Make Your First Quilt

The fabric has been sitting on the shelf since last month. You bought it after seeing a quilt draped across someone's armchair, something about the way the squares lined up and the colors held together that made you think: I could learn to do that. You have smoothed the fold twice since then and put it back because you did not know where to begin.

This book fills that gap with fifteen projects that build every skill you need, in order, from first cut to finished edge.

Table Runner to Sampler in Fifteen Steps

• Set up a proper workspace and calibrate the quarter-inch seam before touching project fabric
• Master rotary cutting so every strip and square comes out clean and accurate from the first session
• Build four-patch and nine-patch blocks using strip piecing for speed and consistent results
• Construct half-square triangle units and trim each one to precision for star and pinwheel blocks
• Learn the log cabin block and see how rotating identical blocks creates entirely different surfaces
• Assemble a full quilt sandwich, quilt the layers with a walking foot, and finish with bound edges
• Complete a sampler wall hanging that draws on every technique learned across the preceding chapters

• Nesting seams at intersections so block corners meet at one clean point
• Border measurement from the quilt center to prevent waviness at the edges
• Chain piecing for consistent thread tension across every seam in a batch
• Mitered binding corners and hand finishing for a durable professional edge
• Pressing with a lift and set motion that keeps bias edges from stretching permanently