Hey future quilters!

I’m Maddie, Email Marketer and Copywriter here at Grace Company.

I’ve never quilted, and I haven’t done much sewing either. I’ll break out my 20-year-old sewing machine for the occasional Halloween costume, sew a single line, and call it good. Back into the closet my sewing machine goes.

I’ve always wanted to learn to sew, but I never knew where to start. Even threading my sewing machine has come with hours of struggle in the past. It’s a hard skill to start when you’re on your own.

But now, I work at Grace Company, and I’m surrounded by talented quilters. I’ve seen the gorgeous quilts my coworkers and our community make, and I’ve gained a deep appreciation for quilting as an art form.

All of this to say, I’ve decided to learn how to quilt!

So, if you’re like me, and you’ve always wanted to learn how to sew or quilt, but you couldn’t figure out where to start, start here! Every month, I’ll be hopping on a video with one of our quilters, Angelique, to learn a little bit more about quilting, and by the end of it, I’ll have made my very own quilt.

You can watch the first episode here and follow along on the blog where I’ll be sharing a little more of my perspective and the things I’ve learned every step of the way.  

 

How Do I Figure Out What I Want My Quilt to Look Like?

Find a Quilt Pattern You Like

I started with a little inspiration.

Angelique has these nifty little decks of cards that helped make this step feel less overwhelming. One of the decks has quilt patterns and the other has quilt blocks, so between the two, we put together a quilt layout.

If you don’t want to buy your own quilting cards, though, there are plenty of patterns out there on the world wide web that you can buy. And if you look hard enough, you might just find a free one you like (check this one out).

I love the look of complicated quilts with a million tiny little pieces, but that felt like a really intimidating place to start. In the end, the quilt I went with has an even split of pieced blocks and solid fabric blocks arranged in a checkerboard.

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Choose the Blocks You Want

If you buy a quilt pattern online, it’ll probably already have all the blocks you’ll need laid out and explained. Since Angelique and I customized the pattern, I chose the blocks I wanted. After flipping through the deck, I picked out the broken dishes block, the sawtooth star block, and the old windmill block. We have a few tutorials here on our blog for simple beginner blocks if you want an easy, free place to start.

I filtered out any block with curved lines because cutting and sewing anything but a straight line sounded like a bad idea at my current skill level. From there, I looked for blocks that felt modern to me. Bringing geometric blocks with lots of triangles into the quilt made the whole thing feel a little less traditional.

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Choose Your Fabric

I felt pretty decisive when it came to picking out a pattern and blocks that I liked, but choosing fabric was a lot harder! Of course, some of that is my fault. Angelique and our other quilters recommended sticking to a single line of fabric or getting a pack of fat quarters for your first quilt. After all, those fabrics were made to go together. You don’t have to worry about all the color theory that goes into putting a good color palette together.

I insisted on choosing my own fabric and putting together my own color palette—mostly because in my free time, I’m an artist, so I was excited about all the color theory stuff.

So, if you’re like me, and you insist on going your own way with fabrics, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Value

And no, I don’t mean cost although you should probably have a budget in mind before you walk into a quilt shop, guns-a-blazin’. Fabric can really add up! Anyway, what I mean by value is thinking about how light or dark a color is. You should make sure that you have a good mix of light fabrics, mid-tone fabrics, and dark fabrics.

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Accent Color

This one is out of my comfort zone, but Angelique and the other quilters encouraged me to add a bold accent color to my otherwise subdued color palette. I tend to like beige with a side of beige, so without a little nudge in the right direction, I probably would have left this one out. But I think adding a pop of orange will really help my quilt look a little more interesting.

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Material

If you go to a quilt shop, this one’s kind of a non-issue. Every fabric in there is going to work just fine for quilting, but if you go to a more all-purpose crafting or fabric store, be sure that you find the section of the store dedicated to quilting. If you can’t find that, 100% cotton fabric is a safe bet.

I went shopping for this quilt’s fabric three times.

First, online, to get a feel for what was out there and what kind of color palette I wanted. Second, at a craft store by myself. Then, finally, at a quilt store with some of the Grace Company quilters. In the end, I needed some support before I made my final decision. So don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family if your fabric choices are working before you buy!

NOTE: Your pattern should tell you how much fabric you need, but if not, track down a quilting calculator to make that step easier!

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How I’m Feeling About Getting Started

Mostly, I’m excited!

Sewing has been a bit of a headache for me before now, and because I’m a perfectionist, I’m afraid I will get frustrated if my quilt doesn’t come out well.

But mostly, since I’m a creative person, I’m excited to have a new way to make things. I’m super grateful to have the opportunity to learn from all the talented quilters here at Grace Company, and I’m going to do my best to pass the knowledge I pick up along to you. If you don’t have someone to learn from, hopefully this will help you start! If you want to watch the first episode of my quilting journey, you can find it here. And if you have any questions about getting started, please ask them in the comments section on the video.

I can’t wait to start quilting with all of you!