Re: Getting started

The simplest pattern, Tom, is to join squares together!
You might think that's too trivial to bother with; but, if you have the fabric, and the cutting tools (perhaps your mother used scissors? - more on that in a minute), it would be a great place to start. It will show you whether the machine will work well, give you practice on cutting and sewing a straight seam (quarter of an inch traditionally for patchwork); give you practice at matching seams! You can then, give it batting and a backing, baste it and quilt it. If you make it something like 36" x 48", it would make a nice snuggle quilt for a child - so you can donate it to a children's charity.

Cutting has had a revolution: although scissors will never be complete superseded, there are now rotary cutters, which are used with a self-healing cutting mat. These can be bought from quilting shops and places like Walmart and Joann's (though I am from England, so am not totally familiar with shops there). You will find cutting much more accurate with these than with scissors.

Classes are good; but books are fine if you are people who can learn from books. Have you checked the books you now have? Most books, regardless of topic, have some sections on the basics of quilt making.
If not, go to your library, and check their books out. Depending on the library there will be much to find.

There are online sites for instructions on 'how to do' and much, much more. www.ritasquilts.com is the site of one of the ladies here who has set up this website full of helpful 'classes'. I'm not really familiar with online sites - but others will be! There is also a quilting university, quite reasonably priced and many here have taken one or more of their classes. www.quiltuniversity.com.

That's probably all you'll want to take in from me. Others will add.
..
In message <1136993678.647645.62570@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Weldingquilter <usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes 
Good morning Everyone,

My partner and I are wanting to get started quilting.  Luckily we
inherited my mother's stash of fabric and one of her sewing machines
(Morse Fotomatic IV) and some of her tools.  I know there was a
quilting frame at some point but I think that was handed off to one of
my Aunts, along with the Bernina (I think) baby lock.

We have a huge (at least we think) amount of fabric to start with, some
of it has been cut and there seems to be at least one quilt assembled
into blocks, another cut into pieces but we don't know what the pattern
for that one is.  There are a few quilting books, lots of patterns cut
from various places and a few pattern tools (I think) that are plastic
triangles, layout rullers, etc.

What we are wanting to do is get started making a simple quilt to make
a few mistakes, see how to piece one, assemble, etc. I know we'll need
a frame at some point but I think I can build that.  We don't know how
to piece the blocks (most of Mom's stuff was traditional block quilts),
but we both have done some sewing. <a
href="http://photos.thebarbecuepit.com/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2
_itemId=152">http://photos.thebarbecuepit.com/main.php?g2_view=core.Show
Item&g2_itemId=152</a>
But as you can tell that is simple stuff, putting a hem on some flannel
and sewing up some pillows.

My (our) questions:
Where can I find a simple project to get started with?

What's a good resource for learning how to quilt, techniques, etc.?
Books?  Classes? Online? (Unfortunately Mom passed a few years ago and
isn't around to hand this skill down)

Where can I find resources for ideas and tools?

Will this oddball sewing machine do what we need for piecing the
quilts?  I don't think we want to invest in a quilting machine (I think
those exist) as we'd like to do the actual quilting ourselves.

Any help from your vast expierence will be appreciated!

Thanks!
Tom in Dripping Springs, TX


--
Best Regards
pat on the hill
.

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