North Central Washington Quilt Guild

Creating and sewing clothes for our dolls started 60-plus years ago! I confessed recently to my mom that I began using her sewing machine before I was 10 years old: re-threading it for my use to create clothing for our trolls and later, Barbies, and then putting it all back the way she had it when I was finished.

 

By 6th grade I was wearing clothes that I had made. Mom was a great influence and teacher. I continued making clothing for my daughter, husband and myself for the next 50 years. 

 

As I neared retirement and wouldn’t need a professional wardrobe anymore I transitioned more and more into quilting. It had been just a minor part of my sewing until then. I quickly realized that doing free-motion quilting on my domestic machine – I quilted a king-size quilt with it! – wasn’t what I wanted to do. Having only a 10 by 10-foot sewing room, I decided the best fit was a sit-down longarm set into the table just like a domestic machine so I could push the big quilts through. 

 

The free-motion quilting learning curve was, and is, something you work on constantly. I made many lap quilts from project leftovers to practice what I wanted to do on the next big quilt. Participation in local quilting groups, studying YouTube videos and looking at line drawings on Google have slowly increased my repertoire. 

 

I enjoy trying new skills and formats. Some of my favorites are traditional quilting, appliqué, scenes, portraits, baskets, containers, and organization projects. My projects tend to come from a block or pattern I’ve seen; I’ve only ever bought one kit. 

 

There is inspiration everywhere! Don’t be afraid to try something. If it doesn’t turn out, you at least learned something and you can hide it or toss it and nobody has to know.