Things I Would Tell My Beginner Quilter Self

Everyone is a beginner at some point. After 22 years as a quilter there are some things I know now that I wish I knew then.

At 45 I can look back at my life knowing I totally rocked the flannel shirt with down vest look and my moment on stage with Courtney Love, but I would love to take away the insecurities and moments I wasted feeling sorry for myself when I was a beginner quilter. So much pressure, so many doubts. If I could go back and do it all over again this is what I would tell myself.

Don’t Give Away Your First Quilt

Most of us start because we want to make a quilt for someone. But the struggles and imperfections of the first quilt are better left to yourself. It is also amazing to go back, even 3 quilts later, to see how far you’ve come.

Photograph Everything

Much easier now with smart phones and tablets.

Value is More Important than Colour

A lesson learned by spending all that time making a quilt, with all the piecing, and when you hold it up you can hardly see any of the design. Yup, not enough contrast in value. 

Listen to the Ladies at the Quilt Store

Learn from experienced quilters. No one says you have to buy the fabric they suggest, but another set of eyes on your plan is not a bad thing. Plus, they usually know quilt math.

It’s Okay to Abandon a Project

If you are sewing away and you just aren’t feeling what you’ve got under the needle, stop sewing. No one else cares if you stop sewing it. File it away and maybe one day it will inspire you again. Or give it away to a quilting friend.

Don’t Copy Other People’s Patterns

Even if you can figure it out, copying a pattern from the picture is stealing. Someone else put the time and effort to create the pattern now you are not not giving them credit or the financial return. 

Your First Five Attempts at FMQ Will be Awful

And that’s okay. You are not Ebony Love or Angela Walters. (Or Diane Gaudynski, the rockstar machine quilter when I started.) You are just starting out. But if you don’t keep doing it you won’t get better. Stipple, stipple, stipple.

Sometimes You Can’t See the Quilting

It is easy to totally obsess over how to quilt your quilt. I’ve held on to quilts for months figuring out just the right pattern. Then the work goes in and guess what? You can hardly see the quilting because the top or the fabrics are so busy. Before you obsess, determine how visible the quilting will be. If you aren’t going to see it, go easy on yourself with a stipple or some basic straightline.

Quilts are about how they feel, as much as how they look.

Unless your quilt is going in a show or you are posting it online, the quilt is so much more about how it feels on your lap, covering your kid, or under your hands as your rub the thigh of your partner. So pick good fabric, make sure your quilting provides good texture, and don’t scrimp on cheap batting.