out and left a stain on the muslin. Fortunately the customer (who owned a quilt shop) had more and I was able to replace the piece.

I did only DRY ironing for about 20 years after that!!

Cutting 5 inch squares and ending up with a rectangle. I had a 8 1/2 inch square ruler and had turned it the wrong way.

I always make more then one mistake on any quilt I make. That's a given for me. It doesn't bother me anymore.

I have a foot with a guide, but I have to move the needle to get the magic 1/4". I once chain pieced about a hundred HSTs and then found that I had forgotten to move the needle. They were cut too small to retrim and the blocks were partially done. I had enough fabric to cut more then used the problem ones in the border.

My biggest mistage was having one block sidewards when I sewed the quilt together. I sandwiched it, top quilted it, and bound it, never seeing the mistake. My 6 year grand daughter (the quilt recipient) saw it. Old eyes!!

My worst mistake was adding the wrong green fabric to a quilt. It was for a Charity project and I didn't notice it until it was finished. I felt bad that I picked up the wrong green fabric, but what could I do?

Getting married for the second time.....oh wait.....this has nothing to do with quilting......

I made all the blocks for a Buzz Saw quilt from flannel and then I realized that I had sewn each and every one of them together wrong. I picked each quilt block apart with a seam ripper and then put them back together. I saved every scrap of thread that I pulled out and put them in a jar. I put a label on the jar to remind me to read the instructions and I keep that jar right next my sewing machine!

Colleen

My roommate and I pinned one together, then realized she'd forgotten to add the border. We unpinned it, added the border, then added more backing material, as we'd measured the back based on what we thought was the finished top. I totally pinned one and realized when I got to the edge that it wasn't centered. We unpinned that one, too.

There's a queen-sized quilt on my uncle's bed with one of the blocks in backwards. I didn't notice it until he showed it to me on his bed. He loves the quilt and I didn't mention the mistake. It was far too late to fix.

Too funny LOL!!!!

I don't make mistakes...I gain experience. :)

My worst (and most recent) was cutting panels wrong. Not just one panel wrong ... but two. Had to buy more panels :(

My other big mistake wasn't so much a mistake as it was ignorance of what could, and could not be done - it was my very first quilt so that's the excuse I'm going with :) I attempted (note that word) to "quilt" the quilt with metallic thread using machine embroidery stitches ... without the benefit of a walking foot or a metallic needle. Yes, there is a reason that one is STILL a UFO after several years.

Ditto ... It's truly Learn to Do by Doing!!!

I think Winston Churchill said it best ...

"All (wo)men make mistakes, but only wise (wo)men learn from their mistakes."

I don't iron carefully and don't iron immediately. I also get sloppy about trimming loose threads. Which I spent the morning doing!

Hummmmmmmmmmm, might be a lesson and reminder for all of us!

I had marked a big square ruler with painter's tape to show me a 5 1/2 in. square. One long piece of blue tape all the way across and one blue tape up and down all the way. Later when I tried to sew pieces together, some were smaller than other. It was a 12 inch ruler and I'd left a square space a bit under 5" on the dead end of the ruler. NOW, I mark an X or something in spaces I'm not using.

You name it, I've done it. Biggest complaint - not enough fabric and buy the time you discover that you don't have enough fabric, either the store is out of it or the dye lot has changed.

I am so glad you didn't ask "how many" mistakes I have made. LOL

I think my BIGGEST mistake was a few years ago at retreat. Decided to do a Minnesota Hot Dish pattern (easy), had all my fabric cut and even made a sample block. All set to do the 80 blocks. Sewing away, doing 40 blocks, chain piecing at a time. Was about the third round, ready for the fourth round. oh, %$*&)**($ All 40 of the third round is on the wrong side and will make a differences of the layout of the quilt ..... spend a lot of time unsewing...

I think the one I regretted the most was rushing the laundering of a very large wedding Queen quilt for my daughter. I washed it once and then tossed it in the dryer. All the quilting lines had not washed out yet so I set them in the dryer. She is fine with it and loves th quilt. I hope that over time they will dissapear.

