eastermarie

What kind of machine do you have? I think I would try to Google a walking foot for it. $200 is a lot just for a walking foot.

briansommers

I have a Bernina Artista 630e - I saw one that wasn't Bernina for $165

I'm a little scared getting a "generic" one but maybe that would be ok?

briansommers

good gobly goo!

I just called my authorized Bernina dealer, they are on b/o right now, but she didn't know the price exactly but she thinks it would be more then $179!!

then just for laughs, I asked her how much it would be for the BSR - $999.00! - well forget that for a good while!

then I saw one on ebay for $45 or so
http://cgi.ebay.com/BERNINA-ARTISTA-...item255f597362

don't know if that would work or not..

greenini

I have a Bernina also and mine came with a walking foot. Their feet are supposed to be super special. You might be able to get away with a darning foot, they are a good deal cheaper.

barnbum

Doll quilt!! :-D

Weenween

A man my 10 yrs old daughter then now 25 tried to make a Dresden Quilt I told her she pick out the wrong pattern for her first quilt,as usuall mom was right.

Edie

My first quilt was a coverlet. I used 12" blocks with 2" sashing and a 4" border. You can either machine quilt it, hand quilt it or tie it. It comes out to 52"x 80". That is 15 blocks. You can make a sampler, which is excellent for a beginner or use all the same design. Whatever you want to you. Your quilt - your rules!!!!! (My quilt - my rules). I always go to Quilter's Cache and pick out my patterns - I have never bought a store bought pattern. Quilter's Cache is absolutely THE best - you can choose from the size of block that you want to make, it will tell you the degree of difficulty, whether you need to make templates, whether it is paper piecing. It gives you the names of the blocks and sometimes it can tell you the origination of the block. The instructions are excellent and I have made more quilts than I can count with these patterns. I have already made several with 35 - 12" blocks per quilt. Or you can make them down to 4" and smaller blocks.

This is where I started and probably where I will end. My last quilt was made out of 35 blocks that I had never seen or made before and then I kept track of each and every block, noted the colors, noted the degree of difficulty, hard or easy, the date and what the quilt was made for. In my case it was a 35 block sampler for my husband for our 51st wedding anniversary, took darn near a year to make, printed up the patterns, five at a time, and put them in a notebook. Now I have a record of this quilt, which I actually do for every quilt I make. Which I think is very important - provenance! Then you have a history of each quilt you make, if it is to be given as a gift, you will have a little book to give to the person with the quilt - it would contain, what kind of day it was, maybe the headlines, little tidbits from your home, perhaps a housekeeping hint or I always put in a recipe to go with each block that I made (15 blocks - 15 recipes). And then at the end of each block story, I always put in a saying, or an adage........"Live simply - Love generously - Care deeply - Speak kindly - Leave the rest to God". Each one different, humorous, reflective, religious, whatever YOU like to express.

I put everything into the computer and when the quilt is done, I recheck the "book", edit it, put in, take out, whatever and print it up, put it in one of those "term paper" booklet thingys. Three hole, plastic, paper, doesn't matter.

Then you give that to the recipient with the quilt, whether you know this person or not and your quilt will have provenance.

I have a quilt from my grandmother. She made it for me and it is a crazy quilt. I recognize some of the fabrics, but some I don't and it would have been nice to know where the fabrics came from. One was a dress she made for me, one was a dress she wore all the time, and a few others. That is what makes that quilt so special to me. But, I would have liked to have known the whole history of it! And, that is why each quilt I give away has a book with it. It takes a few minutes out of each day I work on the quilt, but is very important as an end result.

I hope maybe I have helped you. I don't know how many people do this or if they even have thought of doing it. I have to have all my eggs in a basket and I have to know from whence things came and what they are doing so I can have a complete completion of a quilt (got that??????)

Good luck to you and always be a beginner quilter because when you are not, then there is nothing else to learn and wouldn't that be sad?

Edie

jaciqltznok

are you looking to make them just to sell?
If so be sure to read the copyright info. Even those FREE online patterns have statements that might prohibit you from using the pattern to make a quilt for resale.

Lap size is the most popular!

pattypurple

When I took my first quilting class as an adult ed. class at school, the instructor picked the pattern (Ohio Star) and told us to make whatever size we needed. I needed a queen size, so bought and cut fabric (with templates) for a queen size. Fast (?slow) forward 10 years and I finally finished it. The points didn't match and I didn't want to send it out to be quilted, so I tied if. We use it on our bed but I would always suggest something small for the first few quilts. In fact I still usually do baby/lap size so I can quilt them myself.
Good luck with your first project

grannypat7925

I think baby quilt or lap quilt. If you start too big a quilt you may get discouraged. Stick with something that you are more likely to finish rather quickly and then move on to larger things if you want to.