Quilting is a relaxing, enjoyable activity where there’s no limit to what you can make or design. But even with quilting-made-easy guides, this hobby can be challenging, and sometimes, hold back your creativity when faced with mountains of scrap, overcut fabrics. It’s natural to feel afraid of spending money and time on fabric that ends up going to waste, but here’s how you can work with more confidence.

Why Planning Matters

A lot of experienced quilters enjoy planning for their design, colors, and fabric combinations. While there’s no limit as to how long you can plan, try to set a deadline you can work with. It takes time and energy to mix and match patterns and rummage through your fabric stash, so leave some for cutting and actual quilting. If you’re running against time or getting more confused with color schemes and prints, stick to tried-and-tested favorites when doing a fabric pull.  

What You Can Do to Minimize Wastage

Check your quilting made easy guide or pattern to see if you’ve printed it correctly, so you can avoid the pitfalls of scaled-down templates. From this, make your test block by using fabric scraps. This is to ensure that you’re familiar with the instructions when you start cutting your actual fabric. Measure twice and double check the grid marks before slicing out the pattern. Take your time running your cutters and scissors as well to minimize mistakes.   

How You Can Work With Mistakes

Keep in mind that wrongly cut fabrics are not the end of the world. Find a way to work around them by looking up patterns in a quilting-made-easy guide, or save them for another special project. After all, you can still find a way to use these scraps. Check out your stash if you have fabrics with similar shades or close prints that can work with your pattern. Don’t pressure yourself into thinking that everything has to be perfect from the get-go, as there’s charm to mismatched patterns and reused scraps in quilting.   

While mistakes are unavoidable in quilting, don’t let them stop you from creating your next handcrafted masterpiece. For quilting-made-easy, drop by The Maui Quilt Shop in Kihei, HI, to check out quilts kits and Hawaiian quilt patterns. To view their selection of handmade products, gifts, fabrics, and materials, visit them online or call (808) 874-8050 to learn more about classes on basic quilting.