I made a quilt for my father as a gift last Christmas. I was completely finished and I mean binding sewn and ready to wrap when I realized one of the blocks was sewn wrong. The quilt had stars made with flying geese and one of the prominent stars was missing the wings as I had sewn it in backwards. It was very noticeable and I was heart broken to the point of crying and not wanting to give it to my father. I decided to give the quilt to my father after some encouragement from my husband and he loved it. He gets many compliments over the quilt and I like that he loves it.
The disasters just add to the fun of quilting…when I started quilting my own quilts. It was a mess lol. But I love it anyway and call it my crazy quilting quilt!!! It keeps me just as warm😉
My first quilt had 42 log cabin blocks in it. I had been watching a lot of RUclips videos and everyone was just zooming along with their chain piecing. So, that's what I did. NOT stopping and checking measurements, just figuring it would work out in the end. WRONG!!!!! My quilting mentor told me not to cut anything and we may be able to add coping strips to each block. Another lady from the church quilt group said that I would never be happy with it if I did it that way. Soooooooo yes, I took apart every single log cabin block, all 42 of them and put them back together correctly. I may be a remedial sewer, but I am glad that I took the time to take them apart and do it right. This quilt was for my husband who didn't believe it would ever come to be. Thank you FQS for all you do and share with us. I have learned a lot from you
Thanks for fitting this tutorial in today. My greatest sewing disaster was early in my quilting journey and I was making a two color Irish Chain, but my pattern was for three colors. I’m sewing along and run out of my fabrics, oh no! I drive four hours to go back to the store that I had purchased them from, hoping that they still had them. This was well before online fabric shopping!!! Fortunately I was able to purchase more fabric. The quilt turned out nicely. It seems like I’m always having mistakes, but the outcomes are better with each project. Online tutorials are so helpful, especially Kimberly’s!
My Biggest ongoing Quilting disaster!!! I downsized from a good sized house to a Much smaller condo. All my sewing stuff is hiding here and there. During Florida hurricanes season I move many unlabeled boxes from my over loaded garage into the condo so I can Squeeze my car into garage during the storms. I wish I was blessed with wonderful organization skills. I am a retired nurse practitioner with a Master of Science degree. My entire life I have wanted to be more right brain and a a crafty person! I have not given up on my quilting goals. I suspect I am not too different than many of you. You look forward to Friday with Kimberly! Kimberly Loves to cut fabric! I kind of Like the fact that Kimberly messed up her cutting today. She figured out how to make it all work out. She is a very good instructor and communicator so we can follow along and learn how to process moving foreword. So much to learn and Lori teaches us as well and even invites us into her home. We are all her quilt friends after all. My long Ramble is about over but I am feeling encouraged to tackle my many boxes and look forward to picking out some lovely fabric for Sun Bonnet Sue & perhaps some special home town dwellings.
I wanted to make a ghost quilt. Bought the the kit & decided to do it a retreat coming up. Cut all the fabric up by the directions and put it & the pattern plus extra fabric in a tote. Got to the retreat and never started it - did another quilt. The next 2 years, again I took it to a retreat & again - did another project. Finally last year - I said this is it ! Stated workkng on it and was sewing everything wrong. My quilting buddy next to me got the pattern, cut up fabric pieces & zip lock bags & organized it for me.I finally got it done, quilted it and enjoyed it this Oct. I felt so relieved to finally have it done!!
I just love and have learned soooo much from you Kimberly! I have 2 big problems. #cutting properly sewing and sewing a straight seam. I am learning that after I finish a component of a quilt block to measure it before I go on to the rest of the block. I have started watching you and Lori Holt over and over. I love her vintage machines. Stay well, Cheryl. ❤
I made a quilt from a tutorial years ago from precuts, and there was no instruction for measuring and squaring up the blocks. I pieced them all together and when I went to add borders it was so wonky. It was a UFO for many years. Recently I pulled it back out and did my best with the borders and quilted it up. Quilting took up some of the fullness and it looks good. Appreciate all your demonstrations in piecing and have learned so much from you! My skills have improved tremendously. Thank you! 😊❤️
Tena D I loved my Sew Sampler Box you sent me for June , but this one is even more exciting !! I have taken my June Sew Sampler Box to my quilting guild & advertised your program a lot !! If I should be lucky enough to receive one more , it would be " the icing on the cake !" to show them all ! All 40+ ladies were totally amazed at the lovely products . My screw-up quilt project : I was making the "Labyrinth Walk "quilt to donate to a live-auction fund raiser for our small community Lion's Club , a few years ago . I was being so careful putting it together , since it was somewhat complicated for me & was a special project . When I was nearly done the blocks , I realized one was put together totally wrong . I diligently sat, & unpicked it while sitting in the Living Room beside my husband , who was enjoying something on TV --- not at all concerned about my dilemma !! For Christmas that year , he surprised me with an engraved wooden plaque that appropriately read : " I've Learned so Much from my Mistakes , I Think I'll Make a few More !! " It hangs above my sewing machine as a gentle reminder , when I make a mistake . I've learned an awful lot over my quilting years & consequently have improved skills !! Keep up the great teaching , Kimberley & Crew !! Love every minute of it !! Sincerely, Tena D . Manitoba, Canada PS> If I won another Sew Sampler box , I would make the "Heart Quilt" and donate it again to the local Lion's spring auction . My 2 quilt donations have brought them over $1300.00 , a much appreciated donation in a small prairie community .
Made a quilt that I was gifting to a friend. Was short on fat quarters, so I added some older fabric from my stash. Once the quilt was finished, I washed it. To my horror, when I took it out of the washer, some of the older fabric had bled onto the cream colored background!! I was able to get the bleeding out, but I learned a valuable lesson! Never again will I mix old and new fabric!!
I am a relatively new quilter, and one of the first quilts I made was for my son for Christmas. It was a quilt set on point, and I left off half of the side setting triangles somehow. I just wanted to trash the whole thing, but knowing how much time and money I had invested, I took half the quilt apart and fixed it. Once I was done, I was so happy I had saved it, and I was able to have it ready to gift to him for Christmas. After that, I use a design wall to lay out my quilts as I put them together. That was a painful learning experience.
My quilting disaster was about 2 months ago so it is still a raw memory. I starched the bejesus out of my fabric and I mean it was like cardboard that could stand up on its own. I thought I was doing a good thing and helping my accuracy and squaring up etc. Well I worked on this quilt (a gift at that) for over 2 weeks putting these blocks together and agonizing over it being "perfect" and making extra sure it was always square and my seams were exactly 1/4 inch. I measured every seam I sewed. I have never measured a quilt so much before and I will never do that again either. I finally finish the top and think oh I did SO well. I was absurdly proud of myself. I go to my quilt shop where I rent the longarm to quilt this 92 X92 beast of a quilt, load it on the frame, pick out my backing that cost me around $120, and start to quilting away. I was in tears within 2 minutes. The holes punched in this quilt looked like bullet holes they were so large. I rushed over to my friend that owns the shop asking her what in the world is wrong with the longarm machine, stating I have rented this thing over 17 times and never had this issue. I asked is the machine broken? Is the needle way larger than I have ever seen? She looks at me and says (while running her hand along my quilt top)....exactly how many gallons of starch did you use? I said huh? She said oh honey you have starched this quilt to death! I was mortified. I had no clue that too much starch was even a thing. Mind you, I have only been quilting on my second year now. Long, hard, and very expensive lesson learned.
Yes, I made a Sue Bonnett and Sam quilt for my daughter. It was awful but she loved it. It was my first time free motion quilting, on my home machine. The tension was off the stitch looked awful. Then the binding oh, I want to cry! I went to her house the other day and I can see where the binding is coming apart. She has it displayed on the back of her couch. She said, she will always take the ones I mess up on. Bless her heart, she shows them off with pride and joy and I cringe! I love her so much, she makes me feel so valuable.
I have made so many quilting mistakes but just made my biggest ever. I was finally finishing the hustle & bustle jolly bar but was out of town and didn't lay the blocks out. I sewed them all the same way - which the pattern warned to be careful not to do - and after I got it completely sewn together (including washing and cornerstones) I spread it out and thought "well I can't figure out what the pattern is supposed to be" 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️. Was beyond elated when I opened my sew sampler this month. My favorite ever!!! Thanks Kimberly and the FQS team!!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
I was making a scrappy quilt similar to Lori Holt's Scrappy Strings pattern and I waited until I sewed the quilt together before taking off the backing paper. It wasn't until then that I realized my tension had been off for most of the quilt, and lots of seams were very loose. It was a 100 x 100 inch quilt, and I really didnt feel like redoing all those seams, so I took it to my quilter and she did a REALLY dense quilting pattern on it. Saved the day! I have come across a few seams I've had to reinforce, but for the most part it's pretty good. Of course, this is one quilt I will never put in the washer!
