#worst part about this? i don't even actually have anywhere i'd want to sew them on just yet

[me1och]

Made some Starkid patches (with a bonus Owen) instead of prepping for exams and wanted to share them here. Very happy with how they turned out!

[roach-works]

so, if you don't mind answering/have advice, I do have a question about quilting - any advice for someone who is interested in trying it, but is afraid of sewing machines? my mother quilts, so supplies aren't an issue (worst case scenario, if I bought fabric and didn't like it I'd just give it to her), but man. every time I try to use a sewing machine the whole process halts me in my tracks, and even once I get sat down in front of it I wind up inching along and struggling to finish anything.

my advice: it's entirely possible you just have the wrong sewing machine. it might be a shitty, temperamental, too-noisy piece of crap, or it just might be a fine machine that doesn't work well for you in particular. there isn't really a way to tell, especially with someone else's sewing machine. i had ENDLESS problems using a second hand sewing machine until my mom bought me a new high-quality one, and i found i was actually much better at it than i thought i was. more recently, i started attending a quilting bee, and found that a borrowed machine from a community center ran even more quietly than my own machine and didn't gave me the problems with zig-zag stitch that i'd come to expect.

i think you should try to take a class or go to a community center and try out a couple different kinds of machines, especially with some more experienced sewers around to tell you what to do when things jam up. classes can be expensive in some cases, but depending on where you live you could probably find a quilting bee or a cosplay group or just a stitch n' bitch who might be able to help a new sewer out.

if you really just don't want to fuck with sewing machines, you don't have to! people have been making quilts without them for centuries. you can simply sew by hand and make smaller, more intricate quilts. english paper piecing is often done entirely with whip stitch, and is very modular and portable, so you can make your little hexagons and fit them together almost anywhere you go. i personally will never be able to do it because my hands would die and my attention span is about ten minutes long, but the results of sticking with it are astonishingly beautiful.