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before you start quilting – gather!

First-time quilters don’t need to spend a bundle to get started. All you need is a list and some good sense. Before taking a trip to a quilting specialty store or a fabric store, ask your friends and family if they have any equipment you might borrow. This will probably lead to wonderful stories of quilting days gone by as well as some great tips on how to be a successful quilter. You may even be invited to join a bee or be offered a lesson. Take advantage of any help you can get – nothing’s better than learning from experience. If you find you do have to go to the store, tell the salesperson that you’re a first-timer who needs help buying the items on your list.

Now, let’s make that list:

  • Fabric: Gather the best 100% cotton fabric you can find.
    • Don’t use cheap fabrics that might bleed, stretch or shrink over time.
    • Quality quilt fabric from a store is ideal because it’s made specifically for this purpose. Expect to pay between $6 and $8/yard.
    • Before cutting the fabric, hand-wash it with just a little liquid laundry soap, rinse it well, and hang it to dry.
  • Thread: Buy the strong thread specifically made for quilting or your project may fall apart faster.
  • Pins: Buy small sewing pins to keep everything in place as you stitch and to keep your quilt in shape.
  • Fabric scissors: Don’t cheap out here. Get good quality, sharp scissors.
  • Rotary cutter: Cuts fabric beautifully – and is a great helper for creating smaller pieces in patchwork quilts.
  • Self-healing mat: The gridlines help you cut uniform blocks – and the mat itself protects your work surfaces if you’re using a rotary cutter.
  • Needles: Buy a few so you can keep them threaded with different colors, or in case someone comes over to quilt with you.
  • Marking pencils: Regular pencil marks may not wash or erase from the fabric.
  • Batting: Use whatever you like, but nothing beats the feel of 100% cotton between the layers of a quilt.
  • Seam ripper: Neatly unstitches seams if your blocks don’t look right.

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