When I first started quilting I decided to machine quilt a huge queen size quilt (Santa in the Trees) on my little travel Janome since I “thought” it would be faster than hand quilting. What a disaster!!!!! I still can’t believe I even finished that quilt. It was a total struggle just maneuvering the quilt sandwich. If it wasn’t to be gifted in time for the holidays I would have turned the whole project into a giant cat blanket.
I have a problem with spatial awareness. So I check and double check and check again - most especially with colour and placement of blocks. Seriously. This baby quilt was a gift. I made sure all was in place or so I thought. Stitched, quilted and gave gift. About a year later was going through my quilt pics and, horror of horrors, realized that one of my blocks was totally turned the wrong way. The recipient never noticed and still to this day her little girl loves the quilt. Too bad I can’t send you pic! Love all your videos as they are fun to watch and a great help to me! 😊
I made your free Sizzle Jelly Roll quilt with what I "thought" was a 1/4 inch foot. I made ALL the blocks but they wouldn't fit together to make the pinwheels. I then realized what I had done. I packed it away for a year; couldn't bear to look at it. Got it out a month ago and tore apart all 16 blocks and resewed them together. I wasn't about to throw away the Minnick & Simpson Newport fabric!
My most panic-inducing quilt disaster was during my final check just prior to sending a king-size quillt to the longarmer. It is a Long Cabin quilt set on point. One of the blocks in the upper right quadrant adjacent to center was turned askew by 90 degrees, snugly stitched in on all sides. Piffle! I did a few deep breathing exercises, re-focused, and slowed myself way, way down. That was the day, I learned how to remove and re-insert a "rogue" block, all the while praying it wouldn't go wonky on me. The disaster was averted and the block is literally placed without a hint of distortion. Who knew one could feel so gratified in correcting an error. Sooo grateful I thought to do that final check! 😉
I made a king size quilt with appliqué center a large elk, then I put log cabin blocks around and another block after that. Can’t remember the block. I got it all sewn together and quilted it myself. Then realized I had on one side of the quilt switched two of the rows. I was in a hurry and didn’t check. My son still uses it to this day!! I think it was the most expensive quilt I have ever made. It is all batiks in earth tones.
Lately, I have been sawing the pillow; some appliques and the pieced border. The border contains from 20 blocks, 8 of them are stars. When I have sawn all 20 blocks I discover that 8 star’s blocks were one inch bigger than other pieces. I did all math wrong. Now I am doing stars one more time. Keep telling myself that I’m only a human. I really appreciate all your livestreams. Have always good time. Thanks a lot. ❤
Great Sew Sampler box! And I love that you’re giving project options❤ My biggest quilting disaster was one of my first quilts - I sewed the binding on the the front and then, don’t ask me why, I decided to trim the bulk off the corners… and ended up with holes in the corners of the binding when I flipped it to the back! 😂 Good Grief! 🤣😂🤣
My biggest quilting disaster was my first quilt. It was king size. I barely knew what I was doing. Finished it. Laid it out and one block was upside down. At the time I didn’t know how to fix it now I do. But I had it long arm quilted with the upside down block anyway. My favorite quilt to this day. ❤
I am making a block of the month. Each month there is a lot of cutting. There are at least 3 blocks every month. One is 24”sq. 12” sq and a big spacer. I am on month 5 and looked back at the past months and found 2 finished blocks sewed the rows together backwards. Ugh! At least it is fixable. Using batiks and you have to be so carful ripping out the seams. Batik is not a fav of mine but will be a beautiful big quilt when finished. Thanks for all you do. Love this sew sampler. Hearts are my fav. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
oh my, my biggest quilting disaster. I made a scrappy backing and ACCIDENTALLY included the selvage writing and dots in the piecing and did not notice that until I took it to my longarmer. Now, it would have been a different outcome had I PURPOSELY included that selvage. Whewwww! And for the record, Kimberly. YOU ARE NOT A WRECK, but a very devoted Mother of 4, businesswoman, wife and employer. Please give yourself some grace!
My disaster is that I think I have enough background to make a quilt. I have made smaller quilts or added another background for scrappy look. Now I make scrappy backgrounds all the time unless the quilt is a gift. Love that you showed your boo boo. Sometimes we need to improvise.
My biggest quilting disaster was in the Make-A-Wish row quilt with Corey Yoder and navy Robin Pickens fabrics. I finished it, had it longarm quilted and entered it in my guild's quilt show at the Chicago Botanic Garden - lots of people saw it. And guess what? On the bottom row, which was stars, I had turned one side of the star around. I didn't see it and my longarmer didn't see it. But once it's hanging in a quilt show....... Fortunately it was the first star and I was able to pick the quilting and the block apart. My longarmer was able to reload the quilt, and quilt the spot. Then we just buried the threads. Thank heavens FQS always gives you plenty of fabric when you buy a kit!!!!
My biggest quilting disaster was when I decided to work again on a paper pieced quilt that had been sitting in my closest for several years. I was cutting around the edge of a quilted block and I cut too much off and ruined the block. It worked out though because I found some more fabric and I taped the paper from the ruined block back together so I was able to recreate that block. I was so happy it worked out!😁
My biggest quilting disaster was a quilt I designed and made for my husband. It was a pieced replica of a football field. I forgot the 5 yard lines. I only pieced for the 10 yard lines. In the end it made the line markers disproportionate. No one mentioned it to me until it was time to go to the long arm. Needless to say the quilt is what it is. I improvised by stitching in the 5 yard lines. I know it’s disproportionate but it still turned out looking great and is well loved.
Biggest quilt disaster was early on when I was a new quilter. That quarter inch seam was all over the place. The quilt ended up not being square. The long armer that quilted it for me did a great job hiding it as much as possible. Love sew sampler. Always a great surprise.
Good Morning thank you so much FQS for all you do. My biggest quilting disaster would be when I free motion quilted these little mazes instead of a stipple. I had to send it to a long armed to fix and finish. Love you! ❤
My biggest quilting disaster was when I was making a row quilt out of 1 1/2 squares. Due to inconsistent 1/4 inch seam allowance, the lengths of rows varies a lot! And by the time I got to the bottom, I noticed one row there was a whole row of one and a half inch squares missing but the block ended up the same size as the ones above it. And in another row I had to sew on extra 1 1/2 inch squares! It all worked out in the end and was a good lesson in watching my seam allowance.
Hi Kimberly , My biggest quilting disaster was and is as a longarmer. Customer donates To personal people diagnosed with breast cancer so there is always a deadline. the disaster Was when I had to pick a whole row of a large pieced quilt. Let me tell you . 72 inches Of disaster in my little sewing room. Thanks for your videos they keep me sewing .
Biggest quilting disaster was on Bats and Boos. I sewed one whole row of blocks to the other two final rows backwards. Luckily, I noticed it when I stepped back to take a photo. So I picked out the entire row and fixed it BEFORE it went to the quilter. Whew! I love this Sew Sampler Box! I wish there was a quarterly subscription box....i can't afford nor keep up with it monthly. Hope I win! 😊
Hi Kimberly I make a lot of mistakes but I can fix my mistakes because I m learning a lot from you. The best is starching I learned that from you. Thank you Kimberly 😊
When using my longarm to quilt my quilt, I forgot to raise my needle before starting the machine at the begging of a row. It ripped a pretty good size hole in the quilt. I had to remove part of the border and replace that piece. I had to remove the backing and batting. Next I made a row of blocks to go across the back, and then added the rest of the backing to the row of blocks, and then patched the batting. It was amazing that everything worked out and the back looks great with the row of blocks. Looking at the quilt, you would never know there was a hole in the quilt.
Enjoyed the video, as always.Thank you for all you do FQS team. My quilting disaster was when I chain-pieced all the dresden pieces sewing the short ends of the blades. A quilt that required 20 dresden blocks of 20 blades each! I gave up on the quilt and I don't think I will attempt that quilt again😊
Hello. My greatest quilting disaster was one of my very first quilts. I made a flannelette quilt for a dear friend and didn’t know about (or what one was)using a walking foot! 😢so much work, so much money, but the dog did love it. Then I took some lessons….
I have made an entire quilt wrong. Not long after I first started quilting I designed something on my own. I didn’t know the importance of so many things! Like measuring and sewing with a precise 1/4 inch just to name a few. Anyway the quilt is so wavy and so imperfect I have never had it quilted. I could unpick it all and redo it so much better, but that will have to wait for another year! Hahaha!
I did a quilt using white background when I finally finished my friend pointed out that have was correct and the other have was back wards. Thank You For Sharing.
My worst quilting disaster was a Christmas block. I sewed these cabin blocks that were diamond shape. Well, not one of those blocks matched another. I still have them & look at them to keep me humble! LOL...
One of my biggest disasters was making a quilt with the snail trail foundation papers. I was having so much fun making the blocks and didn't realize I had made every single block wrong until I was ready to put the blocks together. I went ahead and assembled the blocks and while it looked nothing like it was supposed to, it turned out cute!!!
I made a green and blue quilt and did not realize until it was quilted that 3 square (10 inch squares) we upside down. So it's now a quilt for my grand babies to play on.
