How to make a Quilt - a beginner's guide
There are endless tips and tricks for quilting 'perfection' but happily there are very few absolute right or wrongs. If you love it, if your seams hold together, then it's a successful quilt! My recommendation is to experiment and find which techniques work best for you and your project.
But to get you on your way here is all the basic knowledge you'll need to craft your very own modern heirloom. This guide is very much a work in progress so if there is anything you'd like to know or made clearer just let me know!
First Prep your fabric Trust me, it's all in the prep work!
Piecing: Sewing the different pieces of a patchwork quilt together is called piecing. You can use a sewing machine or sew by hand.
Basting: Having a layer of wadding (or batting) between a top and a bottom piece of fabric is what makes a quilt a quilt. Basting is the process of securing those layers together ready for quilting. Here's how to baste a quilt
Quilting:
Machine quilting achieves a sligthly flatter look than hand quilting but that might be what you're after... You can make some amazing geometric patterns and of course, it's much faster than hand quilting.
Hand quilting requires you to take your time but that's the beauty of it. The texture you create will be unique to the rhythm of your stitches.
Some quilters like to plan their quilting design at the start and others only do it once their quilt top is pieced. Your design can be simple or intricate, can complement or contrast with the pattern.
The sky is the limit! You can even try a whole cloth quilt without any patchwork where the quilting alone is the star...
Binding: This is the process of attaching a piece of fabric to bind the raw edges together to prevent them fraying and add extra strength.You can do it all by hand, all by machine or my preferred method, a mixture of the two.
Here's how to bind a quilt
There you have it, that's the basics. I have other tips on my blog and you can sign up to my newsletter to hear when new posts are added.
Now all that's left is for you or your chosen loved one to snuggle up and enjoy your incredible quilt! I hope that it will be a wonderful heirloom but don't forget to use it well! It's meant for you to sleep under it, take it to the beach and spill red wine on it so....I also have some tips on caring for your quilt here.