Embroidery Designs, software, machines

9:05 PM | Labels: Quilting

There are many intricacies when it comes to learning how to quilt online. It is wise to start with a very basic idea and expand those ideas as you improve in your quilting skills. With a little bit of practice and some devotion, depending on the time you have to devote, you can create a well made quilt within a week or so.

Reading Patterns

One of the first things that you'll want to learn about is how to read a pattern from a pattern book. The best way to do this is purchase a book that has been designed for beginners. This type of quilting book will take more space of the book to carefully explain terminology that is used with quilting. There will also be a guide to any abbreviations that are used in quilting patterns. If you carefully study this book and perhaps create your first quilt from this book, it will be easier to read and follow other patterns that may be more difficult.

Making Color Choices

Having a basic knowledge of a color wheel will help greatly in choosing the colors that you will use in your quilt. A color wheel will help you understand the way that colors can work together with slight variations in hue. It will also show how colors can contrast nicely in a piece of work. A 'cool' color can work as a contrasting element to a 'warm' color in a quilt.

Blocking And Pressing Material

When your color choices have been made and you're beginning to understand a simple pattern, you will need to block and press your fabric. As most fabrics are cotton, it may not be a bad idea to wash your fabric before you set to cutting it into the squares that will eventually make the quilt. This will ensure that any shrinking the fabric will do will already have been done. Once this has been done, you will want to 'outline' your quilt by placing your material where you believe it should be and then pressing them down to make sure the size is correct and will still match out when it is sewn.

Batting And Sewing

You will add batting to your fabric squares before you sew them together. This is what will create the 'quilted' or cozy feeling once the quilt is made. Your fabric squares will be filled with batting and you will sew them together either by hand or with a sewing machine. Once this part is completed, the quilt is nearly finished.

Binding

The final step when learning to quilt is binding the edges of it. At this point it has been sewn together, but the sewn edges of the quilt are exposed. A binding can be created out of most any material. Its purpose is to cover and add a finishing touch around the edges of the quilt. It will surround the remaining exposed edges and be sewn on to those edges of the quilt.

9:02 PM | Labels: Quilting

Selecting fabric for your quilting projects is one of the best things about being a quilter. With such a variety in colors, textures, patterns and finishes, the quilter has an enormous fabric palette to choose from.

Art quilters particularly benefit from the wide variety of fabrics available, and cotton fabric, whilst being the quilter's favorite, is no longer the only fabric of choice. Beautiful silks, velvets, sheers and decorative fabrics all vie for attention in the eyes of an art quilter.

Quality Counts

When choosing quilting fabrics, particularly cottons, quality is something that is not always considered, so it is worth mentioning that not all fabrics are created equal.

Quality quilting fabrics go through a finishing process that requires many steps in order to achieve a vivid color, soft hand and ensure colorfastness. The quality of the base fabric and the number of steps it takes to complete the process all contribute to the more expensive price.

Discount quilting fabrics, on the other hand, start with a lesser quality base fabric and leave out a couple of these processing steps. This results in fabric that has a lower thread count, a stiff hand, and is prone to color run and fading.

Whilst