I am making the Horse Abstract Pattern, foundation paper piecing for my daughter for Christmas. I am using one background fabric but I can only work on it when she is at school. Last week when I continued working on it I made a whole section totally wrong, I had to take it apart and start all over again. It had taken me one hour to make it and it was wrong. Now I’m making sure I check carefully if I haven’t worked on it for a few days.
Oh My. Still hate thinking about it but my biggest quilt disaster was on an english paper pieced quilt. I had finished making the top and was planning a quilt design on a piece of clear plastic table cloth. I drew out the cute designs and where they were going to go when all of a sudden I drew right of the plastic and onto the quilt using s vis a vis blue pen. I tried everything to get it out. To this day you can still see the blue line. Oh well Live and learn to put tape on the edge of your plastic. LOL Have a great weekend!
As a very new quilter haven’t had the “opportunity “ to make any major mistakes… I did make a mini quilt that turned out pretty wonky. I love the accuracy of foundation piecing and am doing the petit four quilt. Your tops are so helpful! I hope I win the sew sampler box, such great stuff!
My quilting disaster happened in my early days of piecing quilt tops. I sewed a BOM queen size top with my local quilt store. Once the blocks were together, I took it in to get it quilted and the lady said that was the smallest queen size quilt she's seen! I got to thinking and realized I had forgotten to add the 2 or 3 borders! I had plenty of fabric to sew on the borders, sew on large strips of batting and the sew on more backing fabric. Took it back to the quilter for border quilting. Its on my bed now and you can't tell there was any mistake!
My biggest disaster, so far, was on my first traditionally pieced quilt. I had no idea what I was doing & designed it myself. I didn't have much money so I bought cheap fabric & my 1/4" seam allowances were not accurate as I was trying to scrimp & save as much fabric as possible. After the first washing, that low-quality fabric was unraveling all over where my seams got too narrow. The quilt is not usable any longer but I do still have it & did achieve the look I was going for. It was a great learning experience of what not to do 😊
Great video today!! I'll never forget my first quilt disaster. Have you ever prepped your binding, sew it on than discovered it doesn't fit wnen you flipped it to the front. I was devastated!! Had to rip it all out and remake the binding all over again. Have a great weekend!!
My biggest quilt disaster was sewing a right side to a Wong side instead of having my right sides together and not noticing until after the boarder was on. My seam ripper was used a lot on this disaster! Love your videos Kimberly.
Luckily I haven’t had any huge disasters when quilting but have run out of fabric once and had to scramble to find 2 years after I bought it. I now always buy a little extra fabric and and try and buy enough of a line for all parts beyond the blocks. That’s the good thing about scrappy quilts you don’t need to worry about! Always read directions and cut carefully have been my saving grace.
Our dear Kimberly you make us all feel better when you make a mistake! Being a good Mom is the hardest job of all and also the most important! We love you!❤
One time I had a block in the quilt the wrong way. I had to rip up a lot to get it out and then I did the same thing again. I was close to throwing that quilt in the garbage. It turned out beautifully. We all make mistakes at some point. Thanks Kimberly
My biggest quilting disaster was: trimming each block as went. Each should have been 9.5” unfinished, but, if it was closer to 9.25” that’s what I trimmed it to. I had not wrapped my head around the whole math thing and I was just making them pretty. When I realized they weren’t going to fit together, I quit. I still have the blocks and now that I have more experience, I will cut them all down and finally piece them. Finished is better than perfect! Thank you Kimberly and team!
Have you ever made a quilt and thought- “ that did not turn out like I thought it would in my head?” That was a quilt I made for my sister when she got married. The colors were off and the quilt was the magic cards pattern. I still gave it to her. It was my least favorite and she probably thinks I hate her! My excuse is it was the second quilt I ever made and learned ALOT from it!
When I was a newer quilter, I didn't know about measuring the top before adding borders so I had very wavy borders which when the longarmer quilted it, there were pleats. I don't make that mistake anymore! A video of you making the tote bag would be fun.
You have definitely inspired me with your video. Am new to your Sew Sampler program and love it. Have madd the same mistakes cutting and always order 1/2 yard extra just because 💕
Greatest quilting disaster was … haven’t had any total disasters but I have cut blocks wrong many times and quite often make my flip and stitch corners go the wrong way. Love that you don’t edit out your mistakes. Makes us all feel a little better about our own mess ups!
I just finished ripping out my worst quilting disaster. I attempted quilting a small quilt I made for my sister and it was a mess! Now that I’ve taken out all the stitches, it’s headed for the longarmer😏
You'll love this! I had a queen size UFO top from 1998 that I had stashed away and re-found in 2020. Since I was home and off work for several months I thought I'd drag it out and finish it. All the extra parts (borders, binding and backing) had been stored with it. Freshly pressed all the parts. Cut the borders, prepared the binding, trimmed the quilt, quilted it, put on the binding and took a big deep breath that I had finished that HUGE quilt. However, as I was photographing it I thought it looked funny. I kinda shrugged and folded it up for storage. As I was straightening up the workspace I looked over and saw the strips of border still sitting there - I had forgotten to add them to the quilt. I was so upset I wanted to cry. Instead, I made two pillow shams from leftover fabric and used the border to make a ruffle on the shams. Lemonade out of lemons, ladies!
I put a charm pack and jelly roll in my washing machine to soak in warm water, then spun them dry, and put them in the dryer! They shrunk, had strings all over them, were wrinkled, never used them. I also made a cute pink quilt, ran out of backing so it has a white bulls eye in the center on the back!
My biggest disaster was making my first Lori Holt 6 in block from one of the Farm Girl Vintage books. New to Lori Holt at the time. Because it didn't make sense to me I didn't follow one of the sewing directions. When I got to the end of completing the block and it wasn't coming together correctly the Ah-Ha moment hit. I compensated and made the block work, but I trusted all of the cutting/sewing directions for the rest of the 6 in blocks. The quilt turned out great! Never doubt a Lori Holt book!
My biggest quilting disaster was I used a ruler with multiple cut lines/sizes on it and I was supposed to cut 3-1/2-inch strips but I cut the first cut at 4 and continued on. Needless to say, I had to order more fabric and thank goodness I was able to find the fabric. I've totally stopped using that ruler. Kimberly, thank you for showing us that we all make mistakes and how to overcome them.
Thank you so much for letting us hear your sewing machine & just general normal sounds instead of throwing in unnecessary music like some Love your channel 🌷🩷🦋
I nearly always have a quilting disaster in one way or another. My latest one was the baby quilt I’m currently hand stitching. I used EQ8 to print out the rotary cutting instructions and started cutting the units for block A. Sewed some of those together and they looked fine. Then on to block B. What a mess! I had to put aside all the unit pieces I’d already cut when I realized while sewing together one block that it was coming out far too small! Only after about 4 days puzzling it all over, did I see that I’d printed out the block to a 5” block instead of 9”. Fortunately I had enough alternate fabric to do it right, but whew! Lesson learned: not only measure twice, but check your print outs twice!
I have had small quilting mistakes, but I am a slow quilter and really do check every step and enjoy the process. As everyone knows, quilting is a lifetime learning hobby and I figure each mistake just makes me a better quilter as I learn new skills.
My greatest quilting disaster was my first ever project making a baby quilt. I went with a flannel rag quilt....what can go wrong?!?! When I was finishing up being sure all the squares were "ragged", I accidentally poked myself with a pin that I had somehow forgotten to remove. Of course it was in between the layers at this point, so I had to rip open seams to retrieve said pin. I would have been mortified had I given my great-niece the quilt with the pin still inside!! I never would have heard the end of it!! There's always room to learn when it comes to quilting.
I love to see the whole process mistakes and all - we learn so much that way! My biggest disaster was trying to free motion on my fabulous perfectly pieced sampler quilt - I was so overly confident I could just do perfect free motion quilting and it was a total fail - the quilt would not move around freely at all - it ruined the whole thing!! It's still stuffed in the back of one of the kids' wardrobes in serious time out!! Ever since, I have paid for a long arm quilter to do my quilting - worth every penny lol!
I have been lucky to not have too many quilting disasters. I did have a quilt that I noticed had the seam allowance on the right side of the fabric instead of the wrong side. It was a solid white and I could see how it could happen. It was already on the longarm so I picked the seam out and tucked it back like it should have gone and quilted right over it. I have learned to check for those things before I load one.
I look back at my early baby blankets and how off the seams were. I didn’t know how to match my seams very well. They were a hot mess. So I am slowly making new bigger and hopefully better quilts for my grand babies! Nana has learned so much in the last couple of years. Your tutorials free patterns are fabulous! Thank you to you and your staff for all the do!
I am sewing along with4” paper using Riley Blake With a Flourish by Simple Simon & company. Love the paper and completely agree with your tip of start sewing before the beginning of the line and stopping after the end. I do 4 or 5 additional stitches. It helps a lot. I haven’t started the economy blocks yet. I was waiting for this video. The videos are helpful to me. I haven’t done much foundation paper piecing prior to this. I am finding it 🎉to be really fun and relaxing. I am thinking about doing a fussy cut for the center square in this block.
