Learn How To Make a Quilt from Start to Finish!
Quilt making – It’s easy and it’s fun!
Before you learn how to make a quilt, keep one important thing in mind: there are few absolute rules that must be followed.
Instead, many quilt making instructions are simply guidelines that help get beginning quilters off to a good start.
Quilters are constantly developing new and time-saving ways to make quilts.
- It wasn’t too many years ago that quilters marked fabric using templates and cut out every piece with a pair of scissors. Some quilters still do that, but more and more people love the ease and speed of rotary cutting.
- Machine quilting is another technique that’s become more popular over the past decade.
Use our instructions to learn how to make a quilt, but always remember that you will possibly discover time-saving (or better) quilting methods of your very own.
Become familiar with quit making by following a few basic steps:
1. Read Quilting Patterns
- Quilt patterns help you learn how to sew a quilt by making you more familiar with techniques and terms used in the world of quilting. Quilting lingo always makes more sense after studying a selection of quilting patterns.
- Begin with quilt block patterns, then move on to patterns for complete quilts.
2. Get the Facts About Quilting Fabrics
Cotton fabrics are the number one choice for quilts, and it’s important to learn fabric characteristics before washing or cutting that first piece.
- Discover how quilting fabric grain can help enhance or destroy accuracy.
- Learn the pros and cons of prewashing quilting fabrics.
- Learn how to do a bleed test and try an easy way to keep fabric edges from fraying in the wash.
- Find out how a burn test can help identify fabrics when you’re not sure of their content.
3. Get Comfortable with Colour
Quilters are bombarded with colour from the moment we walk into a fabric store. I can guarantee that, unless you’re already involved in similar crafts, you’ll be confused at first about fabric selection.
- There are no colour rules, but a basic understanding of a simple Colour wheel makes it easier to choose colours and fabrics.
- Colour value is possibly more important than colour itself. Value refers to a colour’s contrast in relation to other Colours. Colour value differences and similarities work together to define the designs in our quilts.
4. Quilt Block Construction
- It’s helpful to have an understanding patchwork quilt block bone structure, which illustrates how blocks fit together (or not) — a big help when it’s time to design and sew a quilt.
- Accurate pressing goes hand in hand with quilt block construction. If the block isn’t pressed carefully, it probably won’t be accurate.
- Quilters who are accustomed to garment construction might not realize that most quilts are assembled using a narrower seam allowance. Set up the sewing machine to sew a quarter inch seam.
5. Explore Quilt Layouts
- Get the facts about mattress sizes before you make a quilt.
- Should quilt blocks be set on point or straight?. Patterns tell you which way to assemble blocks, but it won’t be long until you design your own
6. Consider Quilt Sashing and Borders
Should you add sashing to the quilt? Do you prefer the look of straight sewn borders or mitred borders? You might opt to go with pieced borders or use a border print to make the quilt border truly unique.
7. Learn How to Make the Quilt Sandwich
- What kind of quilt batting is best for the project?
- Will you piece the quilt backing or use one of the wide fabrics made especially for that? Quilt Backing Instructions
You’ll have a several decisions to make when you assemble the quilt sandwich.
8. When It’s Time to Quilt the Quilt
You can quilt the quilt by hand or machine. Or you might choose to tie the quilt for a quick finish.
9. Learn Quilt Binding Basics
- It’s easy to make quilt binding strips from any fabric and then sew the binding to the quilt. One popular method is binding sewn with mitred corners. Mitred binding is easy, so be sure to give it a try.
- A quilt hanging sleeve makes it easy to hang a quilt on the wall or in a show. A temporary sleeve can be added anytime, but a permanent sleeve is often sewn on at the same time you add the binding.
10. Keep Practicing
Practice makes perfect!
Remember; skills grow with every new project, so don’t become discouraged.
Comments are closed.
theguttertrash.com 
Great, I could really use another horseblanket~ to paraphrase, Bruce Campbell…
very funny reb!
armchair experts, you lot haven’t got a quilt in ya!
How amusing. I am delighted. Something worth reading at last!!!!!!
“armchair experts, you lot haven’t got a quilt in ya!”
This is true. I lack the necessary patience and dexterity…
Although I can see the appeal of sitting around in a group session and just having a good old gossip while everyone quilts away…
Reb that is what everyone does here only without the handcraft.
However I did buy some lovely hand stitched quilt and pillow covers from the night market in Luang Prabang….
