How To NOT Quilt a Quilt | I Made a Whoopsie! 

Welcome to the "OMG what have I done" club. Learn from it and move on. Thanks for allowing yourself to show vulnerability. You'll get better but you will still, like the rest of us, make mistakes. Laugh about it.

Well, this just made my day. I did a black and white quilt with half square triangles. I started doing a Freemotion petal design with a white thread. it looked horrendous. There were no smooth curves to those petals, and they did not always match up. I was more than halfway done. We moved, and I bagged it up, and it sat in my closet for 5 years, peeking out of the bag, making me feel guilty for not finishing it. Last year, I pulled it out and started picking out all the quilting. For months, I would walk by it and pick some out. Now it is on my rack, and I am just doing an all over loopy free motion in red thread. My husband thought it was cool with the red. I'm almost done quilting, and it will be off my list of UFOs. You will get it figured out. Thanks for sharing, love your channel.

It's WONDERFUL to see a young woman quilting! Mistakes do happen, but I can see you have the determination to keep going. It's "stitch and learn" experience. It's like when you're teaching a class, you make a huge mistake, and not only does the teacher learn, but the whole class does. I'm glad you shared it with us.

Don’t be so hard on yourself!! You are a real person and not a phony!! We love you and nobody is asking you for perfection. 😅 it will help us newbie’s to learn what to do when we blow it too! I can’t wait to make that quilt. 😊 I bought the pattern but it is in line with my other projects! 😂😂😂❤

I just (last week) finished a quilt with a quilted spiral pattern. I used a walking foot and used the foot edge as a spacing guide, so much narrower spacing. It turned out beautiful. It is FULL of mistakes. So many I almost quit. My advice: Finish it with your original design. Wash it. You KNOW it will be beautiful after washing. And, it will be full of learned lessons for you

Yes please, do a boxy tutorial because I’m sure there’s a perfect quilt for it. I do like the idea of the wavy for this particular quilt, though! (And a tutorial with it, too!) And you are a wonderful quilter and teacher - the mistake is frustrating but as all we quilters know, it’s part of the journey. ❤

It’s not a mistake, it’s something that just didn’t work out the way you wanted. Thanks for sharing and know that you are always your own worst critic. This is just an opportunity to work on that concentric circle free motion action!

It always helps me to walk away and come back the next day or two or three. That gives my brain a chance to mull over what I did and what I should do. Thanks for being honest and brave enough to share. 🙂

I have been piecing quilts for years and have even quilted a few of my own. I love piecing but not quilting very much - probably because I've had several 😢 moments! Your attitude of get up, dust yourself off and move on is SO fabulous! It is a really good lesson for me - how will I do this next time?! Just move along and learn from what you didn't do so well. By the way, I think your quilt is charming from what I saw and many people would be thrilled to call it their own! When I look at a quilt I don't just look for the perfection but enjoy the mistakes too! I like to think about the maker and what might have happened at the moment in time and even her reaction. Thank you for your honest sharing!❤

Love your curtains in the background. I’m glad I’m not the only one who does charm pack curtains.

Okay, I would be so proud I made circles. I think it looks loved!❤

Love YOUR PATCHWORK CURTAINS and YOUR ROOM❣️❣️❣️😍🫶👌

In my dreams could I do this good miriam. I know you are your own worst critic. I'm proud of you for showing this even though you're not happy with it. But from someone that has no idea how to quilt, I think it is wonderful -

Love your beautiful smile and attitude Miriam! Your doing a great job with your channel and your honesty prevails. Whatever you chose to quilt your quilt will be perfect! Keep going…you got this!

Sharing our mistakes is brave. I really appreciated the fact that you are honest enough and that you showed it to us! That was way beyond what I think my ego could have handled. I think I would unpick it and try it again but marking it the whole way because your idea is really wonderful. But give yourself a break of stepping away from it for a little bit before you decide. It's a beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing your "lesson learned."