Thanks for a laugh! My greatest quilt mistake was the 2021 Designer Mystery BOM. One row on the top was off so the design looked different from my other sides, but I still love it!
I haven't had a disaster yet as I a trying to get the nerve to make something quilted. I would love a video on the bag - maybe that would be the first piece! Love your videos!
My biggest disaster? Hmmm…which to choose! 🤣🤣🤣 The most recent was making all the blocks for a lap size quilt without measuring the first one before continuing. When I got finished with the blocks, I realized they were all off because I didn’t know to use the outside point on a precut edge. I rescued it by trimming all the blocks down. My quilt is a tiny bit smaller but I still love it!
My worst fail… I had made a log cabin heart quilt for a charity auction,it was totally quilted and bound when I noticed one of the blocks was off a quarter turn. I had to pick out the quilting enough so I could take it out and turn it,quilt that area again and stitch the binding back on. I have not made that particular mistake again😂 But have made many miss cuts similar to yours today. Hope you enjoyed your time with your kiddos today!
The Blueberry Delight fabric is so beautiful! I've made so many mistakes over the years but will mention the time that I ran out of one of my fabrics and there was no more to be found so I pieced some together using the scraps and then cut the size piece I needed and you could barely tell in the end. Sometimes you have to break the rules to end up with an acceptable result. Keep doing what you are doing Kimberly. We 💗 you mistakes and all!
I haven't had a disaster where I had to abandon my project, but, recently, after completing the whole top of the Bliss quilt from FQS, I realized that I had 12 squares in the wrong spot. So, I had to pick them out and switch to put them in the correct spot. What a pain but I wanted it done right. By the way, the quilt pattern and fabric (Bliss) is gorgeous.
My worst quilting disaster ... I began my journey into quilting about 1 year ago. With that said, I do not know anyone in my friends and family circles who quilted who could teach me. So, RUclips and quilters like yourself have become my quilty friends. I did not know the basics nor the terminology, but that did not stop me. I saw a quilt design on the web and thought I could make it for my granddaughter, without the pattern. I now know it was on point and involved many pieces on the bias. Keep in mind I did not understand what this meant until... the result was a mess. I still have the quilt top and my stomach churns every time I see it. But my lesson was learned! Use a pattern until I know enough to explore on my own.
You are sooo Funny!!! I stressed over a Laundry Basket Quilt. I kept ripping out block placement. I thought I had it right. ..until it came back from the quilter. One block was turned. Oh well. I still love the quilt.
My disaster was completely finishing a queen size quilt for my bed & having it displayed when my 8 year old granddaughter pointed out that I had one row backwards. It was pointing opposite of the others. I can’t believe I did not catch it. So every time I look at it it’s a reminder to check the piecing before quilting!
My largest quilting mistake/fail happened on one of my first quilts many years ago before the online quilting community was so easy to find. After getting it back from the long arm quilter, I noticed a few spots where it was coming apart due to not having accurate piecing and a full 1/4" seam. It was devastating and she told me she had fixed many of those spots for me before she started quilting it, but had apparently missed some. I learned just how important it was and also to just be more precise and careful in every step, from cutting, to pressing, to sewing.
I couldn’t find my 1/4 foot (after a break away from sewing) and while my blocks on a reversible quilt turned out quite ok, the sashing was quite a bit harder to sew, and then in the rush of “this has to be done before we head to my folks for Christmas” I threaded my machine wrong a number of times in a row… finally my folks just got a completely sewn together quilt on one side, but the other side’s sashing and binding was not done for Christmas.
I think my biggest quilt disaster is in two parts. First part was my third quilt that was a blue and white bargello, king size that I had made for my dad. I was trying to quilt it on my little basic Singer. I didn't have a table to support the weight and no walking foot. I finally had to send it off to a quilter who tried to match what I had done already. My dad didn't notice the difference in the quilting. The second part was when the storage unit next to my dad's caught on fire and destroyed the units next to it. My dad was in the process of finding a home and had stored all his belongings in the storage unit. My dad is Native American; several valuable family heirlooms and the quilt are gone forever.
I made a quilt for my husband and some of the rows where sewn backwards. When I sowed the rows together they where upsides down. I cried when I saw my mistake. I also made a matching pillow case for the guilt. He ask me when am I going to finish his quilt. That is When I finally showed my husband my mistake. he loved it. He said it was perfect the way it is and it gives it character. Most of all it you made it with love and nothing is perfect.
This is such a beautiful quilt! I have definitely made stacks of pieces cut at the wrong size and thought "What did I just do?" But my biggest, thankfully only near disaster was forgetting that EQ8 works in finished size and my brain designed in unfinished. Caught it before I cut everything.
The biggest quilting disaster is hard to choose! I have so many. This one happened recently. My friend talked me into making her a full size quilt. She insisted on paying me to make it. My stress level was off the charts because I am not a professional my any means. I had one mistake after the other and had to order additional fabric several times. I started it in April. I finally had it done mid August. I was so excited, but I thought. I better wash this. It had glue and a few things from the quilting process. I threw it in the wash. I had pre washed the backing, but not the border fabric that was the same as the back. It was navy blue, and the background was off white. I pulled it out of the wash cycle and the whole quilt had been dyed dark blue from the fabric fade. I freaked. I washed it several times, then took it to the laundromat to wash in one of the big washers. This helped, but it wasn’t perfect . My friend said it was fine. I put it in the mail finally. I am in Utah and she is Alaska. The next day I looked at the tracking number and it wasn’t showing anything. 2”2 days later it shows it is Maine… yes I said Maine. 10 days later it shows up at her mail stop that is a personal mailbox at an office store. She went to get it because it said it was delivered. It wasn’t there! They lost it. I sat at my sewing machine trying to start the quilt again and is all I could do is cry!!!!! They found it 3 days later after I had already had a nervous breakdown.
When we did the best friends sew along with Kimberly and Lori holt, i messed up with the first few blocks, the colour was opposite of what i had wanted when i was using the foundation paper…lolo…have an amazing weekend Kimberly and team…..
My biggest quilting disaster was not finishing a quilt in time and just gifting it to my dad as planned. I tried machine quilting the top - the second bed sized quilt I made at that point - and just couldn’t handle the bulk and weight of it….quilt went to my stash. Than I hand quilted part of it….it went back again to my stash. It’s five years now, partially quilted with safety pin basting still in, no binding BUT my teenage daughter claimed the unfinished quilt and is using it 🤯😱🫣🫣🫣 this quilt is going to haunt me forever 😂🤣
Early in my learning to make quilts I made a really cute Halloween quilt and decided to us minki on the back. I didn't pin base hardly at all and oh what a mess I had on the back. It sat in the closet for years then finally decided to try and fix. Unstitched the really bad places and I finally made it look okay. 😮 I'm glad you showed your mistakes instead of starting all over. Great teaching video on how to handle mistakes.
Love the video and seeing the ability to recover from a "mistake". My very 1st quilt was full of mistakes and I think I ripped more seams then I sewed (if that is possible) but the instructor at my local quilt shop was wonderful and I learned so very much. I am now making quilts for all the seasons, holidays, kids, grandkids, and any and all occasions I can think of - even for no reason other than just because !! None of them are perfect but thats ok and I am getting better the more I sew.
Thanks once again for sharing all of this information to us. My disastrous quilt. 15/20 years ago, I purchased on-line, (when buying things online wasn't what at all what it is today) 6" precut flannel squares. I used them to make a quilt for my husband. Not knowing all the RULES, I sewed them together. Had really nice flannel for the back and then I TIED IT. Well, jump ahead 20 years and much love and washing this thing. The squares shrunk, disintegrated, just a mess. There is hardly none of the original 6" squares left. Husband will not throw out. SO, I am for the final time fixing it. I need a crane to assist in holding this thing up while I sew..It must weigh 15 pounds now. HAHAHAHA
Thanks Kimberly for being transparent and showing your mistakes. It shows all your viewers that even if you have been sewing for a long time you can and will make mistakes. So don’t give up. You have encouraged me with your mistakes. So thanks and I love all your videos.I once sew a log cabin quilt together all wrong my sew ripper got a work out. Lol
My quilt disaster: I had already cut my fabric & realized there was a red dye streak going across part of it! Fortunately that quilt store still had just enough to replace it. Love these Sampler boxes! Thank you!
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I made a quilt for my father as a gift last Christmas. I was completely finished and I mean binding sewn and ready to wrap when I realized one of the blocks was sewn wrong. The quilt had stars made with flying geese and one of the prominent stars was missing the wings as I had sewn it in backwards. It was very noticeable and I was heart broken to the point of crying and not wanting to give it to my father. I decided to give the quilt to my father after some encouragement from my husband and he loved it. He gets many compliments over the quilt and I like that he loves it.
