I have decided that I’d like to try making a quilt, but I have no idea where to start.
I know I need a pattern first, but I’m having a bit of trouble finding easy-looking ones, and understanding some of the directions. I like this pattern: http://www.quiltindex.com/all_roads_lead_to_ca.asp but I’m worried that the instructions are too vague for me to really manage this.
I have never done any sewing like this in my life - I’m basically a buttons and seams type person so far, and usually thats done by hand and not very well. I have a sewing machine, a Singer 221 (1941) in good condition, and by all accounts its a good machine for quilting. I do know how to use it somewhat, and so whatever it is I do, I can manage a basic straight line.
So, quilters, what do you think? Can I manage this type of pattern? Are there any instructions there that you might be able to elaborate on for me? What kind of material should I buy?
I don’t even know what other questions to ask, other than how long this kind of think might take. I want to give it to my sister, who has always wanted a quilt, and her brithday is in mid-September, although it could wait til Christmas if necessay.
Basically, any advice you might have to get me on the right track would be really appreciated.
Hm. That has triangles, and I would recommend starting with straight lines and working your way up. Also, a smaller project first would probably be a good idea. Why not try something a little simpler first–maybe a baby-sized quilt in a log cabin pattern, or something similar. However, if you want to try that pattern, go ahead–just don’t get discouraged if you run into tricky bits like unmatched points!
A good series for beginners is the “Quilt in a day” series [their log cabin book is great, so is the love knot], which has pictures of every step and is very very detailed, so you know exactly what to do. og cabin book
That is actually a good, easy pattern to start with. It has only four-patches (two squares light, two squares dark) and half-square triangles, which are both patches that I teach to children and beginner adults. Use the Strip-piecing techniques whenever possible…basically you cut two strips of fabric (one light, one dark) and sew them together along one long side. Chop this double strip into smaller segments, take two segments, flip one around and sew another seam. It eliminates having to precisely cut a ton of little squares accurately…you cut them after they are sewn.
To make this particular pattern suitable for a double bed is trickier…if there are no directions in the pattern for a double-bed version, then you have a few options that are easy, but a quilt shop can help with the specifics.
Find this same pattern in a double bed version…they are out there, and if it weren’t 100 degrees here I’d go to the attic and find one for you.
Double the size of the pieces and add extra solid borders for the part that hangs off the side of the bed. If the small square is
2", make it maybe 4" and double everything else. Work it out on graph paper first to be sure, or go to a quilt shop…they love this kind of stuff…
Chose another pattern where you can add rows without destroying the seondary pattern that forms. A basic nine-patch
(think tic-tac-toe grid) or my personal favorite, Ohio Star (tic-tac-toe grid with X’s in the four center side squares) with sashing (strips of fabric - like borders) around each block.
An experienced seamtress can make a double-bed size top in one day (check out the Quilt-in-a-Day Series) with strip-piecing techniques and tie it in another…quilting takes longer. Since you’re a beginner, plan on one day to shop and wash and iron, one day to cut strips, two days to sew and press blocks, one day to assemble the top…and then another couple days to machine quilt. Hand quilting by yourself would take probably a month if you have a job and if you are determined.
I would really advise taking an all-day class. Lots of fun, lots of help, and if you take a friend along to help with the pressing, you can easily finish the top in class.
Hope this helps. Try making it in the wall hanging size first …easier to make mistakes on something that size.
Oh, and to adapt a quilt to be larger, you just figure out how many more blocks you’ll need. Those appear to be 9" blocks, so just figure how many you need to cover a double bed. Or, you can find the block somewhere else in a 12" size and use that.
You’re right–those instructions are not very complete. Another good starting book is Alex Anderson’s book for beginners–I forget the title. And my kid is dying to go outside.
That link is great - it has a lot of the detail that I think I might need. I was thinking of maybe trying an Ohio Star pattern - like I said, its for my sister, and I want to make something she’d like, more than something I’d like. Perhaps sizing up that pattern that I first linked to is too much, although it IS pretty. A baby-sized quilt would be fun to start, and I do know one baby…I might take that suggestion. I’m glad to hear that it doesn’t take TOO long to do - I was imagining months, although with full-time summer work, and school, thats what it might take.
