I love quilts. They’re works of art, full of color and creativity, warm and cozy, and the results of countless hours of work and countless lifetimes of shared and collected knowledge. Most of you guys aren’t on Reddit much, if at all, but if you have a moment or two to kill, go over to r/quilting sometime and see what people are making, what people are talking about, what advice they have to share. You’ll be amazed by what you see. If you ever have an afternoon to kill and you know there’s a quilt show you can go to, do yourself a favor, go. As impressive as these things can be up in pictures, they’re even more impressive in person. Just remember, no touching.
A few years back I had tried my hand at getting a quilt started, but gave up relatively because the whole idea just seemed so overwhelming. I’m a little older now and while I’m actually less patient than I was before, I’ve seemed to have developed out of the blue an ability to put up with so much more bullshit and muscle my way through things. After going to a local quilt show and being blown away by what I saw, I decided it’s time to give this a shot again. As can be expected, I’m fucking up left and right people, so follow along and observe, laugh at my pain.
My first piece isn’t going to be anything amazing. It’s going to be four 4x4 squares across by four 4x4 squares down. Why am I making something so small? Three reasons. One, last time I was going to go whole hog and I gave up before I really got started. Doing something smaller will make this project seem a lot more doable. Two, I’m learning completely from scratch here. There’s no quilter to hold my hand, no one to look over my shoulder and correct my work. There’s no point in spending 40 plus hours on my first piece when it’s not going to be anything hot to look at. Three, I’m deliberately letting myself fuck up by going in half cocked. Let me repeat that. I’m deliberately letting myself fuck up. Why? Because sometimes the best way to learn is by making mistakes and learning how to not make those mistakes again. After all, you can’t ask people for help if you don’t know what you need help with first, right?
These are the 2.25”x2.25” squares that I’ve cut out and arranged to make the block patterns I want them to be. When sewn together, they’ll end up as 4.25”x4.25” squares. I’ll then be sewing them to whole 4.25”x4.25” squares which aren’t pictured here, but you’ll see later.
To make them, you’ll first sew two different sets of two squares together, using that extra .25” as your seam or whatever the fuck people call them. You’ll then take your two sets of squares and sew them together to make a block. Two different people have told me that if I’m sewing by hand, I need ten stitches to an inch with a backstitch every three to four stitches. I think I’m averaging about eight stitches an inch. Eight, uneven, fucking ugly stitches an inch. When all is said and done, the end result should look like this from the back . . .
Fucking hideous. I know what you’re saying. Quit now, rd95. You’re awful. You’re not going to get anywhere with this. Go sit in the backyard with the dog and listen to the birds. Turn on the XBox and play some games. Learn to cook. For the love of all that is good, give up now, cause this just isn’t going to work.
Well, the joke’s on you. Cause they’re actually coming out alright.
Ignore the exposed stitches in the second and fourth picture. They’re not there. They’re in your head.
So with the bragging out of the way, here’s a few things that I’ve learned.
One: If you have a dog that loves to sniff everything, if she comes near you when you’re working, put the needle down. She doesn’t know what it is and will head nose first into it if you’re not careful. Fortunately for me, and her, I’m used to her curious ways and saw her coming from a mile away before she could do something that both of us would regret.
Two: Keep a lit candle nearby. The best way to get rid of scrap pieces of thread is to just burn it. It’s fun. Trust me.
Three: Random knots are bullshit. To avoid getting them, make sure you’re thread isn’t too long, isn’t all twisted. If a knot starts to form, stop and fix it before it becomes too taught. It’s a lot easier to deal with a lose knot than it is to deal with this bullshit . . .
Fuck you knot.
Four: You’re gonna fuck up if you go to quickly and don’t double check your work. Part of the whole point of hand sewing anyway is to so that you’re forced to slow down and really get hands on with your work. If you do fuck up though, know sometimes it’s best to just cut your losses and try again with the next part of your quilt.
See these pieces? They’re just mistakes in the form of bits of cloth. They’re not the end of the world. They are however little pieces of bullshit. Fucking knots. Fucking uneven stitches. Fucking poked fingers. Fucking needle that’s so fucking small it’s damn near impossible to thread. Fucking quilt. What the fuck am I doing this for?
