How To Quilt In A Hurry

Welcome to Helen's Hot Pink Haberdashery ...amongst my busy days of caring for a newborn, chasing a toddler, walking the dog and running the day to day of our online shop, I'm putting pen to paper, or rather fingers to keys to bring you my new blog. If you're needing inspiration for craft projects, tips on how to make your first quilt or advice on choosing the best products for your makes, you're in the right place.

Our shop selling vintage inspired fabrics and pre cut patchwork squares began with an inherent love for a Textiles and a habit of perusing Birmingham rag market and buying far too much fabric than our bijoux house could hold. The cutting of pretty fabrics into patchwork squares kick started our online presence, so this is where my blog will focus. If you have always wanted to make your own patchwork quilt, blanket or throw but just don't know where to begin, read on, I'm here to help.

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How To Quilt: A beginners guide

How to Quilt In a hurry

Quilting professionals and dedicated crafters may spend months creating a quilt that is a unique work of art. If you do not have the time available to dedicate to making such a quilt, but would still love to make your own, or you need to make a quilt quickly, my suggestions of how to make a quilt in a hurry can help!

Making a quilt in a short space of time doesn't have to mean poor quality. Thankfully there are many products out there that can speed up your quilting process without compromising on style.

Tip 1: Purchase already coordinated fabrics

Rather than spending hours perusing the Internet or your local market for a selection of coordinating and complementary fabrics for your quilt, let someone else do the hard work for you. One of my favourite things is doing just that, to create our half metre bundles or pre cut patchwork square mixes I choose fabrics from the same colour ranges or with complementary pattern to create mixes that are ready to use. 

Our unusual purple and green scheme has proved incredibly popular. Would you have considered this colour combination?

Tip 2: Use pre cut patchwork squares

Learning how to quilt could involve investing in a range of specialist equipment, such as rotary cutters, cutting mats and templates. However this is not necessary if you buy already pre cut patchwork squares. Using pre cut squares will dramatically reduce the time required to prepare your design and also ensure accuracy without any of the stress. You can buy pre cut squares in a range of sizes, the most popular being 4" or 10cm. We also produce 20cm squares; great for practicing how to quilt and getting a quick result.

Tip 3: Follow a simple pattern

A great way to learn how to quilt is by first of all not following a pattern, but by simply joining the squares in a layout of your choice to create a regular square design. This requires minimal preparation and sewing, but when using pretty fabrics that have been chosen well, will create a great looking quilt.

 This pretty pink patchwork quilt combines 10cm and 20cm pre cut squares to create an irregular design.

 If you want to push yourself a little more, but still want a quick result, I particularly like this simple pattern:

A simple but effective quilting pattern

I have used 16 20x20cm squares in a range of pink, blue and green floral and polka dot fabrics to create this vintage inspired floral design. Using these large squares is a great way to speed up your quilting process.

Follow my illustrations to learn this basic 'how to quilt in a hurry' technique.

Lay out your design, then sew the four squares in each section together.

Once the four squares are sewn together, slice them up as shown below to begin creating the design.

Repeat this for each section (4 squares) of the quilt.

This is my final design / plan using the technique above on each set of four squares based on the fabrics pictured. I have combined vertical and horizontal lines to make the design look more interesting.

Your plan doesn't need to be this detailed, but preparing something to follow as you sew would certainly help and speed up sewing.

Tip 4: Measure your seam allowance as you sew

You can learn to sew and quilt in a hurry by using your equipment to its full potential. Temporarily secure your seams by pinning horizontally. This allows you to sew directly over the pins without issue. Remove the need to measure all seams by using your sewing machine foot to keep your seam allowance. Most sewing machines will have markings to follow on the plate under the foot.

Tip 5: Finish the edges with binding

Many quilts are finished with fabric borders or edging, however I feel when learning how to quilt, using a bias binding is an easy alternative that still looks great. Choose a complementary colour and matching thread. A wider width of binding would also be a sensible choice if you lack confidence in the accuracy of your stitching. Tack your binding first to achieve a flawless result and press when fully stitched.

Follow these tips of how to quilt in a hurry and achieve a result that looks like you've being slaving for days. Good luck and happy quilting.