LOL - been there!

I made a Lone Star but apparently I had turned the bits the wrong way so my star radiates into the point (which is kind of cool) but I really mucked up the angles. Working with all those bias pieces was not a good idea for a total beginner. One of these days I will pull it out and fix it.

The first quilt I finished. I generally make one block at a time now, but I'd just kept putting blocks together & then I realized I had been having so much fun putting them together, I had enough for two quilts and a pillow! LOL!! I kept one & the other set made a great Christmas gift!! :-)

Sewing a block together and realizing I'd sewed it wrong; ripping it out and sewing it wrong again. Now I know from firsthand knowledge "third times charm".

Two weeks ago, at an X block class, I sewed a bunch of strips together in the wrong order. Wide, wide, narrow instead of wide, narrow, wide. How could I have been so stupid? The teacher, bless her dear heart, just laughed and grabbed some of them, unsewing as she walked around helping people. Later, I sewed some blocks together in wrong order, too. But it's done now, and I love it. Not necessarily the worst mistake, but the most recent, and I remember it. LOL

I had a quilt that I was going to put a border on and the fabric was directional. Do you see where this is going? LOL I have learned not to cut fabric after 9pm. This mistake required a trip to LQS. :-)

Toooo funny, LOL.

I just did that last week... for a swap nonetheless & it was like 10:30 at night when I did it... yikes! Good thing I have a big stash, but still...

Ditto! Tho I can tell you, the 3rd time IS a charm!!!

I didn't discover until a year later (when I went to use it for the holidays) that not only had I turned a block all wacky in a top, I'd hand quilted it & didn't notice it then. I took pictures of it & didn't even notice it then. Then, when I put it on the table, it was like there was a large neon sign pointing to the mistake. Eek!

Then there was the time, like 2 hours before the baby shower, I went to snip a loose thread & cut a hole in the quilt. Good thing it was a flower pot quilt... I appliqued a bee or a butterfly or something over the spot & nobody was the wiser (until now... LOL!).

My 1st quilting teacher taught us that we we supposed to have a mistake (a God's Eye) in all our quilts. I never have to "work" to have at least one in each quilt... LOL!

I am glad that some of us have a sense of humor. Quilting IS my therapy and my refuge. Thank you for sympathazing with me!!!

Three???? I don't know if I have that much energy left.

Were the marks made with the blue type marking pen? If so, rubbing in vinegar with an extra-soft toothbrush might work. Vinegar is supposed to take out those blue marks, even if they have been set.

Working on a Lone Star. New technique, sew all 4 fabric strips together. There are 8 different sets. Working right along. Get the first six sewn, cut them apart into 16 pieces each. Label them. Then cut the 7th one with the 4 fabrics and something looks wonky. Oh my gosh, I had sewn the wrong fabric on the bottom row. It will mess everything up. Take a deep breath, go get a cup of coffee and come back. I check the fabric batch and there is exactly enough fabric left in the color I need. So I cut two 2" x width of the fabric strips. I rip out the 16 bottom rows, lay the 3 patch strips out on the correct color strips, pin them, sew and cut apart. Thank goodness for the extra material. Thinking all that time that NOBODY ever makes a mistake when quilting but me....thank goodness for the honesty on this board....sure makes me feel better. (And I do have a nice bunch of 2" diagonal pieces I can use on something else.)

I enjoyed Deb W.'s answer, too!!

I was working on a tube quilt. Stopped, fixed dinner and headed back to my studio. Picked up the ruler and continued
cutting. Even though I was tired I finished. Started putting the blocks together and they weren't all the same size. On the cutting table were TWO rulers. I don't even remember getting the second one out. I haven't finished that quilt or quilts yet.

Not quilting as such - but related to sewing -

I thoroughly oiled my 1962 Bernina with Fray-Check instead of sewing machine oil.