Patterns By Jen: Quilting on a Budget

Supplying your love of a craft can get expensive. Even in quilting, though, you can find ways to budget and save.

A few months ago I did a series on quilting tools. You can find the first post HERE.

While it is hard to start quilting without these tools you can start by looking at garages sales and on clearance racks. Don't forget to check out your local goodwill shops as they can have some fun finds at cheap prices. You can also keep an eye out for auctions. All of these are great places to find good materials at bargain prices. Decide what tools you want and which ones you need, make a list and keep it handy for those times you see a sale.

Plan out your projects and try to do one at a time. I know, I know, I'm ducking tomatoes here. 😂 When I first started quilting I didn't start another project until I had finished the first. This helped me to one, finish, but to also only buy what I needed. The added benefit to that was that I had only a small space, and at that time young children, so this kept it easy to control and easy to pack up. I still try to only buy fabric I have a plan for, though sometimes the plan is to collect as many different flamingo fabrics as I can find.

Is there a way to take a "pretty" picture of jeans?

Fabric continues to get more expensive, so start to look for deals, but also look at what you have at home. Maybe a jean quilt is in your future (make sure to buy the right needle to sew denim), maybe there are some curtains that you have stashed away, or sheets. You will hear negative opinions on this tip, but a soft quilt made from used sheets can be a wonderful gift to a new mom, especially if it's made out of the mom's old sheets from when she was a child. 💜

The first quilt I ever made I made as a birthday gift for my grandma. My mom let me use one of her old upholstery books that had squares of fabric. I carefully took those squares out and laid them out in a pattern, coming up with a cross for my Catholic grandmother whose birthday sometimes fell on Easter. I tied it with yarn using a piece of fabric from my mom's stash. It wasn't soft on top, but my grandma loved it.

Years later I made her a Double Irish Chain quilt. I picked up 1/2 yard and 1 yard pieces of any periwinkle (her favorite color) fabrics I found. My mom found a backing on sale and quilted it for me. It was a quilt long in the making and done very frugally. I'm pretty sure the first quilt was her favorite.

Look for local quilting groups. Many of them have fabric exchanges that you can participate in. Guilds will sometimes have communal supplies and tools that you can use. Do you have a friend that quilts? Maybe they have that specialty ruler you need.

See that marked up piece in the back? I cut up an old cutting mat into quadrants and use them to mark and trim units. It preserves the mat I'm currently using, and was "free" because I already had it.

Can you make your own templates? So you have a pattern that uses templates and needs a specialty ruler? Quilters have been making their own templates since forever. It's a great way to save money and also have a special story to tell with it.

Can you piece together batting scraps for your top instead of buying more? I use a zigzag stitch to combine my batting scraps. I usually do this for wall hangings or pieces I know won't need to be washed a lot. What about using an old wool blanket? One of the best quilts I've ever slept under was made by my step-father's mom. It had an old heavy wool blanket as batting and oh my goodness was it a joy to sleep under. Or, on the other side of that, do you need batting? I've made a few picnic quilts that I don't use batting with. I've also made a few baby quilts with flannel on both sides and have skipped the batting on those as well.

I hate to throw batting scraps away. If you have smaller pieces of batting hanging around you can check out the Batting Busting ideas HERE and HERE. They can make great gifts, using supplies you already have.

Borrow quilting books from the library instead of buying them. Can you find patterns that have been clearanced? Many designers have free patterns available for you so you can see if you like their style.

**Please do not copy patterns and give them to friends. This is copyright infringement. Pattern designers work hard to give you beautiful quilts to make, the very little they earn from the sale of a pattern is still something, don't take that away from them. You can read more about what goes into designing a pattern and how much it costs HERE. Note that it is an old article and prices have definitely increased.**

Keep your tools in good shape. It may seem like you are saving money by not changing that blade or needle. However, if you have to push harder to cut fabric, your cutting mat isn't going to last as long. A dull needle can cause issues with your stitching/quilting and you may have to start over with new fabric. That dull seam ripper might get forced through the stitches and end up going into the fabric. Not getting your sewing machine cleaned can cause it to lock up and now it's hundreds to fix it. Take care of your tools to keep your costs down.

Let your creativity help you find ways to keep costs down so you can quilt away!

Make something extraordinary!