How Long Does It Take To Make a Quilt For Beginners?

Quilting is a craft that allows you to create functional and artistic pieces that can be cherished for generations. However, for beginners, it’s common to wonder just how long it takes to make a quilt. What size are you making, is it a detailed patchwork or a simple pieced one? Are you machine quilting with straight lines or sending it to a longarm quilter? How soon do you need this to be done? In this guide, we’ll break down the process step by step and address common questions that beginners have when starting their quilt-making journey. After you read this post, you will have a good understanding of how long it takes. Plus, I’ll share some great beginner quilt patterns for you to make to get this party started and all of them are free!

So your thinking about making one but want a rough estimate of how long it will take to make. Maybe you are thinking of making one for a baby gift but the shower is a week away, will you have time to make it before the event? Or maybe you just purchased a new pattern off Etsy and want to finish it for a bedroom in your house and you have guests coming in a few months. Will you finish it in time?



Or maybe you just finished one and it took forever to make, you want to start a new one but want an idea of the amount of time this new quilt will take. You’re kind of burnt out and want an easy and quick project this time. It’s always a good idea to know how long a project will take, it’s a basic question.

Recently a quilter friend of mine asked me this question. She saw my pattern for the Roundabout Quilt and wanted to know how long it took to make. She’s a grandparent with several grandkids that are very active in sports, she’s always attending games on the weekends. She also works a full time job during the week. She asked, so how long does it take to make? There is no simple answer really, it depends on a few things. The size, pattern, type of blocks, hand or machine quilting and skill level. Let’s not forget your skill level because there are different levels of beginners. 

Make sure you check this out!

After you read this post, make sure you also check out How To Learn How To Quilt: Beginner Quilting Guide. It’s jam packed with even more information, links and resources that are so helpful when you’re first learning. It also has a section with free quilt patterns that are great for beginners. So make sure you check this out, seriously don’t forget!

Grab the Learn to Quilt for Absolute Beginner’s Guide, filled with helpful information to make your first quilt. Click the link below for the free download.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Quilt

Quilting entails sewing together layers of fabric to create a warm and cozy blanket or a visually appealing decorative piece. The basic steps include selecting fabric, cutting it into pieces, piecing the fabric together to form blocks, assembling the blocks into a quilt top, layering with batting and backing fabric, sewing the layers together, and finishing the edges with binding. Allocating time for each step depends on factors such as the size, complexity, and personal skill level. Generally, beginners may need more time to familiarize themselves with the process, while experienced quilters may work more efficiently.

Choosing Your Materials

1. The choice of fabric for your project depends on factors such as color, pattern, texture, and intended use. Cotton fabric is a popular choice due to its versatility and ease of use.
2. Calculating the amount of fabric needed depends on the size, design, and desired seam allowance. Patterns often provide estimates for fabric requirements based on these factors.
3. In addition to fabric, other essential materials and tools include batting, backing fabric, thread, needles, pins, a rotary cutter, cutting mat, rulers, and a sewing machine.

Planning

1. Selecting a design or pattern is a personal preference. Consider factors such as your skill level, aesthetic preferences, and intended use.
2. Calculating the size involves determining the desired dimensions and adding seam allowances to each piece. Patterns typically include instructions for sizing.
3. Whether to prewash fabric before sewing depends on personal preference and the type of fabric used. Prewashing can remove sizing and shrinkage, but it’s not always necessary.

Cutting and Piecing

1. Accurate fabric cutting is essential for precise piecing. Use a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, and cutting mat to achieve straight, clean cuts.
2. Piecing blocks together requires careful alignment and consistent seam allowances. Pinning fabric pieces together and pressing seams open or to the side can help maintain accuracy.
3. Maintaining accuracy and consistency in piecing involves attention to detail, practice, and using proper techniques such as nesting seams and pressing seams flat.

Quilting Techniques

1. Techniques vary and can include hand and machine quilting, or a combination of both. Each technique offers its own benefits and challenges.
2. Choosing between hand and machine quilting depends on factors such as personal preference, desired finish, and available time and resources.
3. Selecting the right design for your quilt top involves considering factors such as size, design complexity, and desired density. Experimenting with different designs on scrap fabric can help you find the perfect fit.
4. On point layouts take longer to assemble than ones that are not on point.

