The Hands-On Quilting Tutorial in a Bag

I was a senior in college a friend of mine came back from spring break with a quilt she had made.  That’s when I first had the desire to make a quilt.  I even bought a book on making a very country, heart-covered quilt, but then for years nothing happened.  Even reading the book on the potty, I couldn’t quite get how to make a quilt.  Then someone made us some quilted pot holders as a wedding gift and I started looking at them and all of a sudden, “quilting” made sense and I could see what binding was for.  Of course my first quilt at that time was ugggggly.  My second quilt was better and holds happy memories because my sister and I worked on it together in the basement of her in-law’s home over a summer.

So my friend Laura wants to learn to quilt.  She took a hand-quilting class several years ago, but never quite finished the project.  She is an artist, and very visual.  Since it’s so hard to get together with the 5 kids between us, I started loaning her some books and magazines, but it seemed like she just wasn’t getting it.  Then it dawned on me that she is JUST like me.  So, Laura, this is just for you:  the hands-on quilting tutorial in a bag.  In each ziploc bag is a quilt-in-progress, stopped at a particular step with instructions sharpied onto the outside.  And yes, I do realize that these fabrics don’t really go together, but in my defense they were all scraps.

Baggie #1: Piecing (A)

Cut fabric.  Sew pieces together into strips.  Press seams flat to one side.

Baggie #2: Piecing (B)

Sew strips together.  Press seams to one side.

Baggie #3: Behold!  The Quilt Sandwich

Trim excess fabric (if necessary).  Spread backing fabric RIGHT side down (stretch and tape flat onto hard floor if its big).  Spread batting on top.  Spread out quilt top on top.  Pin all over to secure layers in place.

Baggie#4:  Quilting, Squaring, & Binding

Sew lines through all layers.  Square up quilt by trimming all 3 layers on the edges.  Cut and press seams into binding.  Bind quilt.  (I left one edge of this one half-bound so that she could examine it more closely.)

Of course the danger in this is that I don’t do everything the “right” way, and I just might be passing on “skills” that aren’t considered skills at all.  So, I’ll recommend she not enter any quilting contests with a quilt using these tips.  Anything look really wrong?  Please let me know!

I stuffed all the plastic baggies into this little sorta matching fabric drawstring bag.

I’ll be driving this over to Laura just as soon as I’m allowed to drive.