May 7

May 7 Measure Twice, Cut Once

It’s not just for carpenters

You’ve heard the rule; measure twice, cut once.

It’s not just carpenters who should follow that piece of advice. Quilters can benefit from this, especially if a project requires a lot of cutting pieces. This was something I learned the hard way!

One of the first larger quilts I made came from a cutting boo-boo; I made a jelly roll quilt top with some beautiful batik fabric and planned to make a stained-glass effect quilt by cutting the top into equal parts before framing them with a border. I planned to make a large lap quilt so I calculated how many pieces I wanted to be cut and how big they should be and began eagerly cutting. After I finished cutting I looked at my pile of fabric and realized with horror I had accidentally cut two pieces 1/2” smaller than the rest and a 1/2” is quite a large difference! My wonderfully laid out plan took a hairpin turn into disaster town. I quietly put everything away and went to make a cup of tea.

A few days later a bright idea struck me - I could still get away with making my quilt and rather than going for a uniform window look, I would stagger the pieces.

Content with my decision, I went off to find the background fabric without figuring out how much I would need (don’t ask why as I don’t even know myself). I found a beautiful turquoise blue and started cutting and piecing in a learn-as-you-go fashion - not recommended for anyone who appreciates exact measurements!

The result: A twin-size quilt, much larger than a lap quilt and a scary-looking amount of fabric to machine quilt. Once again I put everything away and pretended the project wasn’t there. I was still only a year into my quilting journey, there’s no way I could get away with turning that top into a quilt, right?

It’s a little bigger than I had anticipated…

It took a new sewing machine to change my mind, one that had fancy pre-programmed stitches that looked fun to try. I was out of projects to do and the turquoise quilt was calling out, begging to be finished so I bit the bullet and found the batting and backing to get the job done. I do not have a long arm quilting machine and my skills are extremely basic so I decided to keep it that way however I wanted to do something other than stippling so I did a little research and was hit by inspiration; although I had a stained-glass look, the fabric colour was a hint of the sea so I went with a water ripple effect technique. I also managed to add some ‘bubbles’ up the sides, a few shells and a wobbly starfish or two. It was a small revelation as I learned I actually might have what it takes to eventually become a quilter who does more than loops and swirls.

Many hours later I had quilted and bound my quilt and to my utter amazement, it didn’t look half bad! The quilt was the perfect size for my son’s new “big boy bed” so I laid it out, ready to surprise him when he got home.

He loved it and enjoyed finding the hidden starfish and shells I had managed to incorporate into my design. The water effect quilting technique really worked with the colours and it’s now one of my favourite ways to quilt. Not a bad ending for a rookie mistake!