You challenged yourself instead of just doing what you know and I think that is great! I really like the free motion design, the one you showed on the paper. I think that one will look great. Yeah, the boxy one.

I like the boxy quilting you showed in your planner. It would be a lesson of a new quilting style for me to try and I think the quilting would compliment the quilt itself.

Yes, a boxy tutorial would be great! I would love to see a wavy line tutorial as well.

See, I just made a mistake typing this! I am forgetting things a lot now, too but I was never perfect though I was VERY good at my job, raising my children, keeping our home, cooking and baking. I am making artisan bread, improving my quilting and continuing to sew.Just keep trying and making mistakes...from them you will learn. I really love your videos...keep teaching...I loved it!

I appreciate you sharing things that didn't work out as you intended because it helps me feel that I'm not just the only one screwing things up. Personally I'd like to see the straight line quilting because that's the level I'm at but the free motion ones sound pretty neat too.

I love the quilt top!! It is beautiful. As for the machine quilting, when I see the circles, it reminds me of a galaxy, so add stars, moons, etc!! 😊😊😊😊😊😊...

Just think how much you learned. I do piecing but would be terrified to do finish quilting! Finish the quilt … you can donate it to a senior care center…we have a local care center that loves to offer a free quilt to new residents. I made and donated one when my mom was in memory care and it was a treat to visit my mom and see someone had chosen my quilt for their bed. I pieced it and had someone else finish quilt. ❤. I’m a new follower. Looking forward to learning from you!

I have only been quilting for one year and I’m trying to finish my first quilt. Thank you so much for being honest, it makes me feel encouraged and realize that I don’t have to be perfect. Thank you

Thanks for sharing! I spent several hours from sewing yesterday, rip it, rip it rip it….its nice to know I’m not alone!

Don't unpick too hastily (maybe just those couple of obvious jagged 'points'), because your design idea is fabulous! 😍 You made it hard on yourself by choosing that light thread on the dark. But could you mark the rest of your widely spaced circles and sew them in the light thread, then quilt in between those lines with mid-tone thread? Your other alternatives sound great too, but those concentric circles are beautiful! Whatever you decide to do, your quilt will be gorgeous. As other viewers have commented, the washing of the quilt will squish it all nicely and hide any imperfections. PS - Your laugh is infectious and your curtains are amazing 😂

Spirals are my favorite quilting motif. I sew mine much closer together--5/8" apart. I like the look better. It is necessary to baste like crazy beforehand. Two of the quilts were fine, the third shifted like crazy. Cotton batt can help the layers stick together. All the fabrics were prewashed. I think that helped. The back was ironed before basting. The default stitch length for piecing on my machine is approximately 2.5. For machine quilting "3" is a better look. Just a little bit longer stitches. It does take forever.

That was one learning adventure .we have to learn by trying new quilting techniques. I'm right there with ya! Learning what I can do & what I need to get help with. Love that your sharing. I don't have any other quilters close to ask there advice, so will be looking forward to seeing you soon

Mistakes are how we learn. Quilt on Girl❣️

❤ I would love to see wavy! Thank you for sharing. We have all been there and it's nice to know we aren't alone.

Love the thought of option 2 or 3… would look great. You got this…. With everything in life we are always learning and improving… ❤

So far in my quilting journey, I have experienced “well, that didn’t work” on every project. I love that you put this up! Thank you for the real!! I like the idea of wavy in contrast to the straight lines. (But see my first sentence! lol!) On my current project, I keep telling myself to just tone it down. Play it straight. Don’t try to break out of the box. We’ll see how that goes! 😂

I appreciate your honesty and humility, Miriam. And yep, I'v had to rip the free motion quilting out of an entire quilt before-its awful. My vote is to go with a quilting design that brings movement like the wavy line idea.

I love that you’re so real and put yourself out there. Keep up the good work and don’t be hard on yourself.

