IDEAS FOR BEGINNER QUILTERS

Learning how to make a quilt need not be difficult. The trick is to break the process into small steps. Once you can do this you can begin to take advantage of all the free quilt patterns that are available. Some of them are based on traditional quilt blocks and designs and others are very modern in their design. There can be a substantial overlap between these types of quilts and within each category there are numerous sub categories which make it even easier for you to search the sites giving free quilt patterns to find the one quilt that is perfect for you to make. The basic techniques of how to make a quilt very often include learning the meaning of some of the specialist terms used by quilters. Don’t be put off by this – every hobby has its own jargon and quilting is no exception. For example a jelly roll might sound as though it has more to do with baking than with quilting, but it is in fact the name given to a roll of two and a half inch wide strips of fabric. The fabric usually comes from one range of fabric so you know that the strips will co-ordinate and using a jelly roll gives you the chance to use a large variety of fabrics in your quilt. I used to think that quilting was the process of making quilts, but in fact it is the stitching that holds together the three layers of a quilt. Here again there is a great variety of techniques. Traditionally quilts were always hand quilted but more and more quilters now use machine quilting. This doesn’t have to be done on a specialist long arm sewing machine: with practice machine quilting on a domestic sewing machine is not only possible but can give beautiful results. It is also very much quicker than hand quilting. The best free quilting patterns will not only show a design that can be followed but will also give you tips on how to sew the design without constantly having to stop and start. With most free quilting patterns it is possible to sew the entire design in one go by backstitching (travel stitching) along some sections in order to begin stitching along a new part of the design. This is how quilting can give the impression of ropes and cable going under and over each other. Quilting is a great hobby and quilters are a very generous group of people – always happy to help a beginner quilter with any queries that they may have.