Quilting Basics

Materials and Supplies

Fabric | Thread | Batting

Fabrics

Fabric Choices--
Quilts often combine fabrics of many types, depending on the quilt. It is best to combine same-fiber-content fabrics when making quilts.

Buying Fabrics--
One hundred percent cotton fabrics are most often recommended for making quilts. Most quilts tend to depend more on contrast of values rather than on the colors used to create the design.

Preparing the Fabric for Use--
Fabrics may be prewashed or not depending on your preference. My recommendation? PREWASH! If you don't you run the risk of some fabrics shrinking more than others, colors bleeding into eachother and some other pretty fantastically weird occurrences happening. I pretreat my bright and dark fabrics with a vinegar wash: 1 cup vinegar to a bathroom basin 2/3 full of cold water, add the fabric, let soak for minimum of 4 hours (I usually let soak overnight), gently wring water out, put into the washer on the rinse cycle, so that it rinses most of the vinegar out then spins it out as well! Wash as you usually would using cold water. The vinegar wash will help to keep your brights brighter longer and also prevents much of the bleeding... even so called colorfast fabrics aren't totally safe from bleeding.

Fabric Grain--
Fabrics are woven with threads going in a crosswise and lengthwise direction. The threads cross at right angles-the more threads per inch, the stronger the fabric.

The crosswise threads will stretch a little. The lengthwise threads will not stretch at all. Cutting the fabric at a 45-degree angle to the crosswise and lengthwise threads produces a bias edge which stretches a great deal when pulled (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Drawing shows lengthwise crosswise, and bias threads

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If templates are given with a pattern, pay careful attentioin to the grainlines marked with arrows. These arrows indicate that the piece should be placed on the lengthwise grain witht he arrow running on one thread. (Although it is not necessary to "examine" the fabric and find a thread to match it to, it is important to try to place the arrow with the lengthwise grain of the fabric.) (Figure 2)

Figure 2. Place the template with the marked arrow on the lengthwise grain of the fabric.

Thread--
For most piecing, good-quality cotton or cotton-covered polyester is the thread of choice. Inexpensive polyester threads are not recommended because they can cut the fibers of cotton fabrics.

Choose a color thread that will match or blend with the fabrics in your quilt. For quilts pieced with dark and light color fabrics, choose a neutral thread color, such as a medium gray, as a compromise between colors. Test by pulling a sample seam.

When you're ready to be "daring" ;) try using a contrasting color of thread for your quilt top. Sometimes, it will give an old tired design (to you not necessarily to anyone else!) a totally new "look."

Batting--
Batting is the material used to give a quilt loft or thickness. It also adds warmth.

Batting size is listed in inches for each pattern to reflect the size needed to complete the quilt according to the instructions. Purchase the size large enough to cut the size you need for the quilt of your choice.

Some qualities to look for in batting are drapeability, resistance to fabric migration, loft and softness.

If you are unsure which kind of batting to use, purchase the smallest size batting available in the type you'd like to try. Test each sample on a small project. Choose the batting that you like working with most and that will result in the type of quilt you need.

Tools & Equipment--
There are few truly essential tools and little equipment required for quiltmaking. The basics include needles (hand-sewing and quilting betweens), pins (long, thin sharp pins are best), sharp scissors or shears, a thimble, template materials (plastic or cardboard), marking tools (chalk marker, water-erasable pen, a No. 2 pencil, or a "disappearing" quilters pen are a few) and a quilting frame or hoop. For piecing and/or quilting by machine, add a sewing machine to the list! ;)

Other sewing basics such as a seam ripper, pincushion, measuring tape and an iron are also necessary. For choosing colors or quilting designs for your quilt, or for designing your own quilt, it is helpful to have on hand graph paper, tracing paper, colored pencils or markers and a ruler.

For making Nine-Patch quilts, a rotary cutter, matt and specialty rulers are often used. I recommend an ergonomic rotary cutter, a large self-healing mat and several rulers. If you can choose only one size, a 6"x24" marked in 1/8" or 1/4" increments is recommended.