Binding and Finishing

1. Binding is the final step and involves attaching a fabric strip around the edges to cover the raw edges of all three layers.
2. Achieving a professional looking finish requires attention to detail in cutting and sewing the binding strips, as well as careful stitching to attach the binding.
3. Caring for your finished quilt involves gentle washing, proper storage, and occasional airing to maintain its quality and longevity. Follow care instructions specific to your items materials and construction.

Type, Size and Complexity

1. The size and complexity of your quilt play a significant role in determining the time required.
2. Larger quilts naturally demand more time, and intricate designs with numerous small patches will also increase the complexity.
3. Intricate patterns with lots of piecing will take longer than a simple one too. The piecing process is time consuming, the more piecing the pattern has, the more time it will take to make.

Skill Level

1. Beginners may find that their first quilt takes longer as they familiarize themselves with the process.
2. As your skills develop, you’ll likely become more efficient and may complete subsequent projects more quickly.

Technique

1. Different techniques can affect the time investment. For instance, hand quilting is a meticulous process that may take longer than using a sewing machine. Each method has its own unique charm and learning curve. It takes more time to learn a new technique, then you get faster the more you practice. An experienced quilter is going to be faster than a new quilter because they get faster as time goes on.
2. Chain piecing can also cut down on time.

Preparation Time

1. The time spent on preparing materials, cutting fabric, and organizing your workspace is often overlooked. Adequate preparation can streamline the process and prevent unnecessary delays.
2. Fabric selection – Good news is you do not need to wash fabric before using it, this applies to yardage fabric. Also, never wash pre-cut fabrics. Most quilters will use Shout Color Catchers in the wash cycle when they wash the item for the first time to catch any fabric colors that may bleed.
3. Small Space – My house is small and so is my sewing space. Because of this, it’s a lot of work setting up and tearing down my sewing area. I have things in my closet mainly, under the bed, in the spare room and under my sewing table. Pulling out all my sewing things and setting up the ironing station, having the bed or sofa to use for laying everything out. It takes longer to make when you don’t have a dedicated sewing room that is always ready to be used. 

Schedule

1. Your personal schedule and the time you can dedicate to sewing each day or week will impact the overall duration. Consistent, dedicated time can expedite the completion of your project.
2. Weekend Quilters – As you all know by now, I’m a weekend quilter.  I work a full time job during the week, my weekends are set aside for sewing. However, there’s other things that need to get done over the weekend so that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for sewing. Either do my chores and errands on Saturday and then dedicate Sunday for all day sewing.  Or sew for a few hours on Saturday and the same on Sunday.  If I really love the project, I may even sew when I get home from work on the week days but usually just want to pick up the house, make dinner and relax. The lighting is much better during the day so night sewing in my small house is not my first choice. 

Tools and Equipment

1. Access to quality sewing tools, such as a rotary cutter, rulers, and a reliable domestic sewing machine, can significantly enhance your efficiency. Investing in these tools may contribute to a smoother and faster experience.

BEGINNER SUPPLIES

Here are some quilting tools and supplies I recommend. I make a small commission if you purchase through the links, this helps to support this free content. For more info, check out Supplies for Beginners (Best Tools To Start).

SAVE THIS PIN FOR LATER!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Seriously, How Long Does It Take to Make a Quilt

Ok, here are my free quilt patterns, their level of difficulty and how long they took me to make. Keep in mind that I only quilt on the weekends. Figure 16 hours worked per weekend multiplied by how many weekends or months it took. You can do the math, quilt math that is. Let’s get this party started!

Charm Square

I have a free pattern for a queen or king size quilt. After you read the post, you can see how easy it is to customize and make smaller. This quilt will take a beginner 4 weekends to complete from start to finish.

First-Ever Project

The best easy and fastest quilt a beginner can make. If this is your first ever quilt, buy one 5″ charm pack pre-cut fabric and use all the squares to make a simple baby carrier quilt. Add a 3 or 5″ border on all sides, quilt it with straight line stitches following the seam lines in both directions, add binding and you are done. This first time quilt can be completed in one weekend or one day, depending on how well your domestic sewing machine is working for you that day.

Charm Square On Point

This quilt is one of my favorites but took me a little while to figure out how to make it. I created this pattern from scratch and it was the first time doing anything on point. This took 4 weekends to complete and was well worth it. This is more advanced, it’s easy to get turned around and mix your fabric rows up when using this technique. Must try, you will really love the look when the squares or blocks are standing on their points.

