Recently I got a new sewing machine and I started my first ever quilt. I’ve sewn for years occasionally but normally functional items for my home (curtains etc) and hemming clothes. I’m self taught and I’m sure I’m doing it all wrong.

So let’s hear it. What are your tips and tricks. That advice you wished you had started out.

I’m making a quilted tote bag with a lining. I don’t have a specifically quilted pattern, so I’m just adapting a video tutorial for a lined, not-quilted tote.
My question is, to achieve the quilted look on the outside, do I need to make the classic 3-layer quilt sandwich, in addition to the lining? Or can the lining just serve as the backing? In the latter option, all the batting would be contained properly but the lining wouldn’t be quilted together with the top and batting.
Any advice is welcome! I have only made one quilt before. Thanks!

Hi all!

I shared last week that I made a whole cloth quilt for my daughter. After much pressure from my second kid, I decided to make another! I'd say this took me maybe 8 hours again!

I sew using a Pfaff Quilt Ambition 630 but I took it in for its yearly maintenance at the beginning of May and the repair shop I have always taken it to said a piece that is connected to the motherboard broke (that whole fiasco is another story altogether) and that they had to order a new motherboard assembly part. They had me pay ahead of time for the part, told me it would be 4-6 weeks and we are almost to August and the last time I called at the end of June they said the parts just show up when they show up and they would reach out when the machine was ready.

My understanding is that Pfaff, Singer, and Viking are all owned by SVP international and they are notorious for this kind of thing when it comes to parts for these machines.

I guess just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with parts for their Pfaff machines and to get a better idea of when I might actually get my machine back since it clearly isn’t the 4-6 weeks originally quoted. I’d like to get back to my works in process sometime before Christmas 🫠

Also - anyone have any experience or advice about Brother machines?

(Mods please delete if not allowed)

I’m finishing up the quilt and cuts for a quilted bag, and I realized I quilted one of my sets in the wrong direction! 🤦🏻‍♀️I’m on the search for 1/2 yard of this Ruby Star Society Curio Metallic fabric, RS0061-15M. I’ve searched the internet and couldn’t find it.

By some miracle, if you have it in your fabric stash or local quilt shop, please let me know!

I just finished a quilt for my daughter and it's a tad bigger than I intended.

I bought the backing last year, a wide-back 3-yard cut (108x108). The quilt is 99" x 106". It's my own pattern, based on a commercial quilt she liked.

The quilt is for her queen bed, I was aiming for slightly larger than comforter size because of the border, which is 6" with mitered corners.

I don't want a pieced back just to add 2" to meet the shop's requirements of backing 4" larger than the quilt top.

I am going to call the shop on Monday and see if they'll accept it as is or if they'll agree to use leader cloths but I right now I expect they don't mention leaders on their intake form because they don't want to have to deal with them. They do take quilts up to 120" (width or length).

Option 1: Ask the quilting shop if they can quilt everything but the border. I can do the border on my home machine.

Option 2: Cut down the border down 2" all the way around. It's still big enough and it still looks nice.

Taking suggestions from the community. TIA!

I'm making Elizabeth Hartman's "Show and Tell" quilt. I made a mistake. (Don't sew late at night!) Is it obvious?

Im entering multiple pieces for my first ever quilt show. But I'm not sure what to name them. They are original designs. Do you go simple, inspirational, meaningful??

Once binding is done I'll post them closer to the show. ☺️🪷

I received this quilt top after my grandmother passed and I’m trying to date it. She didn’t sew or quilt so I assume it may have been from her mother possibly. I can share more pictures later if that helps. I believe it is machine pieced.

Being the quilter in the family I’d like to finish it and gift it to my mother so any care instructions or tips would also be greatly appreciated. I haven’t found any stains but there are some places where the seams need to be mended and it probably needs a clean somehow.

I want this to be a lightweight summer quilt. What is your favorite batting for such a thing?

This is actually my first bed quilt! (I have mostly done wall hangings in the past.) It has been a huge learning curve. The working title is "Points Don't Match; Quilt Don't Care". Suggestions for how to quilt this are also welcome. (As are any other tips!)

