We used to sew all the time using thrift store items. We sewed using t-shirts, old denim and old flannel. In fact I made myself a flannel patchworks skirt about 6 weeks ago. I've been wearing every where, it I so warm. I used all blue and grey plaids. I made a quilt top from men's dress shirts. My daughter liked it, so I gave it to hear to quilt.
I learned to sew when I was 8 or 9, then went to sewing school when I was 13. Sewed all my clothes, clothes for my girls, even made parkas when we lived in Alaska. In the 1980's my daughter had a women clothing line and 1 sewed many of her samples. I did not quilt until I was 74 and the first quilt I made was an Ohio Star with a 6-inch block. I would never do that again, each block had 21 pieces. I like the circle pattern because there is only 8 pieces in each block.
I don't like to use kits, half the fun is working out your own design and picking the colors and fabric you want to use. I keep a tablet of 1/4" grid paper on hand to work out my patterns. I always sew up a few blocks to see how it will look because sometimes the pattern will be different from what you visualize.
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