from someone who just made their first mini quilt aka baby blanket.
So it can go with out saying that I'm not an expert.. but I just wanted to share some things I figured out in the process.
1. Measuring and cutting squares is a lot easier with a rotary cutter and a cutting mat..
2. Cutting goes a lot faster when you cut through multiple layers..
3. Preplanning your layout on paper helps a lot. I gave each different fabric a letter and drew the layout on paper. Then I just put a letter into each box to represent the fabric. When sewing everything together.. it helps keep things in order.
4. When you get excited that you finished cutting your squares and you layout the design on the floor and then you realize it’s 1:00am and you should probably go to bed soon… but you don’t want to pick up everything you just layed out and re-do it tomorrow… Tape can be your friend.. I taped all of the mini squares together and then just picked everything up in order and kept it in a little pile.
5. Label at least one of each fabric square. ( see tip #3) Just tape a piece of paper with the corresponding letter to it. This will help keep track of which squares go where..
6. Sew two squares together.. Continuing sewing a couple more stitches.. Sew two more squares together.. And so on and so on.. You end up with a super long chain of squares but it saves a TON of time.. Plus it keeps everything in order especially if you made a handy little pile of fabric squares already in order to begin with…
7. If you want everything to square up and be equal.. You need to sew everything at the same measurement.
I sewed my squares at ¼ inch. I started with 3 inch squares and sewed at ¼ inch on each and ended up with 2.5.
8. Make your big squares equal to the size your little squares will end up being. NOT the pre-sewed size.. You’ll end up recutting them or sewing them at ½ inch on the big and ¼ on the small..
9. If you are lazy and don’t feel like pinning EVERYTHING.. Don’t! You may luck out and if you cut everything the same size and sewed at the same measurement.. They just might line up.. Might. I was lucky and they pretty much did.
10. Sometimes pins DO help.. I used pins on the edging..
(It looks a lot better in real-life.. the colors are really dull here)
That is all..
So it can go with out saying that I'm not an expert.. but I just wanted to share some things I figured out in the process.
1. Measuring and cutting squares is a lot easier with a rotary cutter and a cutting mat..
2. Cutting goes a lot faster when you cut through multiple layers..
3. Preplanning your layout on paper helps a lot. I gave each different fabric a letter and drew the layout on paper. Then I just put a letter into each box to represent the fabric. When sewing everything together.. it helps keep things in order.
4. When you get excited that you finished cutting your squares and you layout the design on the floor and then you realize it’s 1:00am and you should probably go to bed soon… but you don’t want to pick up everything you just layed out and re-do it tomorrow… Tape can be your friend.. I taped all of the mini squares together and then just picked everything up in order and kept it in a little pile.
5. Label at least one of each fabric square. ( see tip #3) Just tape a piece of paper with the corresponding letter to it. This will help keep track of which squares go where..
6. Sew two squares together.. Continuing sewing a couple more stitches.. Sew two more squares together.. And so on and so on.. You end up with a super long chain of squares but it saves a TON of time.. Plus it keeps everything in order especially if you made a handy little pile of fabric squares already in order to begin with…
7. If you want everything to square up and be equal.. You need to sew everything at the same measurement.
I sewed my squares at ¼ inch. I started with 3 inch squares and sewed at ¼ inch on each and ended up with 2.5.
8. Make your big squares equal to the size your little squares will end up being. NOT the pre-sewed size.. You’ll end up recutting them or sewing them at ½ inch on the big and ¼ on the small..
9. If you are lazy and don’t feel like pinning EVERYTHING.. Don’t! You may luck out and if you cut everything the same size and sewed at the same measurement.. They just might line up.. Might. I was lucky and they pretty much did.
10. Sometimes pins DO help.. I used pins on the edging..
(It looks a lot better in real-life.. the colors are really dull here)
That is all..
3 comments:
Thanks for the quilting tips! I've been thinking of maybe making my new niece a blanket could be fun. :)
You did real good for your first quilt. My mistake has always been leaving them on the table or floor, thinking I'll be the 1st one up. and the dog or cat getting into them 1st.
I am impressed!!!
I got my first sewing machine a few weeks ago...I have been wanting to tackle a quilt and hope to do so within the next week or so.
Thanks so much for these tips!!!
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