My First Quilt – Part 2
Full of unsure stitching and unpicked seams, first quilts are often far from perfect. But they are full of character – and full of memories. Celebs of the quilting world take their earliest quilting attempts out of the attic to reveal their wonders and flaws and to reminisce a little about the whole ‘getting started’ experience. Read on for the second installment of My First Quilt! By Janai Velez
Check out Michelle Marvig’s Quilt Workshop for Beginners!
Michelle Bardwell
Seen as a regular contributor to Homespun magazine
When did you make your first quilt? I made it in the 1980s, when I was in Year 12 at high school.
What inspired you to try quilting in the first place? My grandmother had made a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt, using offcut fabrics from her grandchildren’s clothes. I loved that quilt, and being crafty, decided that I’d make my own quilt.
How did you learn the quilt-making basics? Mum explained to me how to baste the fabric onto cardboard and then sew it together, so off I went. Unfortunately, I had no understanding of what would be suitable fabrics to use to make a quilt, so any fabric that crossed my path went into my quilt. It is just a random collection of hexagons, and I don’t recall any conscious design, only that I avoided having two, similar hexagons touching each other.
Did you make mistakes with your first attempt? The biggest mistake I made with my first attempt was to throw everything into the quilt, which explains why it is so ‘quirky’ now. It is not often that you find a quilt that features not only cotton and polyester fabrics, but also flannelette, satin, velvet, corduroy, wool, and swimsuit Lycra. Oh, and Terylene curtain netting! I made sure that everything was interfaced with heavy fusible interfacing, which has more or less disintegrated now through use. The hexagons were made from recycled tissue boxes, and the entire thing was cut using Mum’s “good scissors”.
What size was your first quilt? The quilt was originally a single-bed size, which I made into a doona cover. Then, when I got married, I added some more hexagons onto it to make it a queen-size doona cover.
Create a modern bargello quilt with precut fabrics!
How long did it take to make? It took a few months (but it was a good way to procrastinate with studying for my HSC!).
Was it difficult to choose colours and a theme? As I only had a limited range of fabrics and only knew one way to make a quilt, it was easy to choose colours and a theme. I sourced the fabric from odd scraps lying around the house and got the rest from a place where clothing factories donated their scraps and offcuts to be recycled by schools. This explains how I ended up with such an eccentric assortment of fabrics.
Who was it made for? Myself.
Where is it now? I still have this quilt. It was used for many years, until some of the fabrics started to give way. Who knew that curtain netting would not be ideal for a quilt?! So at one stage, I removed the fabrics that had disintegrated, intending to replace them. However, my attention was diverted by nicer, more-interesting quilts, so this quilt languished in the cupboard for many years. Recently, I started a restoration job on it, removing some of the destroyed interfacing, replacing the fabrics that had frayed and given way, and trimming back some of the overly generous seam allowances. Using fusible webbing, I appliquéd a muslin hexagon onto the backs of some of the hexagons where some of the fabric had frayed but not pulled away from the seam. I hope that this will give it some extra strength. Next, I intend to quilt it — more than 30 years after it was first made. (I don’t like to put myself under time pressures!)
How has the style of your quilts changed since? I still love colourful quilts and have made other hexagon quilts since. However, that was the last time I used Lycra or curtain netting in a quilt.
In hindsight, how would you now score it out of 10 (10 being excellent, 0 being poor)? Hmm, the workmanship would rate about a 2 on a good day, but in terms of resourcefulness and longevity, I think it would rate an 8. Despite it being no great example of the Quilting Arts, I have a real soft spot for it.
Sue Belleli, of Quilted Hugs by Sue
Email: sbelleli@bigpond.net.au
When did you make your first full sized quilt? My son moved out of home in around 2006, and I bought a Horn sewing cabinet that very week, to start my journey. I really knew nothing about quilting, only that I wanted to do it. So I bought some magazines and a stack of fabric from Spotlight and got started.
