3 beginner quilting mistakes I made on my first quilt (and how you can avoid them)
Are you planning to make your first quilt – or perhaps dream of making one? Go for it, but please don’t make the three mistakes that I made!
When I decided to sew my first proper-sized quilt in the mid-1990s, I made three big mistakes - but I was able to finish the quilt:
Be smarter than I was and learn from my early experiences!
And anyway, what was the use of investing in tools that I might only use for one project?
So, what did I end up doing?
I’d selected a relatively quick pattern based on strips. Meaning, it would have been a quick make if I’d had proper tools for cutting the strips for the blocks. Instead, I worked as follows:
I used a (short) ruler to measure and a pencil to mark the width of each strip on the wrong side of the fabric. Next, I drew a line through the marker dots and then used scissors to cut along the line.
Face palm! I must have used 20 times more time to cut one strip than it would have taken using a ruler and cutter. (It is a wonder that I wasn’t turned off by “quilting” after this project.)
Avoid my mistake: don’t cut your strips using scissors. You might manage a quilt of 20-30 very large squares with no special tools, but for strips or more elaborate blocks, do yourself a favour and get the basic tools: ruler, rotary cutter, and cutting mat.
Your takeaway: get the proper tools. Quilting is way more fun that way!
Fabrics that look very different in colour can fool your eye. It’s so easy to think that the block pattern will stand out because the colours look clearly different. But colour contrast alone isn’t enough because the human eye is built to see the differences between value before the differences between colour.
I wish I could go back in time and explain this to my early self!
When you want the block pattern to be clearly visible, there must be value contrast between the pieces. A quilt with uniform value will look featureless. Just imagine a quilt made only of blocks like this one:
The pieces in the block are busily patterned, and too close to each other in terms of value. You cannot really see the pattern in the block.
I did not know about value contrast when I chose fabrics for my first quilt: I believed that colour contrast or alternating between solid and patterned fabrics would be enough.
It took me several years to understand why my finished quilt, with its carefully planned colours seemed so flat and not at all as nice as I had envisioned. It's the lack of value contrast, which you can see more easily in this black-and-white image:
For example, the patterned fabric of the “light” strips blends into the green ones. Overall, the “lights” and the “darks” are too close to mid-value though there is a bit of contrast.
Your takeaway: recognise value contrast and use it to effect. Learn this early!
I’d learned enough to know that it would be possible to quilt even a large project on a domestic sewing machine, and I sort of knew how to do it as well. However, I was scared of ruining my precious surface with uneven stitching, and so I chose to use an invisible, monofilament thread. Things I’d read about quilting had convinced me that an invisible thread would minimise my risks.
(I would not make that choice again because things are much easier when using a regular quilting thread.)
The thread itself would have worked fine, or at least sort of fine, but I went wrong when I chose to quilt so loosely. I wanted my quilt to be “soft and full,” and only ran a few straight stitching lines across the quilt. (Another reason for loose quilting was of course that it was such hard work!) In this closeup, you can see how sparsely I quilted it:
My not-so-densely quilted creation did look sort of fluffy when it was brand new, and the fluffiest parts with no quilting stitches seemed grand. After a bit of use though there wasn’t anything left of the fullness, and the poor thing started to look a little tired surprisingly quickly. If I’d quilted it more densely, I’m sure it would still look pretty smart!
Of course I now understand that lying or sitting on the unquilted parts will inevitably flatten them, and the result is crumpled rather than fluffy.
Quilting too loosely bears another risk: bearding. My other early quilt “Thoughts Escape into Summer” suffers from exactly that. The quilt does look nice when viewed from a distance (in part because I’ve built enough value contrast into it):
But I quilted its dark borders sparsely for artistic effect. The quilted ferns are still as neat as ever, but fuzz from the batting has made its way through the unquilted parts of fabric (see the white dots inside the circle):
This is not the artistic effect I was aiming for!
Your takeaway: Think twice before quilting only here and there - it will be better for the durability of your quilt.
But even with the mistakes in the process, the finished quilt has served its purpose. It covered the bed that it was made for, and in our next home, our daughter claimed it for her bed.
In fact, this very quilt has followed our daughter from home to home ever since.
So, when planning your first quilt (the first of many to come, maybe), avoid my mistakes but also remember that a quilt doesn’t have to be perfect to become meaningful.
And if you are a more experienced quilter, I’d like to know if you made any rookie mistakes in the beginning. Let me know in the comments!
Want more quilting inspiration?
