My First Quilt

For a few weeks now I've been working on a quilt to give my new little nephew when he arrives later this month.

I know that someone with three children under the age of four doesn't have a lot of time for things like quilting! But I found an excellent book full of small, simple quilts designed for babies. I chose a design based around applique, which is familiar to me, and decided to give it a go.

'Quilts Baby!', by Linda Kopp (2009), Lark Books.

Neil kindly helped to draw the pattern to scale, and Lucinda accompanied me to Spotlight to deliberate over fabrics. Then, in the evenings when the girls were all asleep, I got to work.

Piecing one of the back panels.

I haven't invested in all the necessary equipment, like cutting mats and a rotary cutter. My pieces were cut with scissors, and I decided to embrace the resultant imperfections as the sign of a truly unique, handmade item.

Basting the layers together ready for quilting.

I got the applique done, and even though the machine stitching didn't look exactly as I had anticipated, I forged ahead with basting the layers together ready for quilting.

And then, disaster struck.

Some of the faulty stitches.

After doing about a quarter of the quilting, I examined the underside of the quilt more closely and discovered there is a problem with the tension. The stitches look fine for awhile, then there is a loose loop of cotton before the normal stitches resume. It isn't an isolated incident, but has happened all the way along.

I took the machine in to the repair centre, where they confirmed there seems to be a problem with its internal timing and tension mechanisms. They can send it off to be serviced, at a cost of $119 plus parts. But given that it is 24 years old, it is probably approaching the end of its life span. However, a new machine costs about $500, and we haven't got that sort of money at the moment.

A walking foot might help with the tension, but it is hard to know if it will fix the problem.

So my first quilt is currently on hold. I'll start the task of delicately unpicking the faulty stitching while deciding what to do next.

But don't worry. I don't intend to let this remain a UFO (unfinished object) for long!