What inspired you to try quilting in the first place? I had always enjoyed sewing and received a basic Bernina for my 18th birthday. Then, when I had children, I made a lot of their clothes and clothes for myself. I’ve always loved cottage style, and quilting is a major part of cottage home decor.
How did you learn the quilt-making basics? Initially, by subscribing to magazines. Later, I attended some classes to gain more skills.
Did you use a pattern or did you design your first quilt yourself? I had a pattern – of sorts. I had a calendar on the wall in my sewing room and a very similar quilt was on one of the months. There was no pattern attached to any of the images on the calendar, so I just guessed the dimensions and made it to look like the image.
Did you make mistakes with your first attempt? Well, I cut all the fabric with scissors, as I hadn’t yet learned about rotary cutting, and I had never made pinwheels before, so I didn’t know about the correct way to make and trim Half Square Triangles.
Check out Sue Belleli’s Kit: Short & Sweet Dachshund Quilt!
What size was your first quilt? It’s quite big and, as you can see, fits on a queen-size bed. Pretty ambitious for a first attempt.
How long did it take to make? I can’t be sure, but it was several weeks. Unlike now, when I have at least a dozen projects on the go at once, back then I only did one project at a time.
Was it difficult to choose colours and a theme? I love blue, and make a lot of blue quilts. My bedroom is blue, and I made it for my bed.
Who was it made for? I made it for myself.
Where is it now? It’s on my bed now. I put it there to take these photos. I liked seeing it there, so have left it for now. I do tend to use it more as a picnic blanket these days, so it gets taken out a few times a year when we go to a picnic event or sometimes to the beach.
How has the style of your quilts changed since? I don’t tend to make them as cottage style anymore, preferring the more modern prints. And I love to add appliqué on to my quilts these days.
In hindsight, how would you now score it out of 10 (10 being excellent, 0 being poor)? It’s probably a 4. I’m amazed how I managed to work out the measurements and get it to all to fit together so well.
Linda Guy, of Sew Quilt Designs
Email: sewquiltdesigns@gmail.com
When did you make your first quilt? The first quilt I designed was around 13 years ago. [This quilt, titled Flower Wheels, was published in the January 2017 edition of Homespun].
What inspired you to try quilting in the first place? I walked into a local quilt shop in New Zealand when I first arrived here and was blown away with a huge display of lovely fabrics.
How did you learn the quilt-making basics? I learned from library books and read a lot. The lady who owned the patchwork shop 10 minutes’ walk from my house was great, and I asked a few questions there. I went on to work there for a while, which was lovely.
Did you use a pattern or did you design your first quilt yourself? I had a lot of fun designing it myself.
Did you make mistakes with your first attempt? It wasn’t a difficult quilt. I chose it because of that and had all the measurements written beforehand. I made a quilt at the same time that was a mixture of a pattern and my design. The centre was from Homespun magazine, and I wanted to make the quilt bigger and got to the corners and it didn’t fit. The centre was appliqué and surrounding log cabin blocks. I filled the un-matching corners with background fabric and put some appliqué hearts on. It looked great. I don’t stress too much and make do.
What size was your first quilt? Small size, about 39in [99cm].
How long did it take to make? My quilt didn’t take long at all, as I couldn’t put it down! Two months, all up.
Was it difficult to choose colours and a theme? I chose the background fabrics first and went from there. It takes me hours, sometimes, choosing fabrics – going back and forth and changing my mind.
Who was it made for? I made it for myself and wrote the pattern to go with it. It’s a lot of fun.
Where is it now? It now sits at home in a pile of quilts or gets thrown over the back of the sofa now and then.
How has the style of your quilts changed since? The strange thing is, although I like different colours and fabrics now, I still love the same style of quilts. When I read through old magazines, I still love the same quilts.
Go floral with Linda Guy’s Flower Basket Medallion Quilt!
In hindsight, how would you now score it out of 10 (10 being excellent, 0 being poor)? That’s a hard one, really, but if I were judging a learning curve, I’d say it was an 8, as I learnt a lot making it, especially about colour combos.
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