It's nice to watch someone who is honest, and shares with us, boxy one looks nice sweet. ❤️❤️❤️

Been there, done that. What a great learning process it is. I think you should go with the boxy one.❤

It’s not a bad job it looks fine to me I love the circular design I know sometimes we tend to be hard on ourselves thanks so much for sharing your honesty I enjoyed watching you and I think it looks great❣️🧵✂️🪡💗❤️💕💓

I believe your idea of the quilting design is a good one for that quilt. I would take the stitching out, mark the first concentric circles, sew, remove the quilt from under the sewing machine, mark the second concentric circles, sew, remove… etc. quilting is a joy but the struggle to meet our minds eye expectations can be frustrating at times. Thank for keeping it real.

I just discovered your channel as I was drawn by the title. I pretty well stick to straight line, sometimes using a wavy stitch. I'm so sorry you are going thru this, but truly appreciate your honesty. A few days ago, I just knew I could adapt a pattern calling for a 2 and a half inch jelly roll. Had lots of 1 and a half inch strips from a previous project. Spent hours measuring and cutting until my allergy symptoms kicked into high gear. After 3 attempts at assembling blocks and totally failing, I stuffed them in a zip bag and plan to pass them on😂. Maybe it was sign to finish the other projects waiting to be finished😊 Best of luck, you will overcome!

❤Sweetness!!!!! You are so refreshing , so honest. I love that. I once made this beautiful quilt top. Little houses . Spendt time fussy cutting every door with animals peaking out. Bought a q 20 Bernina machine. 1st time using it. What a mess I made. It was a quilt made for my niece who was getting married during Covid. I cried. I am delighted that you are smiling and using this as a teaching moment.🎉🎉🎉You go girl. You are fabulous.

I feel your pain! I recently finished a courthouse steps quilt and loved how it came out. Until I quilted it. I was under a time crunch, so I did some simple stitch in the ditch quilting and the quilt looked horrible. I tried to live with it, but it flew in my face every time I saw it. So now I am adding extra quilting lines, tripling the amount of quilting lines on it. Looks much better and doesn't look jarringly bad anymore. Looking forward to washing it and using it now! Sorry for how frustrated you must have felt! Appreciate your willingness to share your experience.

YOU ARE A GENUINE GEM MIRIAM❣️❣️

I think it is pretty darn good! I would only fix the extreme peaks that are really obvious then wash and move on! No one else will ever know you were not happy with it. Noone is going to look at your work as crucially as you do. I love the swirly designs and would be happy if I could do anywhere near as good as you did!

Finish it with the circular pattern go back in between those circles with another row and make it all smaller and look intentional and it will be great when its washed. It will be great.

Wavy! I really like your quilt!

Bummer! Crosshatch never fails..... but wavy is great too Good for you for sharing mistakes. ❤

Been there done that!!! Haha! Thank you for sharing your whoopsie with us.

I really like your original concept. The circles however were much closer together on your paper drawing. If you would consider attempting it again perhaps on a bit of a smaller scale I think that would look really great. It’s tough to control those larger strokes on a sit down or a longarm. So my suggestion would be to revisit the circular design on a smaller scale. Don’t be afraid to lay some thread down. The texture will look awesome! Otherwise I would go with something flowy. Particularly if your quilt top design is boxy. Those two elements tend to compliment each other well. At any rate I’m sure what you do will be wonderful. You’re doing your best work in the moment! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for letting us know that everyone (even those with utube videos) can have hiccups in their work. Not a mistake a learning experience.

You're very brave to show us your OOPS! Unstitchimg all that will be tough but you don't seem to be deterred by difficulties. Onward and upward!

A meander would work. It will give you a nice gentle flow and texture. I just want to say.... ""GOOD FOR YOU!!" that you can do it, own it, and move forward!! We have all been there! Another good beginner design for me was just a C and echo and then another C and echo, going one way then the other way, etc. You could do channel or matchstick quilting as well. Just keep moving forward, you've got this!!