I don’t know that I have time to take a class, but I might look into it.
kittenblue what do you mean by machine quilt/hand quilting? See how new I am to this? You mean adding the filling stuff and the back? Why would it take so long? Or do you mean all that tying…? I can see how that could take time, but not that long, or am I totally wrong about how one proceeds with this?
Also, any colour suggestions? Hehe my sisters room is dark blue and bright yellow - I want to make something that goes with that. I guess I’d need to get to a fabric store first, though…lol.
Once you have a quilt top–the pretty part–you’re only half done. You then need the batting and the back. You sandwich those together and pin them, and then you have a choice. You can:
-Tie the quilt with yarn knots—the easy but not-very-durable option
-Quilt it by hand—using a needle and thread to sew along the lines or make a pattern–the slow, old-fashioned, dedicated way, or
-Quilt it by machine—the same thing, only fast and often more durable. It’s not quite the same as sewing a seam, though. You need a walking foot for straight lines or a darning foot for patterns to get good results.
After that you need a binding for the edge, and there are a few ways to do that, too.
Blue and yellow are popular color combinations. You can have a great time at the quilt stor auditioning fabrics!
When you hit the fabric store, I’d suggest going with pre-cut quilting squares. Uniformity in your fabric pieces is one of the most crucial aspects of quilting, and getting them just so can be overwhelming for a beginner. They come in bundles of complementary colors and patterns and cost around $7-8. If yu must cut your own, I’d highly reccomend a cutting board with the quilitng grid on it and a rotary cutter—your wrist will thank you for it.
Have you checked out your local library yet? That’s where I got all of my ideas and instructions for my first quilt, and having the books lying around as reference came in handy more than once.
For your color scheme, I’d go with a yellow and white field, with bits of blue for depth. Good luck!
What genie said about quilting…but when I tie a quilt, I use embroidery floss. The knots are smaller and more comfortable to lay on.
Accuracy is a big deal when making a quilt, but don’t let it scare you. Part of the charm of a first quilt is the boo-boos and chopped off points and the less-than-straight stitching. That’s why strip-piecing is so much fun…you can eliminate a lot of the tedious cutting that makes for errors. You will need to get a rotary cutter and mat and ruler (looks like a small pizza cutter and plastic board with a clear plastic ruler) which can be a big expense…se if you can borrow from a friend.
You can cut all the pieces by hand, tracing around a template (plastic pattern piece) and then piece by hand or machine.
Advantages of machine: speed. Advantages of hand: portability. You can take a ziploc bag of squares anywhere and stitch a block together whenever you have a few minutes. It’s just gonna take a whole lot longer. (I’m still hand-piecing a baby quilt for my daughter…she’s now 20) But seriously, I’ve finished plenty of quilts! That one just keeps getting lost.
I don’t think I have any friends that quilt, so borrowing off them isn’t really a possibility. I like the idea of pre-cut squares. I’ll look into that. Do you think any fabric store would have them, or do I need to look into a quilting store in particular? We have a Fabricville and a Bou-Clair near here - I don’t know if you know those stores, but they do have sewing patterns/fabric etc. I don’t think I’ll be working on it by hand - the only place I go is work, and I wouldn’t want to work for hours on squares and then get something like sulfuric acid all over it
I am really excited about this. I wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow so I could go shopping
I decided I want to make one for my aunt, too. She’s having a bit of a rough time at the moment, and even though it would be a while before I got it to her, it would mean a lot to her. This is, of course, assuming I have the patience to get through the first one!
Walking foot: is this different than what I have on my machine already? The manual seems to call it a “presser” foot, but it looks like the usual kind of foot I have seen.
I have some other weird attachments which I’ve never bothered to use: something called a ruffler, apparently, a foot hemmer, an adjustable hemmer, a binder, an edge stitcher, and a gatherer. Looking into the box, I see these, and two other inidentifiable bits and pieces. They are all really scary looking, like something out of Frankenstein. They all have serial numbers, so I suppose I could find out what they are.
This is a pretty cool machine. I have a whole bunch of the original things that came with it, even the key to the box!
