You’ll find hundreds of helpful tutorials here at Shiny Happy World, but sometimes all that help can be a little overwhelming. Where should you start?
Making a quilt really boils down to six steps.
Step 1 – Pick Your Pattern
You can make a quilt with one block repeated over and over again, or make a quilt using many different blocks.
Shop for individual block patterns here.
Shop for bundles of multiple blocks and pre-made collections here.
You’ll find more info about choosing a quilt pattern here.
Step 2 – Pick Your Layout
Do you want a simple grid? Sashing? Added half blocks? This post shows quilts in lots of different layouts, with links to more info about each.
Step 3 – Pick Your Color Palette
You’ll find all the color palettes I use over and over again here. You can use these fabrics I designed especially for applique, or you can use them as inspiration to take to the fabric store.
This post has LOTS more info about choosing fabric for a quilt.
Step 4 – Decide on Any Extras
This post will get you started with info about working with specialty fabrics. It’s specifically about working with shiny tissue lamé, but it includes links to other posts about applique with fleece, satin, fur, and more.
Want to add flappy ears? Doors that open? Puffy bits? This post will get you started on adding 3D elements and it has links to lots of other possibilities.
Want to add fun accessories likes hats and mustaches? There’s a pattern here.
Want to make your applique bust out of its frame and into a neighboring block? This post has all the info you need.
Step 5 – Choose Your Size and Buy Materials
I design my quilts for 6 different sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size.
For each layout style, you’ll find a downloadable PDF with fabric requirements, cutting guides, and assembly diagrams for all six sizes in this post – Quilt Sizes and Supplies Needed.
Step 6 – Make Your Quilt
This post has everything you need to know about how to make a quilt using my Quilt As You Go method. This is a VERY detailed post that takes you from cutting your squares to binding your quilt, with links out to detailed tutorials for every step of the process.
If you prefer video learning, this post has a 25 minute video explaining all the steps in detail, with a time stamp table of contents so you can skip to the parts you need most.
That’s it!
If you’d like to see all the quilting tutorials in one place, organized by topic, you can find that here.
Let’s make a quilt!
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Hi Wendy,
I´m Christina from Sweden. I´ve just bought your cuddly cats pattern.
I would like to do a smaller quilt of all the cats perhaps 20×30 inches To put on some wall, Or is that not possible? Perhaps I shall use only some blocks in normal size? What do you suggest. I love everything from your website and all of your videos
That’s totally possible! There’s a post here that shows how to shrink my quilt block patterns down to coaster size. https://www.shinyhappyworld.com/2018/05/turn-any-quilt-block-patterns-into-cute-coasters-an-easy-tutorial.html You can use that as a guideline to shrink them down to any size you like. Just be aware that that the size you’re suggesting will make the pieces quite small and slightly more difficult to do the outline stitching. You’ll probably want to embroider the eyes instead of appliqueing them. There’s a post here showing how to machine stitch tiny eyes without an embroidery machine. https://www.shinyhappyworld.com/2015/08/how-to-machine-stitch-eyes.html