Last weekend, I decided I wanted to do something new. I had gotten some fabric from my mom in my Easter box and didn't really know what to do with it. Then I saw the most adorable baby skirt with a pattern so simple, even I should be able to make one. I dusted off my sewing machine and finished it in one day! I was so proud of myself and it turned out super cute. Best of all, it fit my little monster and now she has something to wear with her Blackhawks jersey while we watch "hah-eeee" together. I really had fun sewing and was looking forward to the next time I would get my machine out and work on something. As I was putting it away, I found a fat quarter bundle that I'd forgotten about for who knows how many months! I bought it with the intention of turning it into a quilt, but I've never made one before and really had no idea where to even start. A few months ago, I made a ruffle edged bubble blanket (I've also heard it called a biscuit quilt) with a friend of mine, but this was going to be completely different. The bubble quilt was done using a large square sewn to a smaller square, then joining them all together to form the quilt top and stuffing them, hand sewing the holes, attaching the ruffle edge and back, and turning the whole thing right-side out. This time I was going for a basic patchwork style quilt with a solid back and batting in between. I didn't have a pattern, just a general idea of how I wanted the quilt to look once it was finished. I had 5 different pieces of fabric, each with a different pattern in purple and white. I knew I didn't want too big or too small of pieces to work with, since sewing is still relatively new to me, and I also hate measuring and cutting. I decided to start with 4 inch squares. I did this because my ruler is 4 inches wide, so all I had to do was line up one side with the edge of the fabric and cut along the other side with my rotary cutter. Lazy quilting is the best! It didn't take long before I had 20 squares of each fabric and could start laying out how I wanted the pattern to go.
I wanted a nice pattern that wasn't the basic diagonal rows, so I went with a repeating pattern and offset each row by two. Also, early on I decided it was best to keep coffee near me at all times while working on this quilt. Coffee helps me human. When figuring out how I wanted to do my quilt, I just started out with a 5x5 square. I don't have a whole lot of table space, as I use the coffee table for most of my projects.
It took a little bit of math, but I finally figured out how big my quilt was going to be. I had 100 squares, but I didn't want a square quilt. I went with a 9x11 layout and had one extra square to save for a scrap project later on. I don't have anything in mind for it yet, but I hear there are tons of options out there; thanks Pinterest! Once I had my pattern set, getting my rows laid out was a breeze.
We have some four legged fiends in our home, so I grabbed some spare paper and labeled my rows in case a cat decided to *ahem* help me out. This also kept me from accidentally sewing too many squares per row since there was an obvious divider in between.
About half a cup of coffee in, I was getting super excited about my quilt and didn't want to stop. Baby girl was taking a longer nap than usual, so I took advantage and set out my first row to get ready to sew! I got my sewing machine out of the box, threaded my bobbin and got everything set up. Just as I was about to pick up the first two squares to make my first seam, I heard crying.
One year olds and sewing projects don't usually mix too well, so having a secure place to store my bits and pieces is an obvious must have. I stashed my stacks, downed the rest of my mommy juice and packed away my quilt until later. I was hoping for later that same day, but it was not to be. I figured I would just work on this quilt whenever I could. It was for my own baby girl, and she has no lack of blankets, so I was in no hurry.
The next day at nap time, I got out my first row and started sewing. I was in the zone! Quarter inch seams were getting finished in no time flat. I got the first four squares put together and was about to pick up square number five when I realized, to my absolute horror, it was the same as the first square. I have five patterns, so square number five shouldn't be the same as one I've done already - oh there it is. I checked my pattern picture hoping against hope that the circles were supposed to go next to the polka dots, even though I already knew that was not the case.
After searching through my sewing tote, I found my seam ripper and got to work. I'm sure there is an easy way to do this, I just don't know what that would be. It took several minutes and a little bit of cursing, stabbing myself with the pointy end (seriously, what is the point of that?) and nearly ripping my fabric several times instead of just the seam, but I was finally able to power through and separate my row where the missing piece was supposed to go.