Nine Patch Quilt

This quilt can be done in 3 to 4 weekends, it’s beginner friendly and comes together fast. The hardest part will be quilting it up on your home machine.

Pinwheel Quilt and Chevron Quilt

Both of these quilts are beginner friendly but will take some time to trim up all the half square triangles. There are ways you can make more than one HST at a time but most folks use scrap fabric and need to make one at a time resulting in 2 finished units. Both of these quilts took about 4 weekends to create.

Bow Tie

Rose’s Quilt is a throw size and takes a little bit of time to complete all the bow tie units. There are a lot of seams to nest when creating the bow tie block. This quilt was not hard to make but took about 6 weekends to create.

Strip Block Quilt

The Roundabout is made using strip blocks circling a center square using the Y seam technique. This quilt comes together fast once the strips are made. Confident beginner can easily complete this in about 2 to 3 weekends because it’s a queen size it takes a little longer.

Log Cabin

Log Cabin with Sashing and Cornerstones – This king size took about 9 months to make, working on the weekends. Each log cabin block took 45 minutes to make in the beginning, with practice the fastest time was 35 minutes. You need to press after each strip is attached and I cut each strip as I went.

Log Cabin On Point with Sashing and Cornerstones – This queen size project took about 4 weekends to complete. It was only my second on point quilt, I was making the pattern up as I was creating. Sashing and cornerstones were throwing off my triangle unit measurements and I wasted a ton of fabric by cutting the pieces too short. Learning new techniques always take longer to do.

Log Cabin Table Runner – This project will take 1 weekend to complete. It’s not hard, just takes some time to make the log cabin blocks. It’s a real beauty.

The ABC Baby Quilt

This is a charm square with sashing and cornerstones. It will take 2 weekends to complete and makes a fantastic baby shower handmade gift.

Table Runners, Denim Potholders, Mini Quilts and Table Topper

Check out the resource section below for links to all my patterns. Pinwheel table topper, Quilt-As-You-Go Table Runner, Simple Quilted Table Runner, Chevron placemats, and Quilt Block Table topper. All of these projects can be completed in 1 to 2 weekends depending on which project you pick.

Guidelines for Beginners – How Long Does it Take to Make a Quilt

Keeping it Simple

For beginners, starting with a smaller project that allows you to grasp the basics without feeling overwhelmed. As you gain confidence and experience, you can gradually take on larger and more intricate designs.

Choose simple designs like charm patchwork squares. The quilting method is basic and you can save time by using pre-cut fabrics. My first-ever quilt was made using one 5″ charm pack, simple pattern of making rows and connecting them to form a square with a straight seam.

Straight line quilting by following the seams in the quilt top on my home machine to complete my own quilt. It took two days to complete because my machine kept having issues (I was using a Singer Start) and the adjusting the tension and threading the needle was a challenge for me.  My quilt friends encouraged me not to give up, so I kept moving forward.  

Breakdown the Process – How Long Does it Take to Make a Quilt

Divide the sewing process into manageable steps. This approach helps in staying organized and focused, preventing burnout. Allocate specific time blocks for cutting fabric, piecing patches, and quilting to maintain a steady pace. You can cut time down with your fabric selection: buying yardage at the fabric store and cutting or making life easy with pre-cut fabrics. If you use a long arm quilter to finish the project, keep in mind that it can take weeks to get your finished item back and then you will need to bind it yourself.

Learn From Resources

Utilize online tutorials, books, and local guilds and group to enhance your skills and learn time-saving techniques. Seek guidance from experienced quilters who can share tips and tricks they’ve acquired over the years. Fellow quilters are your best resource when you are stuck. Fabric stores are generally helpful but my personal preference is my local quilt shop. They have onsite sewing classes and lots of knowledge floating around the store to help a new quilter out. 

SEW NIKKI FREE RESOURCES

FREE PATTERNS

TUTORIALS

ABOUT SEW NIKKI

If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! My name is Nikki. I’m a weekend quilter, have a super small sewing space and taught myself how to sew and quilt by watching YouTube videos! My blog has How-To’s, Free Patterns and Pattern Reviews. Read more about me here.

While the time it takes to make a quilt can vary depending on factors such as size, complexity, and skill level, with patience and practice, even beginners can create stunning quilts to be proud of. 

Follow me on social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) so you get notifications when I post new patterns and tutorials. 

Want to learn how to crochet? Then check out this post, How to Learn How to Crochet – Guide for Beginners.

Sew, quilt, crochet and repeat!