The disasters just add to the fun of quilting…when I started quilting my own quilts. It was a mess lol. But I love it anyway and call it my crazy quilting quilt!!! It keeps me just as warm😉
My first quilt had 42 log cabin blocks in it. I had been watching a lot of RUclips videos and everyone was just zooming along with their chain piecing. So, that's what I did. NOT stopping and checking measurements, just figuring it would work out in the end. WRONG!!!!! My quilting mentor told me not to cut anything and we may be able to add coping strips to each block. Another lady from the church quilt group said that I would never be happy with it if I did it that way. Soooooooo yes, I took apart every single log cabin block, all 42 of them and put them back together correctly. I may be a remedial sewer, but I am glad that I took the time to take them apart and do it right. This quilt was for my husband who didn't believe it would ever come to be. Thank you FQS for all you do and share with us. I have learned a lot from you
Thanks for fitting this tutorial in today. My greatest sewing disaster was early in my quilting journey and I was making a two color Irish Chain, but my pattern was for three colors. I’m sewing along and run out of my fabrics, oh no! I drive four hours to go back to the store that I had purchased them from, hoping that they still had them. This was well before online fabric shopping!!! Fortunately I was able to purchase more fabric. The quilt turned out nicely. It seems like I’m always having mistakes, but the outcomes are better with each project. Online tutorials are so helpful, especially Kimberly’s!
My Biggest ongoing Quilting disaster!!! I downsized from a good sized house to a Much smaller condo. All my sewing stuff is hiding here and there. During Florida hurricanes season I move many unlabeled boxes from my over loaded garage into the condo so I can Squeeze my car into garage during the storms. I wish I was blessed with wonderful organization skills. I am a retired nurse practitioner with a Master of Science degree. My entire life I have wanted to be more right brain and a a crafty person! I have not given up on my quilting goals. I suspect I am not too different than many of you. You look forward to Friday with Kimberly! Kimberly Loves to cut fabric! I kind of Like the fact that Kimberly messed up her cutting today. She figured out how to make it all work out. She is a very good instructor and communicator so we can follow along and learn how to process moving foreword. So much to learn and Lori teaches us as well and even invites us into her home. We are all her quilt friends after all. My long Ramble is about over but I am feeling encouraged to tackle my many boxes and look forward to picking out some lovely fabric for Sun Bonnet Sue & perhaps some special home town dwellings.
I wanted to make a ghost quilt. Bought the the kit & decided to do it a retreat coming up. Cut all the fabric up by the directions and put it & the pattern plus extra fabric in a tote. Got to the retreat and never started it - did another quilt. The next 2 years, again I took it to a retreat & again - did another project.
Finally last year - I said this is it ! Stated workkng on it and was sewing everything wrong. My quilting buddy next to me got the pattern, cut up fabric pieces & zip lock bags & organized it for me.I finally got it done, quilted it and enjoyed it this Oct. I felt so relieved to finally have it done!!
I just love and have learned soooo much from you Kimberly! I have 2 big problems. #cutting properly sewing and sewing a straight seam. I am learning that after I finish a component of a quilt block to measure it before I go on to the rest of the block. I have started watching you and Lori Holt over and over. I love her vintage machines. Stay well, Cheryl. ❤
I made a quilt from a tutorial years ago from precuts, and there was no instruction for measuring and squaring up the blocks. I pieced them all together and when I went to add borders it was so wonky. It was a UFO for many years. Recently I pulled it back out and did my best with the borders and quilted it up. Quilting took up some of the fullness and it looks good. Appreciate all your demonstrations in piecing and have learned so much from you! My skills have improved tremendously. Thank you! 😊❤️
Tena D I loved my Sew Sampler Box you sent me for June , but this one is even more
exciting !! I have taken my June Sew Sampler Box to my quilting guild & advertised your program a lot !! If I should be lucky enough to receive one more , it would be " the icing on the cake !" to show them all ! All 40+ ladies were totally amazed at the lovely products .
My screw-up quilt project : I was making the "Labyrinth Walk "quilt to donate to a live-auction fund raiser for our small community Lion's Club , a few years ago . I was being so careful putting it together , since it was somewhat complicated for me & was a special project . When I was nearly done the blocks , I realized one was put together totally wrong . I diligently sat, & unpicked it while sitting in the Living Room beside my husband , who was enjoying something on TV --- not at all concerned about my dilemma !!
For Christmas that year , he surprised me with an engraved wooden plaque that appropriately read :
" I've Learned so Much from my Mistakes , I Think I'll Make a few More !! " It hangs above my sewing machine as a gentle reminder , when I make a mistake . I've learned an awful lot over my quilting years & consequently have improved skills !!
Keep up the great teaching , Kimberley & Crew !! Love every minute of it !!
Sincerely,
Tena D .
Manitoba, Canada
PS> If I won another Sew Sampler box , I would make the "Heart Quilt" and donate it again to the local Lion's spring auction . My 2 quilt donations have brought them over $1300.00 , a much appreciated donation in a small prairie community .
Made a quilt that I was gifting to a friend. Was short on fat quarters, so I added some older fabric from my stash. Once the quilt was finished, I washed it. To my horror, when I took it out of the washer, some of the older fabric had bled onto the cream colored background!! I was able to get the bleeding out, but I learned a valuable lesson! Never again will I mix old and new fabric!!
I am a relatively new quilter, and one of the first quilts I made was for my son for Christmas. It was a quilt set on point, and I left off half of the side setting triangles somehow. I just wanted to trash the whole thing, but knowing how much time and money I had invested, I took half the quilt apart and fixed it. Once I was done, I was so happy I had saved it, and I was able to have it ready to gift to him for Christmas. After that, I use a design wall to lay out my quilts as I put them together. That was a painful learning experience.
My quilting disaster was about 2 months ago so it is still a raw memory. I starched the bejesus out of my fabric and I mean it was like cardboard that could stand up on its own. I thought I was doing a good thing and helping my accuracy and squaring up etc. Well I worked on this quilt (a gift at that) for over 2 weeks putting these blocks together and agonizing over it being "perfect" and making extra sure it was always square and my seams were exactly 1/4 inch. I measured every seam I sewed. I have never measured a quilt so much before and I will never do that again either. I finally finish the top and think oh I did SO well. I was absurdly proud of myself. I go to my quilt shop where I rent the longarm to quilt this 92 X92 beast of a quilt, load it on the frame, pick out my backing that cost me around $120, and start to quilting away. I was in tears within 2 minutes. The holes punched in this quilt looked like bullet holes they were so large. I rushed over to my friend that owns the shop asking her what in the world is wrong with the longarm machine, stating I have rented this thing over 17 times and never had this issue. I asked is the machine broken? Is the needle way larger than I have ever seen? She looks at me and says (while running her hand along my quilt top)....exactly how many gallons of starch did you use? I said huh? She said oh honey you have starched this quilt to death! I was mortified. I had no clue that too much starch was even a thing. Mind you, I have only been quilting on my second year now. Long, hard, and very expensive lesson learned.
Yes, I made a Sue Bonnett and Sam quilt for my daughter. It was awful but she loved it. It was my first time free motion quilting, on my home machine. The tension was off the stitch looked awful. Then the binding oh, I want to cry! I went to her house the other day and I can see where the binding is coming apart. She has it displayed on the back of her couch. She said, she will always take the ones I mess up on. Bless her heart, she shows them off with pride and joy and I cringe! I love her so much, she makes me feel so valuable.
I have made so many quilting mistakes but just made my biggest ever. I was finally finishing the hustle & bustle jolly bar but was out of town and didn't lay the blocks out. I sewed them all the same way - which the pattern warned to be careful not to do - and after I got it completely sewn together (including washing and cornerstones) I spread it out and thought "well I can't figure out what the pattern is supposed to be" 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️. Was beyond elated when I opened my sew sampler this month. My favorite ever!!! Thanks Kimberly and the FQS team!!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
I was making a scrappy quilt similar to Lori Holt's Scrappy Strings pattern and I waited until I sewed the quilt together before taking off the backing paper. It wasn't until then that I realized my tension had been off for most of the quilt, and lots of seams were very loose. It was a 100 x 100 inch quilt, and I really didnt feel like redoing all those seams, so I took it to my quilter and she did a REALLY dense quilting pattern on it. Saved the day! I have come across a few seams I've had to reinforce, but for the most part it's pretty good. Of course, this is one quilt I will never put in the washer!
When I first started quilting I decided to machine quilt a huge queen size quilt (Santa in the Trees) on my little travel Janome since I “thought” it would be faster than hand quilting. What a disaster!!!!! I still can’t believe I even finished that quilt. It was a total struggle just maneuvering the quilt sandwich. If it wasn’t to be gifted in time for the holidays I would have turned the whole project into a giant cat blanket.
