Project 25: Buying fabric

Yesterday I went to a local quilting shop called Elegant Stitches to buy my supplies. The pattern I’m following calls for a Moda layer cake, which is 40 precut squares in coordinating fabrics. I chose one called Lovely because it has lots of cute florals in it. The woman at the shop then helped me find fabrics to use for my sashing (the spaces between blocks), border, and backing. I also picked up a spool of thread and a rotary cutter to use with the mat I purchased a few months ago. I didn’t realize until evening that I had forgotten to buy batting, but I can get started without it.

Everything was kind of expensive! I probably could have saved money by not buying a pre-packaged set of fabrics, or by scouting around for sales, but because this is my first quilt I wanted to feel confident that I had the right supplies.

I think the real reason I had to spend so much is that I haven’t done this before. I figure it’s just like learning to cook: at first you have to buy every ingredient from flour to spices because you have nothing. After a while you find that you have enough staples to whip up a meal without having to invest too much in it. If I were to make more quilts or sew more in general I’m sure I would build up a scrap pile and a fabric collection that would allow projects like this to come together much more effortlessly.

Of course, the cost didn’t help with my apprehension of cutting into that fabric for the first time, but I did it. Check back tomorrow for my progress.