written by threadslinger

Above is the first quilt I made. I gave it to my mom this year for Christmas (she loved it.) While Marie is a pro quilter, been doing it since the womb or something, I am new at the craft. And, um, it’s hard. But, I thought instead of going through what I did here I would write a list of things that I learned while making this quilt. Most of these will be obvious to you that are very advanced quilters, but they at least helped me. Oh, and if you are interested in using the design I did above, I used this super helpful tutorial.

Lessons in Quilt making from a n00b

1. Press down your seams every time you make one.
This is something that seemingly everyone who quilts knows, but well, me. So, just in case you weren’t clued in, now you are. You press your seams to help match up your corners. This, I have learned (see above) is not always easy to do.
2. If you get frustrated, take a break.
The whole “preserver through trials” thing that we learned as kids should be ignored when quilting. Don’t power through if you are annoyed because you are likely to mess up and then have to re-do it.
3. Do it in little bits and pieces.
I have this headstrong mentality where I want to start and finish a project right away. This is probably why I end up sewing until 4 am sometimes. But, with quilting this is a mistake. Think of a quilt as a 10k, you don’t sprint the whole thing.
4. Don’t obsess if it isn’t perfect.
There are probably many quilters that would shake their heads at that sentence. But, I think it is okay for not everything to look amazing right away. It’s your first quilt, you are going to mess up sometimes. Learn from those mistakes for your next one. If you rip out every seam that isn’t perfect that quilt will likely never get done.
5. Most importantly: Ask yourself, am I having fun?
I find with things that I am not super good at right away are sometimes unbelievably hard for me to love. But, sometimes its the hard things that are the most fun. Life is too short to be unhappy, especially when crafting. So make sure you have fun or it isn’t worth the stress.