If you want to follow my quilting endeavours – what I’m working on and what I’ve finished (and get some quilting tips, too), you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter here: https://tilkunviilaaja.blogspot.com/p/subscribe-today.html
When I decided to sew my first proper-sized quilt in the mid-1990s, I made three big mistakes - but I was able to finish the quilt:
Mistake 1: Cutting with scissors.
In the mid-1990's, quilting became visible in the sewing magazines that I subscribed to. I fell in love with the modern, colourful look and decided to make a quilt for our new bedroom. But because I wasn’t sure if quilting was going to be a lasting thing for me, I also decided NOT to buy any special tools. They were expensive, and I already had the cost of fabric to consider.And anyway, what was the use of investing in tools that I might only use for one project?
So, what did I end up doing?
I’d selected a relatively quick pattern based on strips. Meaning, it would have been a quick make if I’d had proper tools for cutting the strips for the blocks. Instead, I worked as follows:
I used a (short) ruler to measure and a pencil to mark the width of each strip on the wrong side of the fabric. Next, I drew a line through the marker dots and then used scissors to cut along the line.
Face palm! I must have used 20 times more time to cut one strip than it would have taken using a ruler and cutter. (It is a wonder that I wasn’t turned off by “quilting” after this project.)
Avoid my mistake: don’t cut your strips using scissors. You might manage a quilt of 20-30 very large squares with no special tools, but for strips or more elaborate blocks, do yourself a favour and get the basic tools: ruler, rotary cutter, and cutting mat.
Mistake 2: Understanding nothing of value contrast.
Colour, block and pattern choices are matters of opinion, but as a rule, a quilt will look more intentional and put together when there is value contrast.Fabrics that look very different in colour can fool your eye. It’s so easy to think that the block pattern will stand out because the colours look clearly different. But colour contrast alone isn’t enough because the human eye is built to see the differences between value before the differences between colour.
I wish I could go back in time and explain this to my early self!
When you want the block pattern to be clearly visible, there must be value contrast between the pieces. A quilt with uniform value will look featureless. Just imagine a quilt made only of blocks like this one:
I did not know about value contrast when I chose fabrics for my first quilt: I believed that colour contrast or alternating between solid and patterned fabrics would be enough.
It took me several years to understand why my finished quilt, with its carefully planned colours seemed so flat and not at all as nice as I had envisioned. It's the lack of value contrast, which you can see more easily in this black-and-white image:
Your takeaway: recognise value contrast and use it to effect. Learn this early!
Mistake 3. Not quilting densely enough
It took a lot of time and effort from me to finish that first quilt surface, and then it was time to quilt it. Back then, a quilting service was an unknown concept in my country, so I had to tackle my quilt on my own.I’d learned enough to know that it would be possible to quilt even a large project on a domestic sewing machine, and I sort of knew how to do it as well. However, I was scared of ruining my precious surface with uneven stitching, and so I chose to use an invisible, monofilament thread. Things I’d read about quilting had convinced me that an invisible thread would minimise my risks.
(I would not make that choice again because things are much easier when using a regular quilting thread.)
The thread itself would have worked fine, or at least sort of fine, but I went wrong when I chose to quilt so loosely. I wanted my quilt to be “soft and full,” and only ran a few straight stitching lines across the quilt. (Another reason for loose quilting was of course that it was such hard work!) In this closeup, you can see how sparsely I quilted it:
Of course I now understand that lying or sitting on the unquilted parts will inevitably flatten them, and the result is crumpled rather than fluffy.
Quilting too loosely bears another risk: bearding. My other early quilt “Thoughts Escape into Summer” suffers from exactly that. The quilt does look nice when viewed from a distance (in part because I’ve built enough value contrast into it):
Your takeaway: Think twice before quilting only here and there - it will be better for the durability of your quilt.
My final thoughts about my first quilting project
These were my three mistakes that I wish I hadn’t made when making my first quilt. I really wish I had known about value contrast back then, and I definitely would not choose scissors over a rotary cutter again!But even with the mistakes in the process, the finished quilt has served its purpose. It covered the bed that it was made for, and in our next home, our daughter claimed it for her bed.
So, when planning your first quilt (the first of many to come, maybe), avoid my mistakes but also remember that a quilt doesn’t have to be perfect to become meaningful.
And if you are a more experienced quilter, I’d like to know if you made any rookie mistakes in the beginning. Let me know in the comments!
Want more quilting inspiration?
If you want to follow my quilting endeavours – what I’m working on and what I’ve finished (and get some quilting tips, too), you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter here: https://tilkunviilaaja.blogspot.com/p/subscribe-today.html
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