I have a problem with spatial awareness. So I check and double check and check again - most especially with colour and placement of blocks. Seriously. This baby quilt was a gift. I made sure all was in place or so I thought. Stitched, quilted and gave gift. About a year later was going through my quilt pics and, horror of horrors, realized that one of my blocks was totally turned the wrong way. The recipient never noticed and still to this day her little girl loves the quilt. Too bad I can’t send you pic! Love all your videos as they are fun to watch and a great help to me! 😊
I made your free Sizzle Jelly Roll quilt with what I "thought" was a 1/4 inch foot. I made ALL the blocks but they wouldn't fit together to make the pinwheels. I then realized what I had done. I packed it away for a year; couldn't bear to look at it. Got it out a month ago and tore apart all 16 blocks and resewed them together. I wasn't about to throw away the Minnick & Simpson Newport fabric!
My most panic-inducing quilt disaster was during my final check just prior to sending a king-size quillt to the longarmer. It is a Long Cabin quilt set on point. One of the blocks in the upper right quadrant adjacent to center was turned askew by 90 degrees, snugly stitched in on all sides. Piffle! I did a few deep breathing exercises, re-focused, and slowed myself way, way down. That was the day, I learned how to remove and re-insert a "rogue" block, all the while praying it wouldn't go wonky on me. The disaster was averted and the block is literally placed without a hint of distortion. Who knew one could feel so gratified in correcting an error. Sooo grateful I thought to do that final check! 😉
You know you have starched like Kimberly when you can organize your colors and stand them up like a stack of cards together!
I made a king size quilt with appliqué center a large elk, then I put log cabin blocks around and another block after that. Can’t remember the block. I got it all sewn together and quilted it myself. Then realized I had on one side of the quilt switched two of the rows. I was in a hurry and didn’t check. My son still uses it to this day!! I think it was the most expensive quilt I have ever made. It is all batiks in earth tones.
Lately, I have been sawing the pillow; some appliques and the pieced border. The border contains from 20 blocks, 8 of them are stars. When I have sawn all 20 blocks I discover that 8 star’s blocks were one inch bigger than other pieces. I did all math wrong. Now I am doing stars one more time. Keep telling myself that I’m only a human. I really appreciate all your livestreams. Have always good time. Thanks a lot. ❤
Great Sew Sampler box! And I love that you’re giving project options❤ My biggest quilting disaster was one of my first quilts - I sewed the binding on the the front and then, don’t ask me why, I decided to trim the bulk off the corners… and ended up with holes in the corners of the binding when I flipped it to the back! 😂 Good Grief! 🤣😂🤣
My biggest quilting disaster was my first quilt. It was king size. I barely knew what I was doing. Finished it. Laid it out and one block was upside down. At the time I didn’t know how to fix it now I do. But I had it long arm quilted with the upside down block anyway. My favorite quilt to this day. ❤
I am making a block of the month. Each month there is a lot of cutting. There are at least 3 blocks every month. One is 24”sq. 12” sq and a big spacer. I am on month 5 and looked back at the past months and found 2 finished blocks sewed the rows together backwards. Ugh! At least it is fixable. Using batiks and you have to be so carful ripping out the seams. Batik is not a fav of mine but will be a beautiful big quilt when finished. Thanks for all you do. Love this sew sampler. Hearts are my fav. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
oh my, my biggest quilting disaster. I made a scrappy backing and ACCIDENTALLY included the selvage writing and dots in the piecing and did not notice that until I took it to my longarmer. Now, it would have been a different outcome had I PURPOSELY included that selvage. Whewwww!
And for the record, Kimberly. YOU ARE NOT A WRECK, but a very devoted Mother of 4, businesswoman, wife and employer. Please give yourself some grace!
My disaster is that I think I have enough background to make a quilt. I have made smaller quilts or added another background for scrappy look. Now I make scrappy backgrounds all the time unless the quilt is a gift. Love that you showed your boo boo. Sometimes we need to improvise.
My biggest quilting disaster was in the Make-A-Wish row quilt with Corey Yoder and navy Robin Pickens fabrics. I finished it, had it longarm quilted and entered it in my guild's quilt show at the Chicago Botanic Garden - lots of people saw it. And guess what? On the bottom row, which was stars, I had turned one side of the star around. I didn't see it and my longarmer didn't see it. But once it's hanging in a quilt show....... Fortunately it was the first star and I was able to pick the quilting and the block apart. My longarmer was able to reload the quilt, and quilt the spot. Then we just buried the threads. Thank heavens FQS always gives you plenty of fabric when you buy a kit!!!!
My biggest quilting disaster was when I decided to work again on a paper pieced quilt that had been sitting in my closest for several years. I was cutting around the edge of a quilted block and I cut too much off and ruined the block. It worked out though because I found some more fabric and I taped the paper from the ruined block back together so I was able to recreate that block. I was so happy it worked out!😁
Kimberly, the Sampler box is awesome! I would love a video of you making the project bag!
My biggest quilting disaster was a quilt I designed and made for my husband. It was a pieced replica of a football field. I forgot the 5 yard lines. I only pieced for the 10 yard lines. In the end it made the line markers disproportionate. No one mentioned it to me until it was time to go to the long arm. Needless to say the quilt is what it is. I improvised by stitching in the 5 yard lines. I know it’s disproportionate but it still turned out looking great and is well loved.
Biggest quilt disaster was early on when I was a new quilter. That quarter inch seam was all over the place. The quilt ended up not being square. The long armer that quilted it for me did a great job hiding it as much as possible. Love sew sampler. Always a great surprise.
Good Morning thank you so much FQS for all you do. My biggest quilting disaster would be when I free motion quilted these little mazes instead of a stipple. I had to send it to a long armed to fix and finish. Love you! ❤
I love that you share mistakes and just don’t panic , keep going😀
My biggest quilting disaster was when I was making a row quilt out of 1 1/2 squares. Due to inconsistent 1/4 inch seam allowance, the lengths of rows varies a lot! And by the time I got to the bottom, I noticed one row there was a whole row of one and a half inch squares missing but the block ended up the same size as the ones above it. And in another row I had to sew on extra 1 1/2 inch squares! It all worked out in the end and was a good lesson in watching my seam allowance.
Hi Kimberly , My biggest quilting disaster was and is as a longarmer. Customer donates
To personal people diagnosed with breast cancer so there is always a deadline. the disaster
Was when I had to pick a whole row of a large pieced quilt. Let me tell you . 72 inches
Of disaster in my little sewing room.
Thanks for your videos they keep me sewing .
Biggest quilting disaster was on Bats and Boos. I sewed one whole row of blocks to the other two final rows backwards. Luckily, I noticed it when I stepped back to take a photo. So I picked out the entire row and fixed it BEFORE it went to the quilter. Whew!
I love this Sew Sampler Box! I wish there was a quarterly subscription box....i can't afford nor keep up with it monthly. Hope I win! 😊
Hi Kimberly I make a lot of mistakes but I can fix my mistakes because I m learning a lot from you. The best is starching I learned that from you. Thank you Kimberly 😊
When using my longarm to quilt my quilt, I forgot to raise my needle before starting the machine at the begging of a row. It ripped a pretty good size hole in the quilt. I had to remove part of the border and replace that piece. I had to remove the backing and batting. Next I made a row of blocks to go across the back, and then added the rest of the backing to the row of blocks, and then patched the batting. It was amazing that everything worked out and the back looks great with the row of blocks. Looking at the quilt, you would never know there was a hole in the quilt.
Enjoyed the video, as always.Thank you for all you do FQS team. My quilting disaster was when I chain-pieced all the dresden pieces sewing the short ends of the blades. A quilt that required 20 dresden blocks of 20 blades each! I gave up on the quilt and I don't think I will attempt that quilt again😊
Hello. My greatest quilting disaster was one of my very first quilts. I made a flannelette quilt for a dear friend and didn’t know about (or what one was)using a walking foot! 😢so much work, so much money, but the dog did love it. Then I took some lessons….
I have made an entire quilt wrong. Not long after I first started quilting I designed something on my own. I didn’t know the importance of so many things! Like measuring and sewing with a precise 1/4 inch just to name a few. Anyway the quilt is so wavy and so imperfect I have never had it quilted. I could unpick it all and redo it so much better, but that will have to wait for another year! Hahaha!
I did a quilt using white background when I finally finished my friend pointed out that have was correct
and the other have was back wards. Thank You For Sharing.
My worst quilting disaster was a Christmas block. I sewed these cabin blocks that were diamond shape. Well, not one of those blocks matched another. I still have them & look at them to keep me humble! LOL...
One of my biggest disasters was making a quilt with the snail trail foundation papers. I was having so much fun making the blocks and didn't realize I had made every single block wrong until I was ready to put the blocks together. I went ahead and assembled the blocks and while it looked nothing like it was supposed to, it turned out cute!!!
I made a green and blue quilt and did not realize until it was quilted that 3 square (10 inch squares) we upside down. So it's now a quilt for my grand babies to play on.