The local hill tribes make them – usually the wives of the farmers – each stitched by hand, then they sell them at the night market for the ridiculous price of about $20 a set..
Very good point Dianne… 🙂
I hadn’t thought about it like that before… 😆
This is true. I lack the necessary patience and dexterity…
I lack the bleedin’ interest … 🙄
What will, Kneel think?
He’ll probably put up a graph to prove that Tony Abbott is a quilt champ … or sumfink!
others may not like to Reb.
Finally a thread that everyone can enjoy! Thank you reb, quilt making is a fascinating subject!!
Just who are the “demonstrators” in the photo anyway?
Shorter Neil…
“Quilts will always have superior block construction & more properly crafted sashing under John Howard !”
“I don’t trust quilts made by ALP supporters”
“We should distribute more sandwiched quilts to the homeless, this winter, unless of course they are homeless Russian Scientists…in which case we shall redouble our efforts to distribute zyklon-b to them.”
The Minister, is actually doing a tapestry of Tutenkhamun’s mask as I tap away here!
I kid you not!
“Just who are the “demonstrators” in the photo anyway?”
I see what you’re trying to do there, TB. 😉
LOL! @ Toilette! 😆 Brilliant!
I see what you’re trying to do …
Suspicious mind …
+++++++++++++++++++++
Would you believe my Samsung ultra $$ BD home theatre has trouble playing my .mp4 version of GoT season 3 (buffer issue I suspect – or just the DRM!) but the cheap and nasty Kogan BD plays flawlessly AND enhances the image … astounding!
I would believe.
I would believe.
yep, always buy cheap and nasty if you want to get past certain restrictions, the predators work together.
Shorter Neil…
😆
The local hill tribes make them – usually the wives of the farmers – each stitched by hand,
How wonderful, the time they would take to make! Hand sewn quilts sell for hundreds in western countries.
I intend machine sewing, I’m not that traditional or patient. If it’s not coming together quickly I’ll lose interest. Don’t think I could do the intricate patterns either. You’re way ahead of me dianne.
перевод посредством платежных систем… на самом деле, скажи, как тебе удобно – что-нибудь придумаем. Если в Москве обитаешь или собираешься посетить, то можно пересечься без проблем.
GMAB, Toillette, that does not translate! Well it does into gobbeldydook!
gobbeldygook
More anti-Russian propaganda! Now from, TB! 😯
I can assure you it was lifted from the typings of an actual Russian. Not a scientist though, that I know of.
Goebbeldigook? 😯
Imagine how many quilting gurus from Bangladesh will die to make Our Prince George his first Royal Corgi Blanket. 😯
Goebbeldigook?
Clever! Very! I like the Russians I’ve met … ethnicity does nowt fer me, laddie … but then I have never met their Prez … he bovvers me a bit!
Don’t know too many Russians, personally, but I’m pretty sure they look like humanic bipeds. Also, they have a knack for producing cutting edge Slam.
I agree about Putin. He has an air of Stalin-with-a-modern-PR-entourage about him. Although, I think communism is dead in Russia; replaced by the ‘freedomz’ of dogeatdog capitalism & corruption.
Russia has the outward appearance of nastiness, governmentally at least. I love how they’re subtly pissing in the US’s face by giving succour to Snowden.
And the
USSRRussian Foreign Minister reminds me so much of Scott Morrison its really scary!He is not an attractive man Mr Putin particularly bare to the waist which he seems to be a lot. He has the build of a trapeze artist.
He is one scary mofo. Hard as granite. Decades of ruthlessness behind him.
Yeah TB they both bare their bottom teeth.
And ahead TPP
Just combining cav sav consumption with crocheting
A good combo Tom. Hook in one hand, goblet in the other. Are you making the pineapple lacework sunhat for TB? Lovely thought.
Thank you Dianne, but I don’t believe TB’s fashion sense extends beyond polyester suits and shoes with velcro.
I think I’m making a doily for a bottle of wine, but maybe I’ll just let the cat make it into a ball of tangle, while I drink the wine.
I don’t think you need a fashion sense for the pineapple sunhat. It is a genuine item located among instructions for crocheted goods provided bt Reb. And charming it is too. Would work v well with polyester and Velcro, materials so appropriate for infernal sunshine. Doilies are always welcome but I suspect the cat will take control. I have just finished an abstemious sparkling water and am quilting.
Yes, but even though everyone here is nice, polite and considerate, that doesn’t translate to anyone reading anything the site owner writes!
