Supply List
Starting From Scratch
Carol Miller, Instructor
Just
wanted you to have a look at the lap-sized quilt you can make in this class. Please note that you will be
making half square triangles, flying geese units, and checkerboards. These units will prepare you to make
hundreds of other traditional blocks. If your idea of a beginner class is to sew squares together into a
4-patch (the same as the checkerboard), this is not the class for you. We will do a lot more! I will
guide you through every step as we go along. We will finish by
learning to hand quilt.
This really is a complete beginner class and I will not be giving you ANY supplies to buy in advance. However, you should be aware that the basic supplies (rotary cutting mat, rotary cutter and two rulers) will cost at least $75. This is before you begin to buy your fabric. These tools will last for many years.
You can see how previous students have done in class by looking in the Gallery.
If you just cannot wait, visit your local quilt store and look around. Check out the available rulers and see which brand you can read when it is laid on a piece of fabric. Some colors and styles are more comfortable than others for each of us.
Look at the fabrics, too. If you see a really wonderful print fabric, something with big, full bodied designs and you just fall in love, go ahead and buy a yard. We will talk about how to match up other fabrics with a main focus fabric in Lesson One.
If you are in the office supply store, you can buy some graph paper, too. Buy paper that is 4 squares to the inch. Do NOT buy the paper for school children. It is not accurate. Places like Office Max and Staples carry adult graph paper in pads. The notebook size will be fine.
That's it. You will have to wait for the rest. In Lesson One, I will explain WHY you are buying things and tell you when you have a choice between one product and another. Some widely available items are NOT a good choice, so I hope you will wait.
OUTLINE
Lesson One
Learning to shop- where
- tools and accessories
- mats
- rulers
- rotary cutters
- seam ripper
- pins
- sewing machine needles
- small scissors to snip thread
- iron
- thread
- fabric
- fabric patterns
- color and value
- fabric care
Includes Supply List and diagrams for the two stars.
Lesson Two
- where you can get patterns
- resizing blocks
- learn to draft blocks (be sure to click on link)
- learn to make templates
- look at the Cutting Instructions for your quilt top
- cutting lists and lettered charts are available for both stars
- learn to rotary cut
- learn to subcut the rotary strips
- talk about hand piecing
- label our pieces
Line drawings of blocks are available for you to color
Lesson Three
- learn to get a perfect 1/4" seam allowance
- sew a 4-patch
- from four individual pieces
- from a strip set
- what to do if piece is too small (follow link)
- learn to
- press seams
- segment strip sets
- chain piece
- square a square unit
- sew the flying geese units
- square a rectangle
Lesson Four
- assemble the Plain Star
- learning to press
- link to page on pressing
- learn a half square triangle method
- make the little Friendship Star
- assemble the Star in Star block
- finish making the checkerboard units
- separate page of cutting directions
- learn about design walls
Lesson Five
- learn to measure the quilt for borders
- learn to measure for a border with butted corners
- cutting and piecing the border strips
- assemble the border strips
- add butted border
- sew our checkerboard borders together
- add checkerboard border
- learn to miter a border
- add last unpieced border (mitered)
- talk about batting
Lesson Six
- variations for next time
- preparing the backing
- batting the quilt
- laying out the three parts: back, batt and top
- basting
- quilting by hand
- making a sample sandwich and practicing the stitch
- sewing the layers together
- basting the edges by hand
- basting the edges with a walking foot
- squaring the top
- adding a sleeve
- adding binding
- adding a label