Make: My first quilt

A couple of years ago, my mom gave me her old sewing machine -- a Husqvarna Viking 1050. I'd never used a sewing machine before, and the machine hadn't been used in... probably 20+ years. I got it serviced and scoured the web for the model manual and tutorials for winding the bobbin and threading the machine (Yet again, YouTube somehow delivers the one random niche video I really need). I hacked on some scrap fabric, just getting used to the machine and trying to sew in a straight line.

At the time, my friend had a 9 month old. Part of the reason I started messing around with the machine in the first place was that I wanted to be able to make and gift baby quilts for my family and friends. (I was given a handmade baby quilt when I was born, and I still treasure it.)

I searched for the easiest, most beginner-friendly quilt tutorial I could find, and I landed on Melanie Ham's "Your First Quilt" series. I bought a charm pack (a collection of precut fabric squares), some backing fabric, and some batting, and I got to work. (I realize the Halloween fabric is a little odd for a baby quilt -- but there's a reason!)

Cutting

Measuring and cutting fabric is (usually) the first step. But I wanted to simplify this process as much as possible. So I used a charm pack instead. That way I could skip the process of measuring and cutting, and get straight into the fun part.

Piecing

A quilt is really a three-layer sandwich of fabric: the quilt top, the batting, and the backing. You start with the top layer of the sandwich, the quilt top, which is the part that probably first comes to mind when you think about a quilt.

In this part I learned how to chain piece, where you continuously sew blocks of fabric without cutting the thread in between each block. I also learned (or started learning / starting trying to) sew straight. Which certainly sounds simpler than it is.

Basting

Basting is the process of temporarily securing the quilt sandwich layers together, to prepare to sew them together. I used pin basting, which involves using pins to hold the layers together.

Quilting

Quilting itself is the process of sewing through all the layers of the quilt sandwich to keep it all together. The tutorial pattern I followed used a very beginner-friendly method of straight line quilting, but there are so many amazing quilting techniques out there. It's what gives quilts the incredible different textures they have.

Binding

Binding is the process of finishing the edges of a quilt by sewing fabric around the outside to neatly secure the raw edges. For this pattern, it went something like this:

• Trim the edges of the quilt.
• Cut strips of fabric for the binding and sew together to make one long strip.
• Sew down the binding to attach it to the quilt.
• Fold the binding over to the back and hand stitch it down.

I enjoyed the hand-stitching part the most, which surprised me.

Finished!

I see so many little mistakes and things I would change, but what a fantastic learning experience. I'm proud to have finished it. I think the most impressive thing is that I finished the whole thing, and then realized that I had attached the walking foot incorrectly 😂. It wasn't really being much help beyond a regular presser foot. So, quite proud that it actually worked as well as it did, without that.

And voila -- my first quilt! I think it turned out well. And most incredibly, frankly, -- I don't see any squares I wish I had placed differently.

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Cover image: By Amberley Romo