Though apparently he enjoys some red too, which shows a degree of culture.
——-
With TB, everything just has to go with polyester and velcro.
so this is your `new.?` hobby reb.?
No 7.30 it is a very serious attempt by Reb to provide healthy pursuits. He is going to push Egg out of the CO2 salon and hand over that space to Armchair and myself. Beginners cross stitch will be the kick off.
He doen`t need to do that Dianne.
(He can just push Egg into the `Gas-Chamber` and lock the door.) Extensions can be built pretty quickly and you and armchair should have a `brand`new sewing salon. 🙂
Mais non. Quelle horreur. I have a soft spot pour Le petit Monsieur Oeuf.
Monsieur oeuf est un bon citoyen d’Internet. Il est généralement poli et il est tout à fait possible d’entrer dans un discours civilisé avec lui.
Je me sens presque coupable pour les occasions au cours de laquelle j’ai perdu ma merde sur lui pour faire des généralisations indésirables sur mes positions.
‘He is going to push Egg out of the CO2 salon and hand over that space to Armchair and myself.’
Go for it, I’ve vacated the space.
intellectuals hang out here
Believe it or not, I do read your leavings, el gordon.
It all goes into the databank…
tat da nu
Monsieur Toilette vous etes toujours un parfait gentilhomme.
Thanx toilet, but the games up. It appears that 75% of the Australian population, including most politicians, have been brainwashed and there is nothing that can be done to rectify the matter.
By the way 7.30 I found that Tim Dunlop piece very interesting. It is inevitable I believe that globalization will free up the movement of people. God know how it will all play out down the track.
We might be right Egg.
it won`t work out for most Dianne.
Research Detroit and New-Orleans in USA.
Both cities are `eroded`, other cities will follow them.
Feudal times again? The rich enjoying the servitude of others? Am I being overly pessimistic.
I certainly know about Detroit’s woes and was astonished recently to hear the extent of the huge drop in population. Forgotten the figure but it approximated the difference between a major city and a middling regional town. Strange place America. I have recently stumbled upon abandoned shopping malls throughout the US. Huge, formerly glitzy shopping centers now boarded up, rusting and decaying, full of tumbleweeds, drug dealers and the homeless. There are home movies on YouTube made by ‘train spotter’ types crawling through holes in security barriers to explore these ghostly abandoned temples of commerce.
this is the stupidity of the free-trade globalisation crap Dianne, the price for the corporate benefit is often turning current cities into ghost-towns, most don`t recover. Similar has happened in UK, industry centers like Sheffield, blown off the map during WW2, were rebuilt, then tossed on the trash-heap for the benefit of the rich, which also kills off some of the tax-revenue for govt.
I don’t have a good handle on these things 7.30 as I cannot count without coloured beads but I can put two and two together. I have been astonished, appalled and sickened in recent times to see all the home brand products on the supermarket shelves. I trotted in one day and snaked my hand up to pluck down a familiar can of plums. Not there. Only generic cans. Increasingly the prominently displayed products bear supermarket labels. Meanwhile local orchards are being cut down and farmers are being squeezed. I realized then that some sort of feudal order is reasserting itself. Supermarkets are now the lord of the manor.
Monsieur Toilette vous etes toujours un parfait gentilhomme.
La Pimple Scarlet a souvent besoin d’un retrait obligatoire ne pas être séduit par sa maîtrise du traducteur google
Detroit is the signal that Über Kapitalsm as operated by The Robber Barons is an abject failure … FOR THE ORDINARY FOLK … had the USA been less interested in massive profits and payouts to the Robber Barons … and concentrated on the needs of a well established community then the outcome just may have been quite different!
Detroit is a sad monument to the Western Empire … this crumbling city is a graphic demonstration of the beginning of the end …
We have to find/develop a better system than the greed and corruption of our present market economies …
… the search for the dollar is destroying our compassion for a range of things in our daily lives – the love of doing things just because we can, our sports, sharing with others in need, family infrastructure and self support, our political systems, the simple act of providing decent to customers/clients service in our shops and professions …
I prefer to live in a society, rather than survive in an economy!
… the simple act of providing decent service to customers/clients service …
Oui TB Je le sais tres bien.
That above refers to Pp.
