Making a quilt is hard work! There are a lot of different phases and parts that have to happen in order to put one together. Let me tell you my top three most favorite parts in the quilting process, and of course, my least favorite. Don’t be shy to let me know in the comments below what you most like about quilting!

#3 Love: Piecing!

Piecing is the part most quilters love! There are a lot of quilters out there that only piece quilt tops together and then send them to a longer armer to have them quilted. It is also the most common thing people think of when you tell them you quilt. It’s just fun to sew fabric together! It also becomes addicting as skills improve and we learn how to put together blocks that become more and more difficult. That is why I love piecing. It feels like a puzzle that I can do as many times as I want with a really cool end result. Plus, every time I chain piece, I’ve found that the humming of the machine constantly stitching is really calming to me.

#3 Not my Favorite: Borders

I have found a way to make borders a little bit more enjoyable for me, but for the most part, it’s not my favorite part of quilting. By the time my quilt is ready for a border, I’m not usually in the mood to measure my quilt, cut the border to size, then pin it on to finally sew it. It’s just a lot of work when there is an obvious work around to it. What I like to do is make my border longer than my quilt, then I just sew it on without pinning first, and then cut it down. Is this the best way to do it? No. Doing it that way creates the risk of accidentally stretching the fabric and inviting unwanted waves. However, with a little practice, I have gotten used to not stretching the fabric so it comes out straight!

#2 Love: Pressing!

Oh my, I love to press! I just think it’s so fun. Especially when I’ve sewn a lot of subunits all at once and they all need to be pressed at the same time. It’s just the best feeling to see what the fabric looks like sewn together and see my stitching come out straight. It is also interesting to learn how fabric likes to lay and figure out the pros and con to pressing to the side verses open. I could just press all day!

#2 Not my Favorite: Basting

I’m sure there are many of you out there that could agree with me on this one. Who likes to baste? Not me! Basting is exhausting and takes a long time, especially with larger quilts. There are different methods out there to help make the process easier, but I’m not a fan of spray basting and I would never stitch base, so that leaves me with pins. I love how pins hold my quilt together, but the process of getting them in just isn’t my favorite. Usually by the time I have to baste a quilt, it will sit in my sewing room for weeks before I get around to it. Good thing I’m such a completionist because it is what motivates to me get to basting so I can complete my quilts!

#1 Love: Binding!

I know. You are all shocked, right? So many people hate binding their quilts and here I am saying I love it. But it’s true! I LOVE to make binding and sew it on my quilts. Let me be clear though; I do not hand bind my quilts. I did once with the first quilt because that’s how I was taught, but after that I did learn to machine bind and that is my favorite method. It holds together better in the wash, it looks great, and it is WAY quicker! I think the fact that it is the last step in the process is appealing, but also when I’m done I get to step back and just enjoy my finished quilt!

#1 Not my Favorite: Backing

Weird, right? Putting the backing together usually isn’t a long process, but it is the part that I will put off for a while. I’m just not a fan of working with large pieces of fabric, which is necessary when making the backing. If I could buy wide back fabric, I would totally do it! However, most fabrics I choose for my backing don’t come in that size, and I wish there were more 108″ wide yardage options out there. Oh well!

I hope this was entertaining and you all learned a little bit more about me and quilting! Let me know in the comments below what your most favorite parts about quilting are!

– Leslee