Today, quilting is everywhere, with so many ways for learning to create with needle and thread. We have quilt shops, quilting books, magazines, classes, online tutorials, specialty tools, and enough rulers to fill an entire cabinet. When I started quilting, that world didn’t exist yet.
I learned to quilt just before the country’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976, during a time when quilting was beginning to find its way back into the American creative landscape. For years, quilting had been in decline. The quilts made by earlier generations were often family treasures, or, like in our family, they were used in the car for kids and dogs, on the ground as a landing spot, or to cover a picnic table, but quilting wasn’t the thriving hobby and industry we know today.
There were no quilt shops in my life because, quite simply, quilt shops as we know them didn’t exist. No rotary cutters. No self-healing cutting mats. No specialty rulers designed to make every possible quilting task easier. And no one in my family quilted.
So I learned by diving in and figuring things out. I’m certainly a “jump into the deep end” kind of learner.
Learning With What You Have
I grew up around some family quilts that had been passed down from my great-grandmother’s sister. Those quilts were in everyday use in our house, and I still have many of them. They became my inspiration and, in many ways, my teachers. I studied the fabrics and blocks and wondered how she had put all those pieces together, but there wasn’t anyone standing beside me saying, “Here’s how you do this.”
A beginner quilting class wasn’t an option either. No such thing in those days, so I made quilts however I could and worked with whatever I had available. Patch templates were cut from cereal boxes and dressmaker shears cut the patches out of whatever fabric I could get my hands on. I suspect that that true for many of you as well.
At the time, fabric came places like Woolworth’s, JCPenney’s and Montgomery Ward, Fabricland or House of Fabrics. Quilting cotton as we know it today wasn’t a thing. Calicos and muslin were the cotton fabrics we had to work with, while much of the other fabric available was a cotton-polyester blend.
My sewing experience was primarily with clothing, so I made what seemed like a perfectly logical assumption: A seam was a seam.
Which meant I used a 5/8-inch seam allowance. It took me a (long) time to discover that quilters generally use a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Let’s just say that was one of many things I eventually learned (often – the hard way)!
We Don’t Always Know What We Don’t Know
Looking back, I think that’s one of the most interesting things about learning anything new. When you’re starting out, you don’t necessarily know which questions to ask, which techniques are considered standard, or which tools might make the job easier.
Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re making an assumption. You’re simply doing the best you can with the information available to you.
There’s actually something valuable about that kind of learning. Experimenting, trying something, discovering a mistake and trying again can teach you things that don’t always stick when you’re simply following instructions.
Eventually, you begin to understand not just how to do something, but why you’re doing it that way.
Today, We Have a Lot More Ways to Learn
Fast-forward to today and the options for learning to quilt are almost endless.
A quilt shop might offer a class or workshop, and a guild can provide demonstrations, programs and the opportunity to learn from other members. Books and magazines can walk you through a technique at your own pace. Online classes and videos let you watch someone demonstrate a process as many times as you need.
And then there is the simplest option of all: ask another quilter.
The wonderful thing is that there’s no single “right” way to learn.
Some people love taking classes, while others would rather read the instructions and work things out on their own. One person may need to see a technique demonstrated, while another prefers to watch a video three times before picking up the fabric.
Personally, I think most of us develop our own combination of learning methods over time. And yes, I’m still a jump into the deep end kind of learner – that hasn’t changed. I just have more sources of information and resources now than I did when I was starting out.
Sometimes the Best Teacher Is Another Quilter
One of my favorite things about quilting is how willing quilters are to share what they know.
A friend shows you a shortcut. Someone demonstrates a technique at a guild meeting. Another quilter explains why something isn’t working. You discover a tool you’ve never seen before because the person sitting next to you says, “You have to try this.”
Some of the best lessons happen when we’re simply sewing alongside someone else. There’s a tremendous amount of knowledge in a quilting community. We just have to be willing to ask questions, listen to the answers and occasionally admit that we don’t know what we’re doing.
