new to quilting

Welcome Becca If you are going to teach yourself, and have never done anything like this before, I would not advise buying any equipment really, other than the absolute essentials. Once you know that you like the art/craft, you can invest in the cutting mat and a rotary cutter, and other things which books may mention. First you only really need fabric, scissors, pins, needles, pencils and an accurate ruler. If you are planning to sew on a machine, it might be a good idea to have it serviced/cleaned before you begin. If you are new to a machine as well, take a little time to familiarise yourself with it and what it can do. You can probably get some basic books from your library. This will save you buying more until you are sure what you want to do. The 'mat' mentioned in the Penny Halgren book would be a cutting mat. These are made of a substance which is called self-healing - it doesn't disintegrate with all the cutting that goes on on it. The 'cutting wheel' is usually called a rotary cutter. Do be careful of these, the blades are incredibly sharp. Once you are using one, do be careful to notice when it starts getting blunt.

That's probably enough for now. Do a little research and 'pondering' before you start your first quilt (always special); and I would recommend that you do something quite small - not a king size bed quilt, until a little later. . In message , becca writes

Does your local quilt shop do lessons?

When I first started to quilt I took a beginners class at my LQS. It was two hours a week for 6 weeks. We made a small quilt about 24" square which included all the basics from choosing the fabric to the finished quilt.

As it was a beginner's class the first lesson was assembling the basics

- choosing a mat and rotary cutter (which you really do need to cut accurate pieces so that your seams will line up properly and your blocks will be the correct size), the fabric and thread etc. and the lesson ended with instructions to wash the fabric and bring it back the next week. Then each week we learned the next step or two. Our teacher also passed on hints and answered lots of questions.

My quilt is in my webshots album in Quilting, "Henny Penny", and included a bit of applique.

When I had finished it I felt confident enough to tackle my Sampler quilt (again with my LQS's help) and since then I haven't looked back.

Learning from another quilter makes things so much more understandable which is why this group is so good. There are so many knowledgable people who can help if you get stuck, and I am sure you will get lots of advice on how to start, and pointers to good websites too.

Welcome to the happy band of quilters!

First up - welcome!

Now - do you want to make large quilts or small quilts? This might make a difference to the quiltmaking method you want to learn first. For instance, if you start by making a small quilt you can try one method - perhaps hand piecing. If you don't like that method or you feel it would be too much work to make a large quilt that way you might want to try another method.

In the past quilters have made magnificent quilts with just needles and thread, scissors and fabric. Some quilts can even be made with no cutting at all. Manx quilts are made with torn strips, and whole piece quilts are large single pieces of fabric with intricate quilting patterns.

You can make quilts on your sewing machine or by hand or by a combination of the two. Do not dismiss hand piecing a quilt. It is surprisingly fast once you get going, and very portable so you can take it with you and snatch 5-10 minutes here and there to make blocks instead of having to wait until you can sit in front of your sewing machine.

The mat and cutter your referred to are for rotary cutting. This is how many quilts are made now. The rotary cutter looks like a pizza wheel, and when used with a quilting ruler it gives very accurate cutting of straight lines. The rulers (special perspex quilting rulers) are essential to go with the cutter, and they give accurate measurements for your cutting. The mat is what you cut your fabric on when you are using a rotary cutter. The mat is made of a special material that will protect your table or bench but will not be damaged by the very sharp blade in the cutter.

If you are going to start with rotary cutting for your quilt making you will need a mat, a 24" long quilter's ruler, and a rotary cutter as a start. This can be a significant investment so if you are not absolutely sure quilting is for you consider making a quilt using another method of cutting - good old-fashioned scissors. If you are really sure this is for you it is worth buying good quality tools right from the start.

As with most crafts, quilt making is probably best learned by seeing. If you don't have a local quilt shop (LQS) that can help, check around for a local quilt guild or group that might have classes. Or ask if any friends know a quilter who might be willing to show you the basics. Many quilters who do not teach will demonstrate the basics of cutting and pressing for a beginner.

I teach quiltmaking for beginners from my home and I encourage everyone to make lots of small practise blocks and sew them together into mini practise quilts to learn the basics before they start cutting up "good" fabrics. My beginners have classes once a week and they don't even choose the fabrics for their first quilts until about week four or five, but this is clearly not possible in a situation where you are attending classes in a shop. But if your are teaching yourself, buy some cheap fabric with start with simple practise blocks. They make great palcemats and animal blankets so they needn't be wasted either.