I share your views TB. I hate the dollar signs in front of everything. I am sure we are not alone either. The Anglo world in particular has become so boringly homogenized as well. There are three words I have come to hate: choice, freedom and consumer, particularly when it is linked with consumer sentiment. Bonne nuit
Dianne, your plums, (probably from asia) is familiar to me. The woolies apricots l had are from S.Africa. While Aussie orchards pull out their trees and vines. As others here would know, l have often screeched about the `dismantling` that is going on is Aus, dunlop called it `gutting`, but we are referring to the same thing. This is the impoverished, guaranteed loss for the majority, short-term gain for a few, created by the corrupt imbeciles in charge we have today. The junior-thinkers that follow this type crap don`t understand that demolishing your own jobs, primary produce, natural resources, culture, assets and gold reserves is the wrong thing to do.
Unlike TB, l have no hope of this changing for everybody`s betterment and expect us to have a Rustbelt/Sheffield/Detroit out-come in out future, the ground-work of `gutting` has been going on for too long, in too many areas, to be able to turn things around quickly and no indication on the horizon that these problems are even acknowledged. Stop the Boats Noise, pre-occupy`s the witless troll-media, and the rest of us are shouted-down by the megaphones.
I agree 7.30. My faith is lost.
Refreshed from the gym I am astride my hobby horse.
There is an economic model we can follow. Mittelstand. German of course. I have mentioned it here before.
I know Germany very well and admire that country as I do France. Germans and French people take pride in their creativity and traditions.
The Germans know that they cannot compete on cost alone so they go for quality.
Many small towns in Germany have a thriving international industry most often family owned. In times of global downturn they protect their workers. Well-trained craftspeople are essential for quality products. They are not disposable. I think 70 per cent of Germans are employed in such industries.
Here we sell off, close down, sack etc etc. We are a nation of insecure automatons. No wonder people are so receptive to fear mongering about refugees.
What binds us together these days? Sport and Gallipoli. I don’t like sport and I hate the way Gallipoli is being used as patriotic cement.
We are a nation of insecure automatons.
Unfortunately true …
Unlike TB, l have no hope of this changing for everybody`s betterment and expect us to have a Rustbelt/Sheffield/Detroit out-come in out future
007, I concur with the latter part of your argument … but the long term vision must be a more harmonious outcome that reflects living and life rather than wealth for the few and poverty for the many … power these days comes with wealth not necessarily intellect …
I watched a doco last night on, Star Trek, and what struck me was that a great deal of technology that, Gene Roddenberry, envisioned, has come to fruition, or is developing (even the 3D printer is heading towards the replicator!) … what I also realised, though is that Roddenberry’s visions concerning the human race and the elimination of bigotry and survival needs are lagging way behind!
No money in it I suppose …
I prefer to live in a society, rather than survive in an economy!
Dianne, the patriotic gallipoli stuff is at least admitted as a disaster by the `ruling` class. They still haven`t mustered the brains and courage to realize and admit that lraq, Korea and Vietnam were disasters we didn`t really need to follow the dopey yanks into.
*
TB, l think we are on the same page for most part, (just not star-trek) , , `hope` is where we differ, as the things l mentioned above won`t change in my `life-time`, when l`m dust it won`t matter.
What a classy couple…
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/shane-warnes-antics-at-royal-ascot-raise-eyebrows/story-e6frfmqi-1226687124918
… won`t change in my `life-time …
007, I agree but I tend to look at my five g/kids and hope they will enjoy a happy future … along with all the other g/kids around the world …
… as for me I’d love to get a letter from the king when I turned the century … just so I could send it back!
Re: Star Trek … you do know that the foundations of Star Trek and the underlying philosophy was about human rights and freedoms and recognising that while our individual uniqueness must be recognised, we work best as members of a team …
Its not “just” a TV show … unless you want it to be …
There should be a backlash against-
• Toll paying for Morrison’s fact finding mission
• Abbott/Hockey declining to put their policies to Treasury
The ALP should be able to get a little traction with both.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your blog.
You have some really great articles and I feel I would be
a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some content for your
blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Regards!
HEY REB, click here is the GOLD! You’ve finally cracked the big time!
Oh CNN have been trying to buy GT for some time now TB, but we’ve decided to list on the ASX instead…
I’d forgotten what a fascinating post this was too.
sreb, I can understand the first comment (talking to Wally in the background I suspect 😉 )
As for the second comment … erm … er …. mmmm … hang on I’m trying to be noice here …
I’ll come back later … probably a lot later …
”we’ve decided to list on the ASX instead…”
At a price earnings ratio of 12? Makes it worth…billions!!
Whoooooo!