I am making the Horse Abstract Pattern, foundation paper piecing for my daughter for Christmas. I am using one background fabric but I can only work on it when she is at school. Last week when I continued working on it I made a whole section totally wrong, I had to take it apart and start all over again. It had taken me one hour to make it and it was wrong. Now I’m making sure I check carefully if I haven’t worked on it for a few days.
Oh My. Still hate thinking about it but my biggest quilt disaster was on an english paper pieced quilt. I had finished making the top and was planning a quilt design on a piece of clear plastic table cloth. I drew out the cute designs and where they were going to go when all of a sudden I drew right of the plastic and onto the quilt using s vis a vis blue pen. I tried everything to get it out. To this day you can still see the blue line. Oh well Live and learn to put tape on the edge of your plastic. LOL Have a great weekend!
As a very new quilter haven’t had the “opportunity “ to make any major mistakes… I did make a mini quilt that turned out pretty wonky. I love the accuracy of foundation piecing and am doing the petit four quilt. Your tops are so helpful! I hope I win the sew sampler box, such great stuff!
My quilting disaster happened in my early days of piecing quilt tops. I sewed a BOM queen size top with my local quilt store. Once the blocks were together, I took it in to get it quilted and the lady said that was the smallest queen size quilt she's seen! I got to thinking and realized I had forgotten to add the 2 or 3 borders! I had plenty of fabric to sew on the borders, sew on large strips of batting and the sew on more backing fabric. Took it back to the quilter for border quilting. Its on my bed now and you can't tell there was any mistake!
My biggest disaster, so far, was on my first traditionally pieced quilt. I had no idea what I was doing & designed it myself. I didn't have much money so I bought cheap fabric & my 1/4" seam allowances were not accurate as I was trying to scrimp & save as much fabric as possible. After the first washing, that low-quality fabric was unraveling all over where my seams got too narrow. The quilt is not usable any longer but I do still have it & did achieve the look I was going for. It was a great learning experience of what not to do 😊
Great video today!! I'll never forget my first quilt disaster. Have you ever prepped your binding, sew it on than discovered it doesn't fit wnen you flipped it to the front. I was devastated!! Had to rip it all out and remake the binding all over again. Have a great weekend!!
My biggest quilt disaster was sewing a right side to a Wong side instead of having my right sides together and not noticing until after the boarder was on. My seam ripper was used a lot on this disaster! Love your videos Kimberly.
The winners from the Petit Four Economy Premiere are Kim Bonner, Delores Rast and Susan Binzel.
Luckily I haven’t had any huge disasters when quilting but have run out of fabric once and had to scramble to find 2 years after I bought it. I now always buy a little extra fabric and and try and buy enough of a line for all parts beyond the blocks. That’s the good thing about scrappy quilts you don’t need to worry about! Always read directions and cut carefully have been my saving grace.
I use my seam gauge so much.I found one a few years ago. It is the best tool.I bought them for all my girls.
Our dear Kimberly you make us all feel better when you make a mistake! Being a good Mom is the hardest job of all and also the most important! We love you!❤
One time I had a block in the quilt the wrong way. I had to rip up a lot to get it out and then I did the same thing again. I was close to throwing that quilt in the garbage.
It turned out beautifully.
We all make mistakes at some point. Thanks Kimberly
My biggest quilting disaster was: trimming each block as went. Each should have been 9.5” unfinished, but, if it was closer to 9.25” that’s what I trimmed it to. I had not wrapped my head around the whole math thing and I was just making them pretty. When I realized they weren’t going to fit together, I quit. I still have the blocks and now that I have more experience, I will cut them all down and finally piece them. Finished is better than perfect! Thank you Kimberly and team!
Have you ever made a quilt and thought- “ that did not turn out like I thought it would in my head?” That was a quilt I made for my sister when she got married. The colors were off and the quilt was the magic cards pattern. I still gave it to her. It was my least favorite and she probably thinks I hate her! My excuse is it was the second quilt I ever made and learned ALOT from it!
When I was a newer quilter, I didn't know about measuring the top before adding borders so I had very wavy borders which when the longarmer quilted it, there were pleats. I don't make that mistake anymore! A video of you making the tote bag would be fun.
You have definitely inspired me with your video. Am new to your Sew Sampler program and love it. Have madd the same mistakes cutting and always order 1/2 yard extra just because 💕
Greatest quilting disaster was … haven’t had any total disasters but I have cut blocks wrong many times and quite often make my flip and stitch corners go the wrong way. Love that you don’t edit out your mistakes. Makes us all feel a little better about our own mess ups!
I just finished ripping out my worst quilting disaster. I attempted quilting a small quilt I made for my sister and it was a mess! Now that I’ve taken out all the stitches, it’s headed for the longarmer😏
You'll love this! I had a queen size UFO top from 1998 that I had stashed away and re-found in 2020. Since I was home and off work for several months I thought I'd drag it out and finish it. All the extra parts (borders, binding and backing) had been stored with it. Freshly pressed all the parts. Cut the borders, prepared the binding, trimmed the quilt, quilted it, put on the binding and took a big deep breath that I had finished that HUGE quilt. However, as I was photographing it I thought it looked funny. I kinda shrugged and folded it up for storage. As I was straightening up the workspace I looked over and saw the strips of border still sitting there - I had forgotten to add them to the quilt. I was so upset I wanted to cry. Instead, I made two pillow shams from leftover fabric and used the border to make a ruffle on the shams. Lemonade out of lemons, ladies!
I put a charm pack and jelly roll in my washing machine to soak in warm water, then spun them dry, and put them in the dryer! They shrunk, had strings all over them, were wrinkled, never used them. I also made a cute pink quilt, ran out of backing so it has a white bulls eye in the center on the back!
My biggest disaster was making my first Lori Holt 6 in block from one of the Farm Girl Vintage books. New to Lori Holt at the time. Because it didn't make sense to me I didn't follow one of the sewing directions. When I got to the end of completing the block and it wasn't coming together correctly the Ah-Ha moment hit. I compensated and made the block work, but I trusted all of the cutting/sewing directions for the rest of the 6 in blocks. The quilt turned out great! Never doubt a Lori Holt book!
My biggest quilting disaster was I used a ruler with multiple cut lines/sizes on it and I was supposed to cut 3-1/2-inch strips but I cut the first cut at 4 and continued on. Needless to say, I had to order more fabric and thank goodness I was able to find the fabric. I've totally stopped using that ruler. Kimberly, thank you for showing us that we all make mistakes and how to overcome them.
Thank you so much for letting us hear your sewing machine & just general normal sounds instead of throwing in unnecessary music like some Love your channel 🌷🩷🦋
I nearly always have a quilting disaster in one way or another. My latest one was the baby quilt I’m currently hand stitching. I used EQ8 to print out the rotary cutting instructions and started cutting the units for block A. Sewed some of those together and they looked fine. Then on to block B. What a mess! I had to put aside all the unit pieces I’d already cut when I realized while sewing together one block that it was coming out far too small! Only after about 4 days puzzling it all over, did I see that I’d printed out the block to a 5” block instead of 9”. Fortunately I had enough alternate fabric to do it right, but whew! Lesson learned: not only measure twice, but check your print outs twice!
I cut and sewed an entire quilt wrong once. It still turned out cute, and I just added borders to make it closer to the right size!
I have had small quilting mistakes, but I am a slow quilter and really do check every step and enjoy the process. As everyone knows, quilting is a lifetime learning hobby and I figure each mistake just makes me a better quilter as I learn new skills.
My greatest quilting disaster was my first ever project making a baby quilt. I went with a flannel rag quilt....what can go wrong?!?! When I was finishing up being sure all the squares were "ragged", I accidentally poked myself with a pin that I had somehow forgotten to remove. Of course it was in between the layers at this point, so I had to rip open seams to retrieve said pin. I would have been mortified had I given my great-niece the quilt with the pin still inside!! I never would have heard the end of it!! There's always room to learn when it comes to quilting.
I love to see the whole process mistakes and all - we learn so much that way! My biggest disaster was trying to free motion on my fabulous perfectly pieced sampler quilt - I was so overly confident I could just do perfect free motion quilting and it was a total fail - the quilt would not move around freely at all - it ruined the whole thing!! It's still stuffed in the back of one of the kids' wardrobes in serious time out!! Ever since, I have paid for a long arm quilter to do my quilting - worth every penny lol!
I have been lucky to not have too many quilting disasters. I did have a quilt that I noticed had the seam allowance on the right side of the fabric instead of the wrong side. It was a solid white and I could see how it could happen. It was already on the longarm so I picked the seam out and tucked it back like it should have gone and quilted right over it. I have learned to check for those things before I load one.
I look back at my early baby blankets and how off the seams were. I didn’t know how to match my seams very well. They were a hot mess. So I am slowly making new bigger and hopefully better quilts for my grand babies! Nana has learned so much in the last couple of years. Your tutorials free patterns are fabulous! Thank you to you and your staff for all the do!