Don't give up on your new quilting design, practice it a few times on a smaller project and I'm sure you will get it down. Love to watch and glean from your tutorials. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us!

Just do you think will work best and thanks for sharing. I will be 85 in Nov and I make mistakes all the time😉

Awww I’m so sorry to hear about your quilting! Personally I don’t think it looks all that bad it’s a learning curve. Yet I understand the plans and vision you had for it and it is not what you envisioned 😔 Do you plan to rip out all the quilting? It’s such a pretty quilt 🥰 I have a few suggestions for you if you do … you could do straight line quilting from top to bottom 3/4” apart, you could grid like you said, you could angle quilt straight lines starting from corner to corner, or quilt diamonds all over, you could edge stitch, you could stipple it, you could stipple with a heart all over or with a simple leaf design or a design of your choice. I love feathers on a quilt do you know how to feather quilt? You could find a nice quilting stencil and mark your quilt before quilting then all you have to do is follow the design. There’s also nice quilting designs on tear away paper to follow. Stitch in the ditch brings out the pieced design. There are cable stitches you could do. Maybe you could try using thread to match the back of the quilt unless you want it to stand out 😉 The ideas are endless 🥰 There’s a lady I watch on RU-vid and all she does is quilt using her machine. I’ll look for the link and send it to you. Don’t fret you’ve got a beautiful quilt however you quilt it 😉Here’s the link : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-irBcKu4X5dY.htmlsi=JCK4KwEALLYrec_F

Thank you so much Miriam. I think you are great at what you do and I love watching your channel. We ALL make mistakes unles we are committed to the same old same old! You are obviously innovative and challenge yourself to try something new....you win some and you lose some and I really appreciate your honesty because it makes the rest of us feel that we too can challenge ourselves and learn from our mistakes. Thank you so much for sharing....and I am sure you'll find the perfect solution once you step back and let things "percolate". I know it works for me!❤

What a gorgeous quilt, the design is terrific and I love your fabrics. I think that whatever you choose to do will be the right thing to do. And yes to the boxy tutorial please. I appreciate it when anyone posts an oops! Thank you so much!!! Cheers from Minnesota.

It’s not that bad and thanks for showing everyone makes mistakes once in a while. Quilt top is really pretty.

Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure it will turn out beautifully. I really don't feel qualified to suggest what you should do as I'm not very experienced with quilting. personally, I've only done the knotting method. You my friend are a very brave young lady to share your faults like this. Bravo. I would probably be in the corner having my own pity party. Once when I was making a wedding dress for my niece I came to a point in the process where I just could not understand the pattern instructions. I was beside myself. My husband saw my frustration and he offered to help me. he read the instructions and told me something I completely missed. Then it all made sense. I was able to finish the dress and my niece loved it. I've been sewing since I was about 8 years old, so I've made quite a lot of different things from pillows to curtains to dresses to my own jeans and a shirt for my husband. My family have almost always told me I'm going to make thus and so without asking me if I would like to and it really kills my joy of my own want to sew anything. What I see in your videos is your pure joy of sewing and creating something truly wonderful. :) Oh, by the way, none of us is perfect sewers.

I am not an expert in machine quilting for sure but I find circles so hard. Even trying on a practice piece meander is easier than making circles, for me at least. You did better than I would have.

I love how honest and real you are! We need the encouragement of knowing that when we try something new it will often just be a learning experience and that's true for all of us. Also, I've watched quilting videos where a block was made incorrectly and when the top was shown the problem block had been fixed or replaced! If RU-vidr's really want to teach us then show us your mistakes and how to fix them. Anyway, how will you learn what works until you know what doesn't?

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! For being so honest. Personally, I like the "Blocky" free-motion drawing; however, I'm not sure it would look as good on this quilt pattern even though I love it unless it's done in a small version. Cross-hatch would be my second choice with this quilt pattern. Personally, I didn't like the big circles, even if they had been done perfectly. I'm sure you will figure it out and, in the end, it will be awesome! Thanks again for your vulnerability - love you!