For a first quilt I recommend something like a four or nine patch design if you are working on your own. If you can find someone to help you over the basics you might like to try something a bit more advanced like a Round the World or simple Bargello. These are quilt patterns that are usually made with rotary cutting methods. If you can find a class to attend they will most likely offer a sampler design or one of the ones I mentioned above (four patch, nine patch, etc).

It is entirely possible to learn quilt making from books. I know because I did it 30 years ago when there were few books and almost no shops for quilters here in Australia. But it is easier and quicker if you can get some basic instruction right at the start.

If you have more questions just ask, but take it slow and steady and don't try to rush learning the basics. It is worth the effort to get them right.

How about telling us a bit about yourself? Where are you from (just generally - not specifics)? Do you have any QIs (Quilt Inspectors are usually four legged furries but any pet can be a QI - and they will consider your quilts as their personal property!)?

And of course the most important questions - your coffee and chocolate preferences. I am the odd exception in this group - I don't like either lol

Hi Becca, You have gotten some excellent advice here so far. I just wanted to add that if you decide to buy a rotary cutter, mat, and ruler, make sure you use Jo-Ann's 40% off coupons if there is a store near you. If you don't have a code for one, ask here and someone can usually come up with one for you.

-Lynn

You've gotten some really good responses. I just wanted to encourage you and tell you that I am a beginner, too; stick with it and I think you'll love it. I learned from books/internet and really struggled at first. Then I took a little class here and that's when everything seemed to just come together. I had learned enough on my own that I had a good enough background that I knew what I needed to ask. I learned *so much* from the other ladies. There are a lot of things that aren't in the books!

Sherry

Sally, I took a look at the pictures of your quilts and embroidery at webshots

-- they are gorgeous. Do you do that emboidery by hand? The sewing bags are so cute and look handy too. I'm not sure as to which one I like best. The cats one is so darling, but I also like the ocean one with the sail boats and fish under the sea!

Did you purchase a pattern for the bag construction?

Thanks, Bev in TX

Sally Swindells wrote: ... Portion snipped

Welcome, Becca!

I learned some quilting from TV. Over the years I watched Kaye Wood, Shar Jorgensen, Georgia Bonesteel, Eleanor Burns, and Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson. Nowadays on TV there is also Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, and Sewing With Nancy with Nancy Zieman covers quilting sometimes.

DVDs and videotapes also help. And Quilter's News Network on the Internet at

I didn't necessarily learn how to make specific quilts, but I was able to watch people using tools.

Have fun!

Kay Ahr in NV

becca wrote:

material and i want to began, but i barely know where to start. I brought a book on line by penny halgren. Nine easy steps to making your first quilt, but does seem to really explain, why am i doing this. for example, what is a mat what is it used for. should i buy one, cutting wheel, should i get one of those. will some please send me some advise.

becca

Yes! I forgot to mention TV. Those shows you mentioned also helped me a lot. I am such a visual learner, I have to be "shown" how, not just "told" how. I really struggle with books.

Sherry

Thanks Bev.

I didn't have a pattern for the bags - made it up as I went along. I actually have thre books with bag patterns in, but have never used them. The cat bag nearly killed me as it has three compartments with zips and there were a lot of very naughty words when I was putting the last side on! That bag has to last as long as I do! I nearly lost it a couple of summers ago. Smelt burning in the conservatory, couldn't find a fire so presumed it was a neighbour's bonfire. It turned out to be the sun shining through the magnifier on my sewing light, so the bag now has a little hole in it and the magnifier always wears its cover!

The sea one is nice and soft as it holds the cushion I take with me for meetings at venues with those horrid plastic chairs. If DH and I both go one of us sits on the bag! If the chairs look really hard I leave the cushion in the bag and sit on both. I was lucky as I had just the perfect fabric (a furnishing one) with stripes on for the sea. Most of the embroidery/applique is by hand, though I think I did the fishes by machine as they are fine fabric that frays - when I do it by machine I always end up pulling it out and doing it by hand, so now I don't even try!

I use too many !!! marks!