Difficulty Rating For Swiss and Norway Patterns
 

Hi All—

I am super new at quilting. Have completed 7 quilt tops and after number 5, finally feel like I have the whole accurate seam allowance thing down. Not saying it’s anywhere close to perfect yet, but I feel like I can come up with simple blocks that are almost on size or close enough within 1/8 of an inch or so.

I bought 2 kits for Thimbleblossoms patterns in Swiss and Norway for twin sized bed quilts for my girls. I have purposely been making other quilts first and smaller sizes to practice my piecing skills on quilts that didn’t have a lot of emotional energy invested.
But now that I have started to fall in love with quilting there are so many other projects calling out to me that I would like to get these made and off the list.
Question for the group is, have you made either pattern or something similar and would you call this pattern beginner friendly or are they more intermediate?

Link to her patterns below:
Swiss


https://thimbleblossoms.com/products/swiss-pdf-pattern

Norway

https://thimbleblossoms.com/products...eb88020c&_ss=r

Please note, not affiliated or any connection. Just hoping for honest thoughts on if I have skills enough to tackle them. I am feeling okay about Swiss, more concerned about Norway.

Thanks for the links. The Norway one reminds me of knitted sweaters

Welcome to the wonderful world of quilting! I say if your comfortable then go for it, read the directions carefully and if you feel like they are easy for you to understand then get sewing! I find that rating systems are merely a guideline I have done patterns that were marked as advanced and intermediate that were easy, and others that were marked as easy but we’re far from it, it’s all subjective and not all patterns are written the same way. Don’t put yourself into a group, do what your confident in doing and enjoy the process, ask questions here if you get stuck and post pictures when you’re done.

Also, Camilla is a very responsive designer and she has gotten back to me on a few questions I had on one of her patterns.

Yes! The kit is awesome, using mint and red with black accents, so very modern colors.
I loved how it felt very danish and yes just like the sweaters! :)

Good advice. That’s what I was leaning towards. I think I will start with Swiss and make sure I like her directions and then tackle Norway.
I am excited! New year, new projects. Loving seeing all the quilts I have done posts all over social media. Making me feel very inspired to get sewing!

These kits are so pretty. They should be right up your ally so to speak. I am sure you will be pleased with the finished quilts. Welcome aboard the QB. I am glad to see you joining right in.

I would rate Swiss as Easy or Beginner and Norway as confident beginner. I think you will have no problems with either. The Norway one is really cute.

I think the Swiss one would be more beginner friendly than Norway, but both are definitely do-able! Enjoy your quilting journey!

I agree with the poster who said to not label yourself! You can do this. They both look to be very much just straight up piecing. I think the most difficult part of either quilt will be the organization of your pieces/blocks. Grab a big old pack of post-it notes and go for it!

I have found with some patterns - be it quilting; general sewing; knitting; whatever - it's not the actual sewing that is the 'difficult' part of the pattern but the instructions. One knitting project I did decades ago turned out to be extremely simple once I re-wrote the directions for myself in terms that made sense for me. It was labeled as for 'experienced' knitters only. Not really - just the instructions were, lol.

I really stress to beginners that the accurate seaming is the key to success. Get the stitch length and quality and width down and you can do anything. I call it driving lessons, you do it until it is natural to you.

I think you can do these, looks pretty straight forward in terms of straight seams and cuts and not too tiny of pieces. Concentrate on cutting well. Then on that consistent seam. And then carry on, Quilter!

But if you are feeling confused or anxious or getting stressed, then it's time to take a break. I think really the thing I've learned most from quilting is not to "work through it" but to get up and get away from it for a bit. Most of the time there is a point in every project where I just have to grit my teeth and get it done, but that's a bit different. If you have questions or problems, it's so great to have the internet and a place like this to ask the questions. I was a solo quilter for a long time, then a guild quilter, and now an internet quilter.

Many of us have bucket list or end destination quilts in mind but know we have some work ahead of us to get us to that point. Most of us have also bitten off a bit more than we could chew at some time. For some the answer is to just put it away for later. Others rise to the occasion and learn to do what they have to do to finish, and others figure they got out of it what they wanted and now they just want to get rid of the darn thing. It's all valid.