I am sewing along with4” paper using Riley Blake With a Flourish by Simple Simon & company. Love the paper and completely agree with your tip of start sewing before the beginning of the line and stopping after the end. I do 4 or 5 additional stitches. It helps a lot. I haven’t started the economy blocks yet. I was waiting for this video. The videos are helpful to me. I haven’t done much foundation paper piecing prior to this. I am finding it 🎉to be really fun and relaxing. I am thinking about doing a fussy cut for the center square in this block.
Thanks for a laugh! My greatest quilt mistake was the 2021 Designer Mystery BOM. One row on the top was off so the design looked different from my other sides, but I still love it!
I haven't had a disaster yet as I a trying to get the nerve to make something quilted. I would love a video on the bag - maybe that would be the first piece! Love your videos!
My biggest disaster? Hmmm…which to choose! 🤣🤣🤣 The most recent was making all the blocks for a lap size quilt without measuring the first one before continuing. When I got finished with the blocks, I realized they were all off because I didn’t know to use the outside point on a precut edge. I rescued it by trimming all the blocks down. My quilt is a tiny bit smaller but I still love it!
My worst fail… I had made a log cabin heart quilt for a charity auction,it was totally quilted and bound when I noticed one of the blocks was off a quarter turn. I had to pick out the quilting enough so I could take it out and turn it,quilt that area again and stitch the binding back on. I have not made that particular mistake again😂
But have made many miss cuts similar to yours today.
Hope you enjoyed your time with your kiddos today!
The Blueberry Delight fabric is so beautiful! I've made so many mistakes over the years but will mention the time that I ran out of one of my fabrics and there was no more to be found so I pieced some together using the scraps and then cut the size piece I needed and you could barely tell in the end. Sometimes you have to break the rules to end up with an acceptable result. Keep doing what you are doing Kimberly. We 💗 you mistakes and all!
I haven’t had any huge quilting disasters yet….. but I have cut things the wrong size several times!!! Love the sew sampler box this month!!!
I haven't had a disaster where I had to abandon my project, but, recently, after completing the whole top of the Bliss quilt from FQS, I realized that I had 12 squares in the wrong spot. So, I had to pick them out and switch to put them in the correct spot. What a pain but I wanted it done right. By the way, the quilt pattern and fabric (Bliss) is gorgeous.
My worst quilting disaster ... I began my journey into quilting about 1 year ago. With that said, I do not know anyone in my friends and family circles who quilted who could teach me. So, RUclips and quilters like yourself have become my quilty friends. I did not know the basics nor the terminology, but that did not stop me. I saw a quilt design on the web and thought I could make it for my granddaughter, without the pattern. I now know it was on point and involved many pieces on the bias. Keep in mind I did not understand what this meant until... the result was a mess. I still have the quilt top and my stomach churns every time I see it. But my lesson was learned! Use a pattern until I know enough to explore on my own.
You are sooo Funny!!! I stressed over a Laundry Basket Quilt. I kept ripping out block placement. I thought I had it right. ..until it came back from the quilter. One block was turned. Oh well. I still love the quilt.
My disaster was completely finishing a queen size quilt for my bed & having it displayed when my 8 year old granddaughter pointed out that I had one row backwards. It was pointing opposite of the others. I can’t believe I did not catch it. So every time I look at it it’s a reminder to check the piecing before quilting!
My largest quilting mistake/fail happened on one of my first quilts many years ago before the online quilting community was so easy to find. After getting it back from the long arm quilter, I noticed a few spots where it was coming apart due to not having accurate piecing and a full 1/4" seam. It was devastating and she told me she had fixed many of those spots for me before she started quilting it, but had apparently missed some. I learned just how important it was and also to just be more precise and careful in every step, from cutting, to pressing, to sewing.
I couldn’t find my 1/4 foot (after a break away from sewing) and while my blocks on a reversible quilt turned out quite ok, the sashing was quite a bit harder to sew, and then in the rush of “this has to be done before we head to my folks for Christmas” I threaded my machine wrong a number of times in a row… finally my folks just got a completely sewn together quilt on one side, but the other side’s sashing and binding was not done for Christmas.
I think my biggest quilt disaster is in two parts. First part was my third quilt that was a blue and white bargello, king size that I had made for my dad. I was trying to quilt it on my little basic Singer. I didn't have a table to support the weight and no walking foot. I finally had to send it off to a quilter who tried to match what I had done already. My dad didn't notice the difference in the quilting. The second part was when the storage unit next to my dad's caught on fire and destroyed the units next to it. My dad was in the process of finding a home and had stored all his belongings in the storage unit. My dad is Native American; several valuable family heirlooms and the quilt are gone forever.
I made a quilt for my husband and some of the rows where sewn backwards. When I sowed the rows together they where upsides down. I cried when I saw my mistake. I also made a matching pillow case for the guilt. He ask me when am I going to finish his quilt. That is When I finally showed my husband my mistake. he loved it.
He said it was perfect the way it is and it gives it character. Most of all it you made it with love and nothing is perfect.
This is such a beautiful quilt!
I have definitely made stacks of pieces cut at the wrong size and thought "What did I just do?" But my biggest, thankfully only near disaster was forgetting that EQ8 works in finished size and my brain designed in unfinished. Caught it before I cut everything.
The biggest quilting disaster is hard to choose! I have so many. This one happened recently. My friend talked me into making her a full size quilt. She insisted on paying me to make it. My stress level was off the charts because I am not a professional my any means. I had one mistake after the other and had to order additional fabric several times. I started it in April. I finally had it done mid August. I was so excited, but I thought. I better wash this. It had glue and a few things from the quilting process. I threw it in the wash. I had pre washed the backing, but not the border fabric that was the same as the back. It was navy blue, and the background was off white. I pulled it out of the wash cycle and the whole quilt had been dyed dark blue from the fabric fade. I freaked. I washed it several times, then took it to the laundromat to wash in one of the big washers. This helped, but it wasn’t perfect . My friend said it was fine. I put it in the mail finally. I am in Utah and she is Alaska. The next day I looked at the tracking number and it wasn’t showing anything. 2”2 days later it shows it is Maine… yes I said Maine. 10 days later it shows up at her mail stop that is a personal mailbox at an office store. She went to get it because it said it was delivered. It wasn’t there! They lost it. I sat at my sewing machine trying to start the quilt again and is all I could do is cry!!!!! They found it 3 days later after I had already had a nervous breakdown.
When we did the best friends sew along with Kimberly and Lori holt, i messed up with the first few blocks, the colour was opposite of what i had wanted when i was using the foundation paper…lolo…have an amazing weekend Kimberly and team…..
My biggest quilting disaster was not finishing a quilt in time and just gifting it to my dad as planned.
I tried machine quilting the top - the second bed sized quilt I made at that point - and just couldn’t handle the bulk and weight of it….quilt went to my stash.
Than I hand quilted part of it….it went back again to my stash.
It’s five years now, partially quilted with safety pin basting still in, no binding BUT my teenage daughter claimed the unfinished quilt and is using it 🤯😱🫣🫣🫣 this quilt is going to haunt me forever 😂🤣
Early in my learning to make quilts I made a really cute Halloween quilt and decided to us minki on the back. I didn't pin base hardly at all and oh what a mess I had on the back. It sat in the closet for years then finally decided to try and fix. Unstitched the really bad places and I finally made it look okay. 😮 I'm glad you showed your mistakes instead of starting all over. Great teaching video on how to handle mistakes.
My disaster was using minky as a backer!!And it was a Halloween quilt to go with the book for my grandson.
Love the video and seeing the ability to recover from a "mistake". My very 1st quilt was full of mistakes and I think I ripped more seams then I sewed (if that is possible) but the instructor at my local quilt shop was wonderful and I learned so very much. I am now making quilts for all the seasons, holidays, kids, grandkids, and any and all occasions I can think of - even for no reason other than just because !! None of them are perfect but thats ok and I am getting better the more I sew.
Thanks once again for sharing all of this information to us. My disastrous quilt. 15/20 years ago, I purchased on-line, (when buying things online wasn't what at all what it is today) 6" precut flannel squares. I used them to make a quilt for my husband. Not knowing all the RULES, I sewed them together. Had really nice flannel for the back and then I TIED IT. Well, jump ahead 20 years and much love and washing this thing. The squares shrunk, disintegrated, just a mess. There is hardly none of the original 6" squares left. Husband will not throw out. SO, I am for the final time fixing it. I need a crane to assist in holding this thing up while I sew..It must weigh 15 pounds now. HAHAHAHA
Thanks Kimberly for being transparent and showing your mistakes. It shows all your viewers that even if you have been sewing for a long time you can and will make mistakes. So don’t give up. You have encouraged me with your mistakes. So thanks and I love all your videos.I once sew a log cabin quilt together all wrong my sew ripper got a work out. Lol
My quilt disaster: I had already cut my fabric & realized there was a red dye streak going across part of it! Fortunately that quilt store still had just enough to replace it. Love these Sampler boxes! Thank you!
The little ruler that comes in the sewsampler is one that I have been using since 1962. The original was metal instead. So useful.