Free Quilting Instructions Are Useless
Unless You Know What To
Do With Them

Now that you’ve dipped your beginning quilter toes into this amazing craft, it’s time for some free quilting instructions and guidelines to help your journey into this new and exciting world go smoothly. Before you start refining your techniques and spending a lot of money needlessly, let’s focus on basic materials that impact the quality of every quilt you make.

Your Sewing Machine

If you don't already have a sewing machine you will want to get one, unless, of course, you decide that you will be quilting by hand. But if you are investing in a sewing machine here is a little advice. Do some test drives of different machines before you buy one.

A little bit of advice for your free quilting instructions Don’t buy your sewing machine at Walmart!. I had a couple of class students buy their machines at Walmart. Both of them had different machines (one was around the $80 mark and the other $250 range). Both of them were very unsatisfied and spent the majority of the time in class adjusting their tension, re-threading their machine and just generally being frustrated. Then when they tried to return them, they were told they had to ship them back to the manufacturer, Walmart didn't take them back. Not very good customer service if you ask me.

So imagine if you spent time in a class, whether it was free quilting instructions or not and you spent the majority of your time on your issues with your machine - would you feel as a beginning quilter that you spent your time wisely? Of course not.

Spend a little more, go to store that sells and repairs sewing machines. Talk to the sales person, sew a little bit, if they offer free quilting instructions or the machine familiarization classes – take it! You will not be sorry. Remember you will be using this machine for a long time, you want to love it, even call it your baby like I do my new Janome 6600 - it really is my baby! When I haven't used it in awhile (maybe hand stitching some things) I get really lonesome and go into withdrawal - that is how you want to feel about your new machine. Read about my sewing machine saga here.

How Do I Know What Tools I Need?

You will need to invest in some quality quilting tools. I would strongly suggest you don't run out and just buy what you "think" you might need. You will be very surprised to see how little you can start with. Click here for a complete listing of all the tools you will need to get started.

I covered the basics of the essential quilting tools you will need. When you take a class or are working on a new skill set or a new pattern, then invest in the appropriate tool. This way you will save money and not buy quilting tools that you will not use. Remember you are making an investment in your beginning quilter heart and tools, something that will last you the rest of your lifetime, so look for good deals but don't get cheap tools. Just ask your hubby if he would buy cheap tools or ones that would last.

Learn How To Read A Pattern

The first time you pick up a free quilting pattern or any other quilting pattern you will think you're looking at hieroglyphics. It really isn't the easiest thing to just read and start creating your quilt immediately, that is why I created a great article that translates all the quilting lingo, remember you are looking at a foreign language - the language of quilting and having a road map full of beginners quilting instructions will be very helpful. To learn how to translate a quilting pattern, click here.

What About All This Fabric?

If you want to be consistently pleased with your quilts, you going to need to become an expert at selecting fabulous fabrics.You will have amazing results if you choose quality material. Since fabric is everywhere, it must be easy to just pick up any old material, right?

Wrong. Fabric is the backbone of your quilt. It’s the canvas on which you’ll display your new quilting skills. With a bit of basic knowledge of fabric you can avoid expensive mistakes. You won’t be wasting precious time and money.

Since free quilting instructions and quilting fabric are such a huge topic and I can cover it for days I have made it easier to understand all the different things you might need to know about the fabric here.

You got bargin fabric - what is it? How to conduct a burn test

Will the color bleed? How to conduct a bleed test.

I am making an heirloom quilt - will the fabric shrink? Shrink Test.

Even though we are not making clothes there will often be times that you will need to know about the grain of the fabric. The grain refers to the way the threads are arranged. Grain determines whether your block assembles effortlessly or whether the blocks won’t fit together smoothly. Even in beginners quilting instructions you will find reference to fabric grain. All about the grain of the fabric.

My next article explains all about the different fabrics you will see in a quilt shop. I have covered the ones you will most likely see and want to start with. Remember each fabric has it's own quirks and starting off with 100% cotton isn't a bad idea. Get comfortable with your machine, learn how to piece your quilt blocks, then explore other fabrics. As a beginner quilter you will be constantly learning new things. Common quilt shop fabric.

You might want to check out locations of local quilt shops in your area. This little logo will get you to a locator to find ones close to you or find ones even when you are traveling. Have fun.

You have probably already discovered fat quarters, but since the advent of fat quarters there have been a ton of fun new terms to come from the fabric manufacturers They have started creating all sorts of yummy sounding pre cut fabric bundles, things like "layer cakes" and "honey buns" and you find all about them and go to your quilt shop prepared - why do they have food names...? All about the yummy food - I mean quilting terms.

Final note about fabric. Once you’ve chosen your fabric, you’re going to have to decide whether or not to pre-wash it or not. This is an individual choice. Personally, I do not pre-wash my quilt fabric. I prefer the feel of the fabric with the chemical treatment from the manufacturer. It just feels better to me. Go figure…

Some folks are sensitive to the dyes and chemicals in the fabric. If this is you, then go ahead you might want to wash them. If you do choose to wash your fabric you will need to spray starch your fabric. This gives it enough body to quilt with.

Should I Bother With Beginners Quilting Instructions?

I cannot say enough good things about classes and instructions. When you find a new quilt or technique you want to learn, take a class. You’ll learn how to create something new, build new skills and your quilting will reflect it, plus a huge benefit - you will meet other quilt-y people like you and you might find a new best friend.

Classes will not only help you learn a new skill, but if you bought a cool, new tool because of it, you will learn how to use it. So it wouldn't be money wasted.

Other Free Quilting Instructions and Options

Don’t forget about the internet. There is a ton of free quilting instructions out there. One thing I would highly recommend is to sign up for a free catalogs. You will learn all about new tools, new fabric lines and they give you ideas to give your hubby for your birthday and Christmas. As an example, my hubby now knows I want a light box for my birthday. You can check out Keepsake quilting, Clotilde and Nancy's Notions to name a few.

Quilting blogs are another great resource. My "Quilt Your Heart Out" beginning quilter blog available here. it is just getting started, but there are some free gifts waiting for you there.

Now if you like reading blog posts, there are some great ones here in quilters blogs they research a ton of blogs daily and pick out some interesting articles. You can also do a search in Google for “quilting blogs” and will find tons of different ones. Read them, see which ones you like, subscribe to them. Have a blast. I mean after all it is the best in free quilting instructions.

I have a Twitter account and just found out about creating my own beginning quilter group, which I did. It is brand new and I would love to chat with you there and hear about all your successes. You can click on the link to sign up and who knows what will happen. Twitter Twibe for beginning quilters.

Facebook is another way to communicate.

Free quilting instructions are everywhere. It is so hard to keep up with all the resources, so pick the beginners quilting instructions you like, stick with them and try a new beginner quilting instruction every now and then. Don't start off trying to do and learn everything in a day. Take your time and have fun.

Throughout my website, I have sprinkled all sorts of free quilting instructions, patterns, gifts and bonuses for my readers, so poke around, read some of the articles, check out some of the resources and remember “the only rule in quilting is to have fun”.