There are many ways to make a blanket, but nothing is quite so special and can mean as much as learning how to quilt. This is a skill that you can use to create very personal gifts for those that you want to remember you and your thoughtfulness. You can use this skill to create quilts that will adorn your own home as well as the homes of those you care about. Through a little bit of practice, this is a skill that can be mastered by anyone.



Before you go to the fabric store and start buying fabric squares, thread, and needles, creating a quilt will have to take some planning. Consider purchasing a few quilting pattern books. These will help you become familiar with the terminology used in this practice as well as what a pattern for a quilt looks like. Looking through these books, although you have very little knowledge of the craft at this point, will help you see how small pieces of usually cotton material, can come together to create a quilt.

Color choice should be your next consideration. Quilts are notorious for the color combinations that are created within them. You will want to carefully consider what colors you want to be included in your finished product. You may choose to pick colors that match one another or vary only slightly. On the other hand, you may choose to use sharply contrasting colors. In the same vein, you may choose plain pieces of fabric, or pieces that have patterns printed on them. These will determine the completed look of your quilt.

Once you have chosen your colors, fabrics, and patterns, you will need to begin blocking the pattern of your quilt. "Blocking" or piecing your pattern pieces together will help ensure that you are creating a pattern that will make sense and flow nicely. Pressing those blocks is a step that not all quilters choose to do, yet if you carefully press the pieces of fabric against one another, you make sure that your seams and shapes will be the way they are supposed to be when it's time to sew those pieces together.

With this step completed, batting will be added to create the plush feel of the completed quilt. It will then be sewn either by machine or by hand. Once sewn, binding will need to be added to the edges of the quilt. Just about any material can be used for a binding the edges of the quilt. When the binding has been sewn, your quilt is complete.

There are many variations to quilt design. As you practice more with learning how to quilt, you may become more experimental with patterns and colors. As more quilts are made, they will differ greatly from where they began. This is a skill that will have you making memorable pieces for yourself and others for many years to come.