Cause the end result is gonna be awesome. Remember when your buds in highschool decided to start a band but no one knew how to sing or play any instruments or any such shit and all they came out with was questionable at best? Remember how fucking awesome it was? That’s what this quilt is gonna be. It’s gonna be an ugly, hot, awesome mess.
. . . poked fingers are bullshit though.
Hey! With knots: if you get a knot that has a loop in it, try stick your needle into the loop and pulling it up. this is hard to explain, but basically, let the knot part hang down from your needle, and use the needle to pull up on the loop part. Sometimes this helps. Source: Former very serious cross-stitcher and occasional embroiderer. It's fun the things you learn other people used to do, isn't it? I like how into crafting you are. I am going to work on my decoupage post now. I feel bad for having not. I second jadedog's recommendation for beeswax, though I have learned this more from book binding than anything else. Also seriously, just get you a trillion needles. Sewing needles and deodorant are similar in that you can never have too many of them scattered about your house. Also I am hoping you can provide a nice close up picture or two of the backstitch, that is the only part I am having trouble conceptualizing. Can you talk more about that? Your stitches just straight are big, but hey, who cares that much? First try!
Here's the video for the backstitch that I do. Basically I make three or four stitches, then go back to the very last stitch I made and start again from there. Go to the Five Minute, Ten Second Mark. These people talk too much. There needs to be a man tutorial. Each one would take less than two minutes. It'd go like this . . . First Minute: Here's the supplies you need Second Minute: Here's what you do. Done.
I'm stuck at work now, when I get home I'll try to link to the video where I learned the backstitch technique I'm using. :) I used to cross stitch too and I'm thinking of getting back into that as well. I don't think I ever had a problem with knots with that though, if only becausey thread was so much shorter. I'll have to try the needle technique, but I think I might need to be careful. The needle I'm using is pretty thin and fragile. I'm really looking forward to your decoupage post. I live seeing what other people make. You should throw in a bonus cross stitch pic or two as well. They're probably awesome. :)
Nice job! I've done a couple quilts before, but they were machine sewn. I've done enough hand sewing to have a few thoughts about your project. Skip this part if you want to experiment. Sometimes it's fun to just learn as you go along. A few thoughts: A couple pieces of equipment might be helpful. I don't think they're too expensive. The first is a thimble. I saw one on Amazon for under $2. It's a metal piece to put over your finger to help push the needle through the fabric because you're right, poked fingers are no fun. I just picked the cheapest one. You might want to look for one you like. The other thing that might be helpful is a set of needles of different sizes. About $2 on Amazon. The right needle for the right job makes all the difference. You want a needle that is right for the fabric. If the needle is too thick, you're fighting the weave of the fabric. It's easier if you can go between the weave of the fabric. This part is a bit advanced, so you might want to skip this paragraph. I've seen hand quilters use a longer needle and sort of weave the needle back and forth on the needle with the fabric still on the needle until they've done 8-10 stitches or so, then pull it through. Keep in mind those stitches are tiny, However, if you use the needle that is too long, they're easier to get bent and mess things up, so you have to weigh how you want to go with that. The other piece of equipment is a piece of beeswax. About $2 on Amazon . The beeswax is to strengthen the thread and to prevent knotting. As you've found, thread tangles easily when you're hand sewing. Sometimes detangling can lead to weak thread and breakage. The beeswax helps to strengthen the thread and prevent tangling. You run the thread through the groove in the plastic and over the wax. You can do the same thing with just a piece of wax as well, but candle wax is harder than beeswax. Your stitches look a little big. It may just be the picture. 8-10 stitches per inch is super tiny. If you look at some stitching on your clothing, it should be about that size. Depending on what you're going to do with it, it might not matter. If you're going to stuff it with batting, the batting might start to poke through the gaps, and it might pucker a little. If you're not going to use batting, it might work. You're not at this point yet, but something that helps a quilt piece look good is the flattening or ironing stage. Once you're happy with how the stitching turned out, you're going to want to flatten the seams. You can finger press them open, but an iron is better. Lay the pieces with the right side down, open the seam with one edge on each side and press it open. Happy quilting!