I commend your effort, and I think the idea is sound. I agree that drawing the lines beforehand is the way to go for the circles. I am a big fan of diagonal straight line quilting. Just point to point, the lines are there for you already. It goes quickly, and looks great in the end. I have subscribed to your channel, and am looking forward to see how you work this out.

I am in your same boat - I really dislike the quilting on the quilt I just finished. So this was a very timely video for me. I like the boxy design but I think the wavy lines would be a better choice for your quilt because you already have boxes in your design. I love the wavy lines because, as a fairly new quilter, the lines can be a bit screwy and that's part of the charm. Thanks for showing your goof - you learn from mistakes and we learn with you.

I did something similar, with the same crummy results. I did half circles, radiating out from edges. Luckily it was just a baby quilt. I think I’ll stick to straight lines from now on! BUT, we never know until we try! At least you tried!

I like the idea of wavy lines. I do this often starting a little off one corner and go to the opposite side. I do a gentle curve it gives a nice texture. I appreciate your honesty, we all have some setbacks from time to time. Just keep going. 😊

Thank you for sharing your quilt with us. It's heart breaking when it turns out, not what you thought it would look like.😥 Even tho you can see it in your mind. But i have been here also. And the options are, to go back and pick out all the quilting sewing, it would take an immense amount of time. Or you can just say well let me see where do I go from here.🤔 I think that's where you're at. I think doing a large loopty loop pattern would look good. Because it has somewhat circulars in it a little bit. And that would tie in with your larger circles. I hope you do show us what you decide to do. and how you end up correcting the issue. with this quilt. Good luck to you on whatever you decide. And I hope the progress goes well for you.

Thank you for sharing your oops. I love watching your tutorials and have learned much from you. Whatever quilting design you choose will be perfect for that beautiful quilt! I also love your room! The colors are great and the curtains are beautiful!!!!

It would look really nice with the wavy lines.

Now you have to take it all out?? Do you iron and steam it? The seam ripper is my friend. What ever you choose will look great Your so real thats what makes your video so great.

I just practiced the boxy meander. I love it and perfect straight lines are not required. I love that you shared your "mistake". I think it looks great. But I'm a super beginner fmq'er.

Aren’t we all our worst critic?? I know we all relate. You are seeing the boo-boos and I see a lovely texture. Thanks for posting such an honest video. Love seeing your sweet pup 🐶 ❤(I bet she loves the quilt too)

Thanks for sharing the oopsie! I love you even more because you showed it❤ not even that bad but I get it. it's a sample so you've gotta love it. Happy ripping!

Been there done that, more than once. Eventually it will get better, but it can always happen again. We're not perfect, our mistakes prove it.

Is there a term for " I've worked 50 hours on a quilt I intended to keep for myself, get 2/3 thru and cannot stand the sight of the quilt. I then give it away. I get a chance to see it with its new owner 6 months later and absolutely love it and question why I gave it away?!?!

I’ve been wanting to try something similar and I appreciate your honesty. We have to try new things and practice a lot to get it just right for us ❤

LOL we learn from our mistakes. Pull out the trusty seam ripper if you must. I personally would finish what I started, wash it and let it be a lesson! I’d love to see tutorials on all of the other quilting options you mentioned in the video, I love watching and learning. Thank you for all of your tutorials I really enjoy all that you do, again THANK YOU.

Thank you for this video, I just got a longarm quilting machine and was not happy with my free quilting design on my last quilt either. By the way, I really like you curtains!

I was quilting a quilt with a loop design, hoping they would all be circles. It turns out that I'm better at ovals. But I got frustrated and on the next quilt, I decided to try something different. I did hearts on a vine. It turns out that I'm good at hearts. Not perfect but good enough that I like them. So, keep trying. Remember, if you keep doing what you already know how to do, you won't learn anything new. Go for it!

