| Quilting |
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| Throughout history quilts have been used. Spending time at my great grandmother's house I slept under a quilt at night and watched her make quilts. I was always fascinated by the tiny stictches, it wasn't until I got a little older that she began to do them on the machine, and the gossip of her and her friends while they sat around cutting out shapes of fabric and peicing them together. She made a quilt for each grandchild, and every great grandchild she was around to see and then some. These beautiful quilts, and even the quilts from her mother, are family heirlooms and treasured. Quilts have that effect on people, and are useful for keeping warm on cold winter nights. To begin quilting you will need certain things. It is a good idea to have a sewing machine. Quilting isn't easy and a quilt takes a long time and lot of patience to make. If it's your first quilt quilt patterns are a good idea to use. You can find many, many patterns. Because my great grandmother was a quilter I have many old patterns; I even have a cut out from an article from a newspaper in 1930 of "old patriotic quilt patterns." There are quilts that use applique. Some quilts are easier to make than others too. First, you get your quilt pattern and decide how big you want your quilt. Once you have decided how much material you will need begin gathering scraps and buying material. Then, cut your scraps into the shapes you will need. For example, if you are making a around-the-world quilt you would need a pieces the size of a postal stamp. Remember to leave about an inch on each side of your peices for sewing. For most quilts, you will work with blocks. You will most likely put your peices together to form quilt blocks. After all your blocks are put together you then peice together the quilt blocks. What happens after this stage really depends on the quilter and what pattern they are doing, but I am going to give you the way I do it. After the quilt blocks are sewn together if you want an outer border around the quit attatch it now. If you don't want a boarder, then sew the lining onto the back. Be sure your lining and quilt aren't to tight because you will need to fill it. Sew the edges together on three of the four sides (for a quilt that is square or rectangular in shape, if it isn't leave a side open to fill it.) If you don't want to fill the quilt however, skip this part. Next, you will need to stuff the quilt; personally I like to stuff mine with feathers (down) but other people use cotton or synthetic stuffing you buy at craft stores. Once you have your quilt stuffed sew up the additional side, now the fun part, actually quilting. Next you quilt the quilt. Quilting is tiny, even stiches that are done across the quilt. This part is usually takes the most time and can be done by hand or by sewing machine. Sometimes people put another lining on the back after quilting, sometimes people don't, this is up to you. Then you have a finished quilt. The above paragraph is a simplified guide to making a quilt. However, there are some things that can make it much easier. First, for quilting, ecspecially hand quilting there is a thread called Thread Heaven that comes in a blue box, this will be very helpful because it does not tangle. Another method to keep your thread from tangling while you quilt is to coat it with beeswax. Also, when you are quilting wear a leather glove on your hand you keep under the quilt to avoid hurting your hands too badly. Plus, it's a good idea to use quilting thread to quilt because it is stronger than regular thread and comes in many colours. Rubber fingers, availble at most office supply stores, are also helpful in gripping tiny needles and pulling them through. These are just a few tips to make life easier for quilters. Also, sometimes it helps to have good friends come and quilt with you ... it's good quality time. My personal favourite form of quilting is called Crazy Quilting. Crazy quilting is not actually quilting but they're similar so I'm going to include them on this page. Crazy quilts are made without set patterns, or if patterns are used there are many patterns mixed together. Most often fabrics used in crazy quilting are silks, satins, velvets, lace, and heavy cottons. Crazy quilts aren't quilted either. They're not exactly for beds or warmth really, but more to look pretty. They are decorated with needlwork, most common is silk ribbon embroidery. Also found on crazy quilts are beads, lace, ruffles, and buttons. Despite the "craziness" of crazy quilts, most do have some sort of them; ecspeically with prints and embroidery. Themes like roses and butterflies would be shown though prints that have to do with butterflies and roses and embroidery and butterfiles and roses. The most important thing in crazy quiliting is to have fun and be creative! |