Monday, April 20, 2009

Ok, here is the first quilt I ever made. I think it was around 1989 and I didn't have a clue how to begin. So, I went to the fabric store and got a pattern. Yes, a pattern. Like a McCalls or Butterick. You know, it's what you did when you wanted to make something back then. So, I cut out all my quilt pieces using a pattern. No rotary cutter or mat. Scissors, pins, and tissue paper pattern. OMG, how antiquated is that? But, I didn't know any better, regarding quilting.


Still, it got me started and I never stopped and I started amassing a quilting "stash" right away as all good quilters do.

This photo is not the best as it's scanned from a snapshot. My goal is to get all of my earlier quilt photos scanned and then create a CD for easier storage.

8 comments:

Terri Stegmiller said...

OMG, if we still had to create quilts using those techniques today, I'd give it up. LOL! Your first quilt turned out wonderful. Thanks for sharing it.

Crispy said...

Oh pretty little quilt Terri!! IMHO a log cabin type quilt is the hardest quilt to make. It's so easy to end up with varying sizes of blocks.

I wish I had thought of taking pictures of my early quilts, I gave them all away so don't even have access to them.

Crispy

Jocelyn said...

Very pretty little quilt Terri. When I started quilting there was no rotary cutter or mat. Only scissors and cardboard patterns. It was still a good learning experience, but the rotary and speed cutting revolutionized my quilting! Of course I also have way more UFO's too :-)

free indeed said...

That's how I started quilting too...not from a pattern, but reading craft magazines etc and using scissors, templates, trace and cut. I drafted my first quilt myself...ALL triangles!!! Turned out to look like a star of David sort of thing; it was in ginghams for a baby quilt. Dah! Well, I've never been intimidated by triangles once I learned the easy methods of the rotary cutter. What a great invention! Yours is a nice quilt.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Yes quilting has certainly come a long way since then. I didn't start with that type of pattern, but I did have scissors and templates.

Anonymous said...

Oké, time for a confession: I STILL use home made sandpaper templates and cut my fabrics with scissors. I sew and quilt by hand and you know what? I love doing it that way :)Your first quilt looks better than my first though. I didn't know anything about contrast so it's an all the same pastel thingy...

Sequana said...

It looks like you've made a lot of progress over the years....*S*

Gayle Bong said...

Your first quilt story is not unlike mine a few years earlier. I pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric and cut around them with scissors just like I would for a shirt. A am so glad the pattern said to use 1/4" seams or I would have used 5/8"!