Easy First-time Quilt Project

When your daughter asks you to teach her how to make a quilt you definitely don’t say no. You do however figure out a good design to make it a great sewing experience. See how it all worked out with this Easy First-time quilt project!

The Fabric:

Sometimes the shopping for fabric becomes more than it should be! TOO MANY choices! So for this reason and my spirit to up-cycle I used some cotton sheeting and added accents by dyeing the rest (love the colour splitting) The jewel tones were from one large Ikea sheet of blocks of colour. Pick colours that you (or your’s) like and see how they look together. They do not have to be perfectly matching, there really are no rules!

Having a rotary cutter is great but don’t forget having a cutting mat or a protective surface to work on. A pair good scissors & some tiny snips are essentials!

The Pattern:

To keep things simple enough and NOT have a perfect repeat pattern I opted to make a ‘plan’ for a square (10″ + seam allowances) that looked as if made of random shapes, like being ‘fractured’.

Each segment has an additional 1/4″ seam allowance. Piece could be confused so labelling with numbers and direction would help.

Don’t worry, the pattern is here to download

The pattern is traced onto a card board to make cutting around easier.

Stack a few layers of the fabric and these rotary cutters cut with ease. They are quite sharp so watch fingers!

Keeping the stacks organized in piles. The order does not matter in this random pattern.

Assembly & Design:

The square is really 2 sections of pieces sewn together and then the 2 halves sewn.

The seam allowance is 1/4″ and does not need trimming.

Sew 1, 2, 3 together and then 4, 5, 6, 7. These 2 halves are then sewn together. Making a stack of each section makes it less confusing for this easy easy first-time quilt.

Once my daughter had a few done she was starting to feel good about this! Yes, a few lessons on how to thread the machine, wind a new bobbin and untangle when tension went awry is all part of sewing. ‘But I have never really had a machine that broke! All my machines (yup, I have a few) are quite old, vintage with mostly metal parts. Each has it’s best features…

Everything always looks a bit better when nicely pressed & ironed! ‘Loving how the mottled colours work together and look like watercolour.

My mother taught me to sew and I made much of my wardrobe when I was in high-school as it allowed me to have more for my budget and let me ‘design’ what I made! I am very happy to pass this skill on as I find it’s a dying art these days. Even if no one has the time to actually ‘make’ clothes it does come in handy to alter or repair so that less goes into the landfill. My mom would be so proud of her grand-daughter!

One common trait that my daughter has similar to me is her determination! She was going to make sure this quilt got done in a few days.

Such Progress:

How good it feels to see the wide array of colours! Time to play around with some placement. Again, go with your ‘gut’ as to what arrangement looks good to you. I believe everyone has some sense of aesthetics. I liked the look of ‘change’ across the quilt from corner to corner, turning some squares to ‘fracture’ the design repetition even more.

I’m proud of her effort and perseverance for this easy first-time quilt project! Check out how to easily finish this masterpiece!