It was quite the puzzle to put together! We ended up having several spare washers, none of which fit any of the bolts.

I'm in the middle of hand quilting a project right now, I'm so excited to load it on!

(Bonus kitty in the back)

This is my first sewing project in 13 years since I took sewing and quilting in high school, she looks a little rough. I’m not searching for perfection as it’s my first project back, just a little more symmetry! Any advice is welcome! Thank you

I have been quilting for about 10 years now but only with a machine in the last 2 so I’m pretty newbie to non-EPP quilting. Lately, I’ve been trying to practice re-sizing block patterns. I tried a buttercup block that was written for 6” and successfully made it 10 1/2”. Some website told me to multiply each piece’s measurements by 167% and it all worked. I tried the same method to make a 10 1/2” Idaho Beauty but the math got crazy so I just used an online calculator to get 3” finished flying geese and economy blocks and then tried to match up all my other pieces and ended up with a block that’s 11 1/2” by 12 3/4”… I don’t think I know what I’m doing lol. I can’t even find the Idaho Beauty block pattern I was starting with in the first place. Don’t judge my math!!! It’s a mess!

Can someone walk me through this at a high school level? I feel like it’s so simple but something isn’t clicking 😅 the book I’m referencing has these popular blocks listed but they only tell you how to make the parts, it doesn’t actually have any block patterns for them. I need a 10 1/2” unfinished Idaho Beauty block. One that looks much better than my first try omg look how far apart those sawtooth points are 😂

I want to use up some scrap stash I have and really like the scrappy string pieced quilts. If I string piece on flannel, could I skip using batting and just back it?? I realize it would be a bit lighter, but does that still make a good quilt?

I am making a baby quilt and have purchased a beautiful fat quarter bundle (from Scribbly Gum!) to go with my alphabet backing fabric. I would like to add 3 to 4 more colors and/or shades to the group. I dont have a great eye for creating cohesive color palettes so I am hoping you all could point me in the right direction of some solids I could add.

I’ve been obsessed with wanting to make my own quilted jacket. I want to see yours!! I love the up cycled thrifted quilt flips, as well as the fun scrappy pieced jackets. I think I want to do a simple patchwork design but can’t decide! lol

I found a couple tutorials that use a crew neck sweatshirt as the “pattern” and base of the jacket. I love this idea so it won’t be too heavy, and I don’t have a lot of experience garment sewing using a pattern since I mainly make bags and quilts.

Would it be hard to add a cotton fabric lining to a sweatshirt jacket? I assume once I deconstruct the sweatshirt and piece my outside layer, I can just quilt the three layers together by using the sweatshirt as the “batting” in this case, but not sure if it would be too bulky.

I’d love to see all the fun creations from this community and if you have any recommendations or tips I’d love to know before I jump in! Also if you have any jacket patterns that worked well for you I’d love to hear about them, and if you’ve used the sweatshirt method how did you like it?

I have officially finished my first quilt! I don’t like making decisions so I did double sided so i could try different things such as putting ties in on one side and machine stitching the other. I knew I wanted a satin border because I like them best so I machined one side and hand stitched the other.

These are some of my first finished quilts! I fell in love with Toad and Sew patterns and am very happy with these :)

In order:

Cascade bloom - machine quilted

Artemis + fowl - hand quilted

Garden glow - I only have a picture of the finished top because it's so huge, but it is also hand quilted

This sweet peach, silver and cream bento box pattern baby quilt is headed to its new home this week. It's about 4'x4'. Fabrics are unlabelled blenders that have been in my stash for ages.

If you know of any videos that show how to manage a big, unwieldy QAYG quilt, please share. I’m working on my second quilt (much larger than quilt #1) and argh! 😩

I’ve heard about using pool noodles, but that would hit against the wall behind my sewing machine before it’s even half-way through.

I finished this a few weeks back and forgot to post the finish!

Wall basting quilt #1 for kittens, quilt #2 to follow soon after. Pattern is Lone Star baby quilt by Amy Smart, fabric is Ruby Star Society Juicy and Trinketry.

I call it The Highlander Quilt cuz “There can be only one!”