A couple quick seams and the missing piece was neatly in place! It really didn't seem to me that I was off to a great start. I was basically on step three of my quilt and already had messed up. It did teach me a lesson, though. Pay very close attention to what you are doing! Just because you are trying to get as much done as possible while a certain someone is napping, doesn't mean you have to go so fast that you make mistakes every step of the way. Slow down, and just enjoy yourself.
Before I knew it, the first row was finished. I stretched it out a little bit and my seams looked even enough to get by. The first row of my bubble blanket was a curved mess and I had to take out and redo three different seams, so I counted this as a win. I was finally getting the hang of how coordinated you need to be to use a sewing machine. I mentioned before that I use the coffee table, but what I didn't say was that I sit on the floor while I sew. I'm sure seasoned sewists cringe at the thought of doing that, but it was how I learned to do it. Since I don't have leg space to use the pedal, I press it with my right hand and guide the fabric with my left. It works well enough at this point, though my legs do lose circulation and go numb after a while.
Lucky for me, little monster woke up before my legs could get too stuck in place this time. I knew if I hadn't made the mistake of missing a square and having to take out the seam where it was supposed to be, I probably could have finished two or three rows instead of just one, but I was also just glad that I was able to finish a whole row!
The next day, after the baby went down for the night, I was able to finish up all of my rows with no more huge mistakes. There were a couple times, when laying each finished row on top of the last, that I thought I had somehow severely mixed up my pattern and sewed the squares in the wrong order. However, it turned out that I was just laying them down backwards and a quick flip got them looking good again.
Once all eleven rows were complete, it was time to flatten my seams. I've seen a few different ways to do them online, but my favorite way is to press them open. Slide your finger in and separate the fabric and use the tip of your iron to press the sides out to lay them flat. One thing that no tutorial said was to only iron the fabric, not your fingers! Apparently you're supposed to get your finger out of the way before you get the iron too close. Who knew?
With the seams pressed open, getting the rows attached is a breeze. You don't have to worry about what direction your seams should go and can just easily get through each row. Before getting started on each row, I would check twice to make sure everything was facing the right direction. I got the whole quilt top finished fairly quickly, and was surprised to find that my sides were fairly even. Even though I was careful and went slow while sewing, I still expected there to be jagged edges everywhere.
The last step for the quilt top was to press open the new seams on the back. After I flipped it back over, I was so thrilled for how well it was turning out! The whole project seemed to be going so much faster than I had hoped it would, and I found myself ill-prepared. I didn't have any fabric for the back or binding, and had no batting for the middle layer. I was so glad when a friend from work told me about a huge Memorial Day sale at Joann Fabrics, and got my email with extra coupons later that same night! The next morning, baby girl and I set to pick out my missing pieces for the quilt. We ran into a couple SUPER helpful ladies who helped me figure out what size batting I should use and how much fabric I would want for the binding. Thank you for helping me out! I was so lost in there, and it was so busy so I felt bad asking for a lot of help from the people working. I picked out a yard of bumpy minky fabric for the backing, a couple white on white fat quarters for the binding, and a thin poly-fil batting for the inner layer.
I found several tutorials online for how to baste a quilt. Apparently this has nothing to do with cooking and squirting meat juice on it. Basting the quilt just means getting your layers to all lay flat with each other and having your fabrics all line up. I cut my backing to the exact measurements of my quilt top. I forgot the basic rule of everything my grandpa taught me. You know the one - measure twice, cut once. One end came out slightly shorter than the quilt top, but I figured it was close enough for me to make it work. It wasn't until I was looking up how to do the binding that I found a helpful hint for this. Cut the batting and backing fabric larger than your quilt top. That way, once you get your layers set and flat, you can cut off the excess and have nice neat edges to work with while you quilt. I know for next time at least.
