My roommate said it best when I texted her the good news. “Well, of course you are,” she said. It’s been a goal of mine to make a quilt since I was a senior in high school. The only problem was, I had no idea where to start.

So with a sewing machine finally in my procession, I told myself that this summer was going to be the season. No matter how many tests and trials it would take, I am going to make a quilt. But before I bought any batting, I did a lot of research. I got books from the library, watched YouTube videos, but it was a magazine my mom bought me that finally made everything click. I am a complete newbie to quilting, so I realized I needed to follow some sort of pattern. I found this brick style quilt in that magazine, and with a few alterations to their plan, I had one of my own in the making.

Quilt Making (Part 1): Picking and Cutting Fabric

I quickly learned that quilting can be expensive if you plan to purchase all your fabric. So I embraced the patchwork idea by using scraps I had leftover. Plus I went to 3 different fabric stores to dig through their scrap fabric bins. The only fabric I really spent money on was a couple fat squares of fabric (basically packaged scrap pieces, all measuring around 18×22 inches). Usually priced around $1.99, but I found a store that had them on sale for 99 cent.

None of my fabrics “match” but I chose subtle, muted prints to make sure that nothing clashes.

For my brick style quilt, I cut 4×8.5 inch rectangles. I started off measuring and cutting with a ruler, but it just took too long. So I got smart and made a template. It definitely sped the process along.

Once I had all the rectangles cut out, I began layout out the pieces and mapping out my quilt. (I did this 4 rows at a time. Mapping them out and then sewing it together.)

Sewing them together is simple. Simply use a straight stitch to sew together the rows and iron down the seams.

Once the row is established, you can start pinning and sewing the rows together (using a straight stitch) and start growing the quilt vertically.

And with that, you and I are off to a great start.