The Top 6 Reasons Beginner Quilters Struggle (Solutions Inside)

You have decided to make your first quilt. Fantastic! You have seen beautiful quilts on Pinterest, bought some fabric, and sat down at your sewing machine. Then, you realized that quilting is a little harder than it looks.

If you are feeling frustrated, take a deep breath. You are not “bad” at quilting, you are just learning how to quilt. Most beginners struggle with the same hurdles. Let me show you why it feels hard and how you can get better.

1. Quarter Inch Seam Consistency

In garment sewing, you have some room for error. In quilting, if your quarter inch seam is off, you will have difficulty putting your quilt top together. This is the #1 reason beginner quilters get discouraged and give up.

• The Struggle: Sewing a consistent quarter inch seam

• The Fix: Invest in a quarter inch presser foot made for your machine (not a generic foot off of Amazon)

Less expensive ways to help you sew a more accurate quarter inch seam:

• Purchase a magnetic seam guide which fits onto your machine bed

• Place a piece of Washi tape/masking tape on your machine’s bed exactly a quarter inch away from your needle to act as a guide instead

2. Choosing Fabric

Walking into a quilt shop is like being a kid in a candy store for many, but it can become overwhelming quickly. Beginners tend to struggle to choose colours they like, and frequently do not know how to create a complementary colour palette for their project.

• The Struggle: Choosing fabrics for the first time can be very challenging for many who do not want to do it wrong

• The Fix: Instead, start with pre cuts. Look for Charm Packs (5” squares) or Jelly Rolls (2 ½” strips). The fabric manufacturers have already done the work for you, because pre cuts are colour coordinated. All you have to do is sew.

3. Cutting Fabric Accurately

Using a rotary cutter for the first time can be both scary and frustrating.

• The Struggle: Rotary cutters are extremely sharp and you really need to pay attention to what you are doing. You can also have a ruler slip or veer off the ruler and your pristine fabric has now been cut wrong.

• The Fix: Purchase good quality products for rotary cutting (Olfa 45mm rotary cutter, Olfa 18” x 24” self-healing mat and Creative Grids 24 ½” x 6 ½” ruler). These supplies will last you for years. By using a Creative Grids ruler, your ruler is less likely to slide on you due to the non-slip surface on the back of the ruler.

4. Too Much Math and Not Enough Art

Quilting requires some math. Calculating yardage, border strip lengths and binding can feel more like a high school exam than a hobby.

• The Struggle: Feeling overwhelmed by the technicalities before you even start sewing.

• The Fix: Choose a beginner-friendly pattern to start off. Look for patterns labelled easy, fast or beginner-friendly. These patterns do the math for you, so you can focus on learning quilting skills instead. As your skills grow, you will find that quilt math comes much easier to you.

5. The Basting Blues

You have finished your quilt top and now it is time to turn it into a quilt sandwich (top, batting and backing basted together). The quilting stage is where many beginners quit because their layers shift, bunch up, and create puckers, which nobody wants in their finished quilt.

• The Struggle: Attempting to hold three layers of fabric together while sewing them on a home sewing machine.
• The Fix: Do not skimp on whichever method of basting you choose. Ensure you are basting every 3″ in both directions. I prefer to pin baste or thread baste over spray basting, but you do you.

6. The Perfectionism Trap

This is a biggie! Social media makes us think that every quilt should be a museum quality heirloom. When a beginner sees anything less than perfection in their own quilt, they want to quit.

• The Struggle: Comparing your first quilt to somebody else’s fiftieth quilt.

• The Fix: Embrace the crinkle factor. Once a quilt has been washed and dried, it comes out crinkly which is an excellent way to mask mistakes. Any mismatched points will not matter when you are snuggled under the quilt on the couch.

Take it from me, a recovering perfectionist, “close enough is good enough.” Angela Walters taught me that and it is a lesson I take to heart every time I am working on a quilt.

My Final Thoughts

I hope this helps you. Quilting can feel overwhelming at the beginning, but if you stick with it, I can assure you that you will be making beautiful quilts in no time. See you next time.