For the actual basting, I flipped the quilt back over and started pinning everywhere. I went around the edge first, since my bottom piece wasn't quite the right size and I wanted to make sure my corners would match up. If you try your own quilt, I would recommend starting from the middle and working your way out. This helps to ensure that you don't end up with bubbles in your quilt anywhere. I didn't mind that I had some bunching in a couple rows. This is my first quilt, and I'm using it as a study in trial and error.
I found that pinning in the middle of each square helped to keep things as flat as possible. Since my backing fabric didn't meet up well, I got quite a bit of puckering on the top layer, but after several quick searches on google, I found that (hopefully) since I didn't pre-wash the fabrics that some of it should work itself straighter as the fabric shrinks a little bit in the wash. Keeping my fingers crossed.
As this is my first attempt at quilting and I have a tiny and cheap machine, I opted for the simplest version of quilting possible. I started quilting row by row, stitching in the seam from the quilt top as best as I could. Every once in a while, I would lose control of my sewing machine and panic for a few stitches before I managed to stop and get back on track. Having the extra layers was a bit cumbersome and awkward. I often noticed the fabric not being pulled through well. I think this has more to do with how heavy the quilt was becoming and that I was getting it caught on the edge of the table I was working on than any real reflection on my machine. As I finished each row, I took out the pins and rolled up the edge to help fit it under the arm of the sewing machine. This was a helpful tidbit I didn't know about until about three frustrating rows in, trying desperately to not sew the quilt to itself.
About halfway through the first side of quilting, I had to take a break to sit back and reflect on every decision in my life leading up to me taking on such a seemingly huge project. I briefly debated quitting completely and leaving the quilt partially done indefinitally.
I decided to bribe myself with a fresh cup of coffee once I finished the horizontal quilting. I took a deep breath and started powering through. Once I did finish, I liked the way the back looked with just straight lines going from side to side. I had originally wanted to quilt along every seam, but I didn't like the idea of having all the squares on the back side. Mixed in with how impossible the actual quilting turned out to feel, I said "I'm done" and went and got my well deserved coffee.
I found a great youtube video on how to do a quilt binding that explains it so well, even I felt confident going in to it! She uses a 2 1/2 inch binding. The pieces I used are from a fat quarter and are only 21 inches long, so I had to sew them on a diagonal seam and press them open. I did some math and figured out how many strips I would need, but didn't take into account how much of each strip would be taken up joining them, and also that I needed some overlap so there wasn't a gap once I had it sewn to the quilt. After I was almost ready to start sewing, I pinned it to the edge just to see, and found it fell about three inches short. It took a couple times of me sewing the new extra piece to the wrong side (an embarrassing mistake to make more than once) before I was all set and ready to begin.
I stayed up entirely too late into the morning so I could say I had finished attaching the binding to the back. I didn't notice that every tutorial shows people sewing the binding on the front side first. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it was just one more "ugh, really?" for my project. It didn't seem to make a real difference, so I left it as it was and said goodnight to my quilt. The part I was most nervous about was sewing the reverse side of the binding. I am no good at controlling my sewing machine when I have a full 1/4" of fabric to leave on the edge, and somehow I was supposed to sew right up against the edge of the binding on one side, and have it line up in the seam from where I sewed it on the other side. That sounded laughable, but when I got started in the morning, it went a lot easier than I thought it would. My husband had suggested sitting on the couch in front of the coffee table, instead of on the floor under it, so I could use both hands to guide the fabric through, and actually use my foot on the foot pedal. "It's not called a hand pedal" he pointed out. Thank goodness for husbands who look out for you!
And there you have it! My quilt is not the greatest one out there, but my baby girl loves it, and so do I. After so many ups and downs with my first quilt, I now have a better understanding of how it all works, and look forward to many more quilting projects in the future. I'm sure, as with crochet, the more time and effort you put in, the better your results will be and the more comfortable you'll be as well. I still see every mistake I made, but looking at the big picture of this quilt, I am so happy with the way it turned out.
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