And Then There Are the Mistakes
I’ve learned a lot from mistakes. Probably more than I would like to admit. That 5/8-inch seam allowance was only one of them. So was discovering that there’s usually a reason experienced quilters do things a particular way.
Mistakes are part of learning. A block doesn’t come out the size you expected. The points don’t line up. Something gets cut incorrectly. A technique that looked simple turns out to be anything but.
Eventually, the seam ripper comes out, and you start over. That’s not failure (although it can be pretty frustrating). That’s learning.
Some (maybe most) of the things I know about quilting today are things I learned because I did them the wrong way first.
Learning Doesn’t Always Come Before Creating
This is particularly important for new quilters to know up front (and all along the way). We don’t have to learn everything before we start making. In fact, sometimes the making is what teaches us.
Think about what happens when you discover an idea that inspires you. You want to make something similar, then realize you don’t know how. So you find a book, watch a video, ask a friend or take a class.
Once you try the technique, another question may appear. Perhaps you make a mistake and have to figure out what went wrong. Each step adds another piece to what you know.
Before long, you’ve learned something you didn’t know when you started. That’s learning, and that’s creativity in action.
This Brings Us Back to Inspiration
Remember our first National Sewing Month article, Learning to See? We talked about noticing the colors, shapes, patterns and textures all around us and recognizing the possibilities they might hold.
Then, in Week 2, we talked about the tools that help us take those ideas and turn them into something tangible.
Now we’re adding another piece to the puzzle. We need to learn how to use what we see and what we have.
That learning can happen in a classroom, through a book, while watching a demonstration, during a conversation with another quilter or simply by trying something for ourselves.
There’s no single path that’s right for all of us, only the learning combinations that work for us individually.
What I Learned From Learning the Hard Way
Sometimes I wonder what my younger self would think if she could walk into a quilt shop today.
Rotary cutters? Self-healing mats? Specialty rulers? Hundreds of quilting cottons? Classes for almost anything I might want to learn? Teenage me probably would have thought I’d died and gone to quilting heaven!
What amazes me even more is how much the quilting world changed during my lifetime. I learned to quilt at a time when quilting was just beginning to come back into the American creative landscape. The Bicentennial helped spark renewed interest in traditional crafts and American heritage, and quilting became part of that revival.
From there, the quilting world kept growing.
Quilt shops appeared. Manufacturers began producing fabrics specifically for quilters. New tools and rulers made cutting and piecing easier. Books, magazines, classes and quilting organizations gave people more opportunities to learn. Eventually, the internet opened up an entirely new world of quilting education and connection.
Today’s quilter has access to an incredible amount of information and an amazing variety of tools.
Yet I’m also glad I learned the way I did. Those early years taught me to figure things out, experiment and keep going when something didn’t work. I learned that not knowing how to do something wasn’t a reason not to try. A mistake didn’t mean I couldn’t make something. It simply meant there was something else I needed to learn. Maybe that’s the best lesson of all.
The tools and resources have changed dramatically since I started quilting. The basic idea hasn’t changed at all.
We see something that inspires us and want to make it. Then we figure out what we need to know, find a way to learn it and give it a try. And then … we learn something new all over again.
How Did You Learn to Quilt?
Now I’m curious about your story. How did you learn to quilt?
Were you taught by a family member? Did you take a class or learn from a friend? Perhaps a book or magazine was your teacher. Maybe you learned from videos, a quilt guild or simply by starting a project and figuring it out along the way.
And here’s a question I would especially love to hear the answer to:
What was the first thing you learned that made you think, “Ohhh…so THAT’S how you’re supposed to do it!”?
You can think about it – and let me know – Here.
No matter how long we’ve been quilting, there’s always something else to learn. That’s part of what makes this creative journey so much fun.
We see something that inspires us, and we find the tools to help us make it. In the process, we learn what we need to know.
And then we get to create something that is uniquely our own.
Happy Stitching!