Meet little Joy! I'm super proud of the way she turned out, especially for my first ever quilt! The back is a soft, minky - like fabric but it's smooth and has no raised dots. It makes it so warm and soft, with just the right amount of weight. The rainbow flower color just screamed Joy, so I couldn't have picked any other!
Now that my first project is complete, here is what Joy taught me about quilting:
1.) Do not neglect to iron after sewing!
Why? Well once you sew together one block, you will have to eventually quilt on top of it, and instead of two layers of fabric you will have four or more, and your thread will constantly break and it will not look good and will be rather frustrating. It also keeps your pieces neat and straight, so that when you sew your blocks together the orange pieces (or whichever color you select as your main color) will align together into a perfect square!
I ironed each square after stitching so that each square laid flat, then I also ironed each block after creating the horizontal rows, then again after the vertical rows. This enables the quilt to lay flat and eases the actual quilting process by reducing interference from excess fabric. Trust me on this one!
2.) Invest in iron on batting/backing glue.
Let's just say after 10 pokes of all the needles I used to pin the quilt front, batting and back together, I was completely convinced as to why this was a necessity!! ;) Double goes if you free motion quilt.
3.) That whole adage about "measure twice, cut once" applies a lot!
It makes it easier to cut all your fabric at once before you begin sewing (unless you want to test the waters with your color choices!) Plus always double check your math! I ran out of enough orange fabric to make the scale of quilt I wanted!
4.) )Beware the pucker...
I'm lucky to only have been caught up once, but make absolute sure that your quilt is flat on the backing as well as the quilt top before machine quilting. You will get an unsightly pucker and it diminishes the value (if you were going to sell quilts) and overall perfection of your quilt.
I hope these tips from a fellow quilting newbie helps you out, and all my best on your quilting endeavors! Drop me a comment, I would love to hear about your projects!!!!
