Top 10 Tips for New Quilters – Introduction
I spent quite a few hours this past week densely quilting a runner with organic wavy lines. During these hours, I contemplated how much experience I have gained along the way in my quilting journey. How many little tips and tricks I have managed to learn. And I decided there is nothing I wanted more than to pass along those little nuggets of information – to share them with new quilters and even with seasoned quilters.
That’s what quilters do. We share. We share tips and tutorials. We share our experiences – what worked on a project and what we would have liked to do differently. We share praise and admiration. We share because we are all part of the most helpful and welcoming online community – the Quilting Community!
Introducing a New Series for New Quilters. Each week I will cover a new topic. I have added a page tab beneath my header, entitled Top 10 Tips. And links will be added to this page as posts for each of the following subjects is shared.
Week 1. Fabric & Thread
Week 2. Cutting Accuracy
Week 3. Quick Piecing Techniques
Week 4. 1/4″ Seam
Week 5. Pressing Seams
Week 6. Get to know your Machine
Week 7. The Seam Ripper is your Friend
Week 8. Borders
Week 9. Quilting with your Walking Foot
Week 10. Binding by Machine
If you have any tips to share, or if there is anything you would like to see covered in these posts, leave a comment below! Share what you know… or tell us what you would like to know.
A few words of advice…
To keep it interesting and fun, always be willing to try something new!
Try new things: Partial Seams, Y Seams, Curved Piecing
Try different methods: Some will work better for you than others
Practice, practice, practice. While gaining experience of your own, continue to learn from the experience of others. There are a lot of good tutorials out there to show you “how to”. Here is a link to my Tutorials page. Each time I share a new tutorial, it will be added to this page.
Made a mistake? Don’t beat yourself up… Count it as experience. Learn from it. Keep in mind that the mistake will always be more obvious to you than to anyone else. And always remember to…
Lovely idea Lorna! I have tried partial and curved but have yet to sew a Y seam! I'm surprised by that!
This is a fab idea, Lorna!
Wow, thanks for adding this to your blog. I believe we never stop learning and am excited to read your tutorials. Thanks
Great idea Lorna. I'd like hints on making a Drunkard's Path block using the sewing machine. I've done them by hand but that's so slow, and all those pins …!
Yes…wonderful idea. I'll be peeking in!
Great idea! On the FB pages I'm on there are always new quilters and their questions are typically the same…prewash or not….press open, press to the side…..why doesn't my block finish at the size it is supposed to……what is a walking foot…… there are so many women (and some men) teaching themselves these days that a good series of tutorials is always needed. It will be nice to be able to point people to your blog for answers.
What a wonderful idea for a series! I am looking forward to your learnings.
Lorna this sounds a great idea I am sure I will learn loads, thank you
Lorna, I am very much looking forward to reading what you have to say in your ten tips! \”The seam ripper is your friend\” is of particular interest to me LOL. I love what you wrote about \”that's what quilters do\”!
Great idea as you say what we quilters do best is to share……. Our experience, tips, mistakes, fabric and encouragement. Looking forward to reading on.
This is a great idea, thank you Lorna. Machine quilting and tie-ing off the threads, I still haven't really got it.I am looking forward to your series.
I am really looking forward to this series! I love learning from my fellow quilters.
Measure twice, cut once is a tip new quilters should know and seasoned quilters need to remember. Ask me how I know. : )Looking forward to your tips.
Lorna, what a great idea!! It is always great to read about others' processes and techniques. There is something to learn from each of us. Thank you for taking the time to create these posts. I am looking forward to them. 🙂
You are always up to something. Your drive is unbeliavable!
A lot of what I have learned in my own sewing experiences has been from reading others posts on quilting/sewing. That is one of the perks of being in such a wonderful sharing community! Looking forward to learning something new.