Thank you. This is fun so far. :) The wife actually got me a leather thimble. I tried using it at first, but it kept on getting in the way. I might have to try it again, cause being as careful as I am, I'm still a bit clumsy. I guess it's a good thing I'm not sewing with power tools. :P I got some Bohn brand needles of various sizes and I'm currently using the thinnest one because the weave of the fabric is so tight. I do about three stitches a run, weaving it back and forth through the fabric, before pulling it through and starting a backstitch one stitch back. The needle does seem to be a bit on the flexible end, fortunately there's two more of its size in case it does break. I didn't know working with knots and tangles were an issue. I guess it's a good thing I'm doing a backstitch then. If the thread does break, it'll help the stitch from coming undone (or so I'm told). I'll have to look into the beeswax. I'll also have to look into pins to hold the fabric in place. I think part of the reason my stitches are so big is because I'm currently working the fabric loose in my hands. Ironing will be in part to. I know to fold each seem to the darker fabric to prevent it from showing through and to also press theniron, not move it back and forth, to keep from pulling on the stitching. Any tips beyond that?
To hold the fabrics together, you can try safety pins. They sell really tiny safety pins as well as the large, so you can gauge which would be most helpful. An assortment pack might be good. You can use straight pins but you might get poked a lot. The other thing you can use to hold fabric together is double sided adhesive tape, like the kind you wrap presents with. You can get that at an office supply store. Craft stores sell some double sided tape that you can leave in the seam and wash out later, but that's not necessary here. It's easy enough to remove the tape once you sew the seams. Another thing you can try (but last choice on the list) is water soluble glue stick. Always test the tape and glue on scrap fabric first. The glue stick (and maybe tape) might be a hassle to remove, so test first and consider carefully. Also, if there's any stickiness on the fabric, it might gunk up the iron. If you use that iron for other clothes, that might be something to consider. If you're going to iron the seam to one side, iron it open first. It sets the stitches and is easier to get an even seam than if you iron it to one side from the start. If you iron the seam to one side, the fabric might bunch on one side so you'll have to gauge which seams will go which way and test it out. Edit: I'm going to take back that last part about ironing the seams open. When I looked it up, there's controversy about it, so I guess it can go either way. Controversy about sewing. The internet truly is an amazing place. Here's someone who irons the seams to one side and gives reasons for it.
I think I might go the safety pin route. If I do though, I'll have to be real careful about how many I use and when and where I keep them. My dog is super well behaved and more often than not doesn't get into anything (unless it's something outside that smells amazing), but I wouldn't want to take any chances. We found these really awesome clips that take place of pins, but they're expensive as fuxk. Like 20 bucks for a pack of twelve expensive. I don't know if they're worth it. I think open seam pressing is like some well known yet unconventional method, cause every person I talk to advises me against it, yet somehow it's something everyone knows aboutm
Dude that's awesome, and so cool that you've started it, it looks great so far and I don't think anyone is going to be telling you to not bother. Don't crap on your own parade, ya know? It's really prompting me to give it a try, there's babies coming up in my life that it would be great if i could make something for them.
There's a part of me that's telling me not to bother. I'm gonna stick it out though. The decoupaging has been getting easier, so will this. You should totally make something. Fair warning, it's a bit of a slow process, but it's relaxing and worth it. :)
My problem is I let little issues halt my progress totally, and once that happens my motivation just drops entirely. Sometimes recovering from it, but sometimes not -- for example stuff for crochet that I really wanted to learn but found a bit too fiddly and frustrating... I've never been one for art and crafts but it's something I want to explore more.
Eh. It's one of those things where you have to just kind of keep at it. This one I'm half assing, but the next one I'm going to be a lot more careful with. Crafts are repetitive motions, so it's important to build good habits, not bad. After that, it's just practice, practice, practice. But you should totally explore them. The agravation is part of the fun and it's nice to have a finished product you can be proud of. :)