Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is having an awesome day so far. I’m excited to tell you more about my sewing journey! The last time, I told you all about the crash course in quilt design Lauv gave me and the inspiration behind my mini quilt. But now things are getting serious and the hands-on aspect of this process began!

Before even touching all the pretty fabrics I chose for my mini, there was a lot of practice done on AGF scraps. Being the great teacher that Lauv has been, she set up small exercises so that I could master important skills in quilting. The first step was to learn how to cut and measure the fabrics properly. When it came to cutting the fabrics she explained safety rules to avoid getting cut, such as:

• Holding firmly on the ruler to avoid the fabric from going out of place.
• Slowly cutting against the edge of the ruler while holding the rotary cutter firmly and straight to avoid damaging the blade.
• And of course, using the lines of the ruler to align the fabric to make sure the measurements were accurate.

Once all the cutting was done, it was time to learn how to thread the machine! Filling the bobbin with thread and putting it in the bobbin case was definitely intriguing. It was interesting to see how many parts have to work together in a sewing machine to make a few stitches. I'm also really lucky to have used a Bernina as my first sewing machine since AGF is a Bernina Ambassador on their blog, We All Sew. I think i'm a bit spoiled now. :p

Lauv also taught me one of the most important rules in quilting: “You always have to calculate ¼ inch seam allowances.” I will never forget this because when it came time to sewing the seam allowances, my measurements were off sometimes and I had to re-do them until I got them right. Honestly, it got me really frustrated and drove me crazy! But like with any new skill, practice makes perfect.

So for the rest of the afternoon, I sewed straight lines that were ¼ inch apart until I got the hang of sewing.

So far, this journey has been interesting and it has definitely been a learning curve for me, but I’m hanging in there! I can’t wait to tell you all about my quilt piecing process!

Thanks for following my sewing journey!

Till next time,

Stephanie