Glad I'm not the only one who messes up ,don't feel to bad , do you what you want. CHALLENGE YOURSELF GIRL HOWS ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO KNOW!!!!!! YOU CAN DO THIS ❤❤😘🐦

I love your channel and I love your honesty. By the way, your curtains look so beautiful. I'm going to make some.

I am new at FMQ, so I appreciate your honest sharing.

I’m so glad I am not the only one who can get half way through quilting a quilt and then realize it looks terrible. Thank goodness for seam rippers.

I think the square meander would love good

Finish it. Wash it. Use it. It’s fine. I screwed up on one, thought it was ruined. It crinkled like quilts do when I dried it, and is beautiful on my bed.

Miriam!!! Opsies happen. I have verbal diarrhea on my channel. I share the good, the bad, and the ugly!❤

I think it looks fine.

Love the boxy idea ❗️

I would keep working with what you have. Fill in the intersections and between some of the circles with different filler FM designs and consider it organically home made. Meandering in areas so far has always been a great saver FM approach for me.

Sorry Miriam. Your lovely quilt will "tell" you what it wants you to do. I forced a quilt into a design and color of quilting that just didn't work. I hated it. In the six weeks I spent removing the quilting, the quilt finally told me how it needed to be quilted. The time spent was worth it because I loved the quilt when it was finished. Thank you for being vulnerable.

We all learn from our mistakes. It makes us realize where we are in our quilting journey. When I started quilting my quilt tops, I also had one quilt that I had to take apart as my first attempt really looked bad. I now have my quilts in national & international quilt shows. So don't get discouraged. You will get there in due time. You might want to check out Diane Gaudinski's book on quilting quilt tops. She has some really good tips that will help you. It helped me.

I think you said this is a picnic quilt, so I would leave it. Finish the quilt, put it away for a few weeks then look at it with out magnifying glasses ( lol ) and it will be passable for a picnic quilt. Good luck 😊

I believe the wavy free motion will be great. The cross hatch and boxy free motion limits the movement. Great job anyway❤😅

You ARE GOOD!!!❤

Love the boxy free motion😊

I think you can salvage that quilt. In the diagram the lines were closer and overlapped. I would try quilting in between the lines maybe twice, don’t worry about crossing line because the diagram lines overlap. It’s a pretty quilt; I think you’ll like it better if you quilt more. You can also trace over the diagram lines with a pen/pencil for muscle memory.

I think curvy stitching would look great since the quilt is so 'square'(ish). OR...straight line with stitching 1-2" apart (think Suzy Williams). And...when I've done spiral stitching, I've used a walking foot. I start with smaller spirals, using an Aurifil thread spool for the beginning size, then do the stitching 1 - 1-1/2" apart where I start, then very gradually make them bigger, ending with 2 - 2/2". It's not easy/fun in the beginning to make those small turns with the walking food...and moving all that fabric...but well worth it in the end. I also use a guide I attach to my walking foot to keep my lines (kind of) precise. All that said...your quilt will look GREAT however you decide to quilt it. Then after a bath...it will look marvelous & you'll wonder why you fretted so much!!

Been there done that! How about a topographical design? It doesn’t have to be as perfect as circles but still has a circular motion! Jane lyons has a video on it and I’ve done it and it’s great and easy!

Learning opportunities!

I've been quilting for 30 years and still have "oopsies." Yes, walk away for a few days and think it over. I tend to stick to thecsame basic designs that I do well. At 73 I probably won't branch out too much more 😉. Sharing your challenges helps all of us.

Just look at what you've learned! Challenging yourself and being able to laugh at yourself when you make those pesky unintentional variations is what makes you a good quilter. We've all been there. Just keep going and watch your work improve whether you mark it or not. Besides, you'll never see it on a galloping horse!

Do the boxy one. I will quilt along with you.