What is your quilting passion? Never mind, that’s an easy question. What is your quilting fear? You know, that quilt pattern you’d love to try but your inner voice keeps holding you back with things like, “I am not good enough to make that!” and “That’s just too much for me, I’ll stick with squares!”
We all have a quilting technique or quilting pattern that elicits thoughts like this. For me, once upon a time, that unclimbable mountain of a pattern was a Feathered Star. Determined to defeat my own self-imposed quilting obstacle, I set out to create a quilting pattern that would help myself and others afflicted with the irrational Feathered-Star-a-phobia.
After I finally tackled the pattern, I decided I wanted to help other quilters like me, but I wasn’t sure how. Finally, it came to me: create a mystery pattern! Led through the process one simple step at a time, quilters don’t have a chance to feel overwhelmed or question their ability to complete the quilt.
For instance, it’s easy to make a few Half Square Triangles (HSTs).
Scared yet? Nah! The next step is to to sew groups of HSTs together with simple shapes.
Easy peasy. A few partial and several regular seams later…
And BOOM! A Feathered Star is born
Obviously, this is a simplification, but a ton of color graphics and simple instructions demonstrate this technique for quilters who might need the extra information to stay in their comfort zone. The point is, if you don’t know the end product, you aren’t able to keep yourself from trying a fabulous design because of self-doubt. The above pattern is Bella Cosa. There are no ‘y’ seams or similarly intermediate level piecing involved, which is why this made a wonderful mystery pattern.
Over the years I’ve often experienced the power of mystery patterns helping other quilters achieve their own “unachievable” goals During one of my first gigs as a mystery quilt teacher, I met “Square Girl”. It was a six hour class. The students came in with their fabrics cut, ready to sew and complete a small top in a day. The mystery I was teaching was Phire’s Radiance, which is my take on a Lone Star. While Square Girl was sewing, I overheard her murmuring “I like squares… I like squares… I like squares…” as she pieced together this quilt full of strips, and diamonds, and triangles.. I was still a new teacher, and I remember telling my husband when I got home that I blew it… I would never see this girl again! I have to give her props though; she persevered and completed her small table topper in class.
The important takeaway is that when we come upon a quilty mountain that intimidates us, we must find a way to make that climb. With a friend, with a mystery, or with a nice glass of wine and a box of chocolates – the reward is in making the journey and never looking back.
How do you overcome your own quilting fears? Today is the day; don’t wait any longer. Go climb your quilty mountain!
- How to Conquer Your Quilting Fears - April 20, 2015
I guess when I get an idea of what i want to accomplish I usually jot down on paper a rough draft and jump in with both feet. I tell myself not to worry if something doesn’t work like I would like. I can either change it or try again. Seam ripper can be your best friend,and sometimes when you least expect it, another idea comes that is usually better.
That’s excellent Curt! Sounds like you are a quick-start personality. I am a researcher, so I never just jump in with both feet! I think we all work differently. I have to admire you for following your creative muse with such gusto!
I am a newbie and feel like a sponge I just want to soak in all the knowledge that everyone is so kind to share. I have started my first quilt by just putting some pieces together and In order to keep myself from feeling so intimidated my mantra has been “I am the only person who knows what this is supposed to look like so it is impossible to make a mistake, I just meant to do it that way”. I hope to get to the place where I have the confidence to try a pattern as I buy lots of quilting books. So far I feel like I speak English and they are written in French or something LOL but I will get there hopefully. I am 68 years young and know you are never too old to try something new. I taught myself to sew a few years ago by gathering jeans that people did not want any longer and cutting into squares then combining the squares into jackets. No patterns just trial and error but again, no right, no wrong, just learning as I go. I figured if I ruined the project I was out nothing but time and thread. I was given some scraps of material and sewed large pieces together to make my married daughter a comforter but it was just piecing and sewing, not what I call a quilt. All that fancy work you do between sandwiched layers. I have to get it straight in my mind how to keep it from sliding around and shifting as the thought of picking stitches out of all those layers is not something I look forward to yet. Ya’ll make the finished project look so beautiful and so easy that I cannot wait until I am ‘One of the Big Kids’. Thank you so much for sharing with those of us who desire to learn. The Phires Radiance above is Beautiful!
Hi Pdudley! It sounds like you are having fun with your own new quilty adventures! I taught myself to sew and quilt on my own at home too – it is an exciting journey! Some people work better with a pattern, some people work better without a pattern. I always have a pattern when I work (even if it is one that I wrote). It helps keep me organized. I have a good friend that makes a ton of different crafts by just looking at a picture of something and then starting. That’s a different kind of skill I think! Best of luck with your quilting journey. I can’t wait to see all of the marvelous things you come up with!
My quilting fear is the fear of starting. I’m a beginner quilter and I’ve been looking at quilts and patterns and material since October 2015, but I haven’t started on anything yet. My friend gave me some material and lent me a cutting board, a rotary cutter and a ruler.
I’m thinking of doing a log cabin QAYG, but I’m not sure…..how do I get over this fear? I don’t want to make anything really big right now, but maybe smaller than a crib blanket.
So what do I do?
Make a mug rug.