A walking foot is even scarier looking. It basically keeps the top layer of fabric moving through the machine at the same speed as the bottow layer, which is being moved by the feed dogs (those little toothy looking things under the presser foot) It helps prevent puckers. If there was a darning foot in that box, you could do free-motion quilting (with feed dogs dropped or covered) in which you can move the fabric yourself, making big swirly patterns or little stipple patterns, but not great for straight lines.
See how much you’re learning tonight! And you’re already planning your next quilt before the first one is done…very good!
If you’ve got more time than money, you can find quilt groups (especially at churches) that will hand-quilt your quilt for you, and even bind the edge. My mom’s group has no quilts on the waiting list right now, and as soon as they finish my Habitat For Humanity quilt it will be the first time in nearly 30 years that they won’t have a quilt waiting… now if I could only find the pieces for Molly’s baby quilt… There may be a church near you with a similar group. They don’t advertise…call churches and ask.
But for speed and economy, stick to tying the three layers together. Tying is basically taking a stitch thru all three layers with floss or yarn, tying a knot and trimming the ends short. Leave little tufts all over the quilt. Space the knots evenly across a pattern of squares (every other, every third, whatever) about a hand’s width apart. An even pattern is important.
I can’t say enough about the Quilt-in-a-Day series…they take one pattern, show you how to make it in sizes from wall-hanging to king, guide you through very explicitly and then show you various ways to finish.
Try ebay.com cause quilt stuff there is really cheap. fabrics, completed quilts etc. Recently
I saw a beautiful, very old quilt with no backing on it (you were supposed to add that) for like $30
queen size. But parts, like fabrics & stuff are prettycheap there too. For me, its just easier
to buy them completed
I have more money than time, but even that isn’t all that much
Could just sewing the layers together with a normal foot work, if I’m careful about it, or would it really get too messy, too fast? Hehe I am thinking way too much ahead for this - I won’t even have time to THINK about getting to the frabric store until a little later this week (crazy presentation for work tomorrow, and who knows what the aftermath of that will be…uggg). I like the idea of tying it with yarn, though. I think its a really cute look
I think I will look into those books, too. Sounds like they can be very helpful. You guys are great!
No, you really can’t quilt anything properly with an ordinary foot. At least, I’ve never managed it. It gets pushed around and everything gets puckered. Kittenblue…?
Tying is probably the best way to go for you unless you have a friend who can let you use her machine or something. A walking foot costs around $100. Once you know whether you enjoy quilting, you can invest more in that sort of thing.
(That’s how I started, anyhow.)
Hope your presentation goes well. Are there any quilt stores in your area? Fabricville and so on are fine, but the people at a store that focuses on quilting will take a big interest in getting you started and helping you out. I’d say check out both.
Well, you could do a wallhanging size with a normal foot, but to do a bed size, you’d have to baste that sucker to within an inch of its life, and if you’re going to do that much basting you may as well hand quilt! (Basting is big huge hand stitches that hold the layers together…start from the center with a knot and baste out to corners, sides, always starting a new thread at the center and smoothing out…you end up with a bunch of lines of stitching radiating out from the center…these get pulled out later. You can baste with safety pins, but it’s a pain, literally.)
Hmm…thats what I thought. I do like the yarn tying, though, so I suppose I wouldn’t mind too much. I think there are a couple of quilt stores in the phone book, but I only glanced quickly. The ones I noticed were kind of out of the way, although I suppose there might be some sewing stores (in that section of the phone book) that could be helpful too.
I really can’t afford a 100$ walking foot - especially if thats US funds your’re talking about Especially on this machine - I suppose eBay might auction some, but even then, I think I’ll wait and see.
Thanks for the good wishes, genie. The presentation went quite well, and the clients decided to transfer our method to them (which is a good thing). I’ve been working on it for a couple of months, and its been frustrating, so I’m glad things are working out well. Now I just hope there aren’t any problems at their end
Well, hopefully I can get to a store soon. I would have gone today, but the small battle between my uterus and the rest of me was not really making me too inclined to go shopping today. Maybe tomorrow, but by the end of the weekend for sure. Then I get started (I hope).
