First-Time Quiltmaking, Second Revised & Expanded Edition: Learning to Quilt in Six Easy Lessons

By Editors at Landauer Publishing

Discover how easy it is to begin quilting with this illustrated guide to fabrics, tools, and techniques. This go-to beginner’s guide includes 6 easy lessons – from learning the basics up to finishing a quilt – and 7 step-by-step projects with helpful photography and diagrams that are perfect for the first-time quilter! It's also a great guide fo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Landauer
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781607657521

Editors at Landauer Publishing

Landauer Publishing, Urbandale Iowa is an award-winning publisher of needlearts, quilting, crafts and hobby books.

Book preview

Lesson

1

beginning basics

What You Need to Have on Hand

For beginning quiltmaking, you’ll need a few tools. A sewing machine and an iron are essential. Whether or not you invest in a machine with all the bells and whistles, just make sure the machine you use sews an accurate straight stitch—the only stitch beginning quiltmakers really need. Then, get to know your sewing machine. Practice making routine maintenance yourself, and take the machine to a professional for regular maintenance check-ups.

Use an iron for ironing the uncut fabric and pressing seam allowances.

Gather additional quiltmaking tools and supplies either by borrowing from a friend, or making a purchase. If you intend to pursue quiltmaking, working with the proper tools will ensure that your quilts will turn out well and you’ll enjoy the entire process.

Make friends with your sewing machine! Read the sewing machine manual to learn how to install a bobbin and needle. Make sure your machine is lint-free, using a brush or soft cloth, and oiled.

You’ll need a sewing machine—old or new—in good working order.

Tools & Supplies

From top, clockwise shown on a large rotary mat:

Masking Tape

Thread:

for machine sewing and piecing

Rulers:

6½x6½″ (16.51x16.51cm);

6½x24″ (16.51x60.96cm);

1x6″ (2.54x15.24cm)

Rotary cutter

Seam ripper:

for feeding fabric under

the presser foot, and re-working

Scissors

Snips (for thread clipping at

the sewing machine)

Metal hair clips:

for temporarily holding

binding in place

Hand sewing needle and thread: for sewing binding

Darning needle:

size 14 to 18, with yarn

for quilt tying

Safety pins: nickel-plated:

1″–1½″ (2.54–3.81cm)

for basting

Grapefruit spoon or Kwik Klip™:

for closing safety pins

when pin-basting

Thimble

Post-it® notes:

1½x2″ (3.81x5.08cm)

for marking a ¼″ (0.64cm)

seam allowance

Straight pins

(flat or round heads

as shown in center)

What You Need to Know about Fabric

The best fabric for quiltmaking is 100 percent cotton. It’s easy to cut, easy to sew, and holds up well to handling during and after quiltmaking. Avoid polyester fabrics and polyester-cotton blend fabrics, at least until you become comfortable handling fabric. Polyester tends to pill, is slippery, and can be stretchy, making it difficult to manipulate.

Shopping for Quality

How can you know what the fabric content is for sure? Fabric usually comes from the mill in long lengths folded in half and wrapped around a cardboard core. The finished product is called a bolt. Fabric is unwrapped from it and almost always sold in ¼- (22.86cm), 1/3- (30.45cm), ½- (91.44cm) or 1- (91.44cm) yard lengths. Information about the fabric is printed on the label at the end of the cardboard core. It is here that you’ll find the key ingredient: 100 percent cotton. Not all 100 percent cotton cloth (or fabric) sold in stores is created equally. Though a fabric pattern may appear the same, the milling process for creating the woven goods onto which a design is printed may not be the same—which will be reflected in the price per yard. Two main factors in determining the price per yard and the quality of fabric you buy will be your budget and the quilt’s final use. Choose higher quality fabrics for a quilt that will hold its color and strength through many years of use and washing.

TIP: Determine whether the fabric you already have on hand is cotton or polyester, by giving it the match test. To be safe, do this over a sink filled with water. Set a flame to a small piece of the fabric. If the fibers turn to ash, it’s cotton; if it melts, it’s polyester.

Starting Small

Start small with fat quarters. One of the quilting terms you’ll hear most often is fat quarter or fat fourth. What is a fat quarter? It’s a one yard length of fabric that has been cut into four equal rectangles that measure approximately 18″ × 20″ (45.72 × 50.80cm.) By making a small investment in pieces of fabric such as fat quarters, you can try out various combinations of patterns. After you’ve experimented and gained confidence in your fabric selections, you can invest in larger quantities of fabric purchased by the yard.

Adding to Your Fabric Stash

Stored fabric is called a stash. Collect as much fabric as you wish; this kind of stash is legal!

When your fabric stash has every color of the rainbow, but you still need to make a trip to the fabric store for the exact color you think you must have, you’ll know you’re a real quilter.

What You Need to Know about Pre-cuts

Choosing fabric and then cutting to size for your project can be daunting to a first-time quilter. Those necessities are made easier today with the use of pre-cuts—fabric that is pre-cut in usable dimensions and offered in fabric collections from manufacturers. When you can use them in your project, it removes the stress and time it takes to cut a large piece of yardage into smaller pieces.

Since the fabric in precut bundles is made up of colors and patterns in a collection, you’ll be able to start making your project sooner and be assured that the fabrics in your quilt coordinate perfectly. More time is saved, (and maybe money!) since the challenge of making fabric choices has been done for you.

NOTE: Fabric manufacturers may have other names for the same size of pre-cuts. Chart names are from Moda/United Notions Fabric.

•It’s a good idea to consider the cost of pre-cuts compared to yardage of fabric. Buy pre-cuts if you love the whole collection of fabric. But if you aren’t in love with every piece in a bundle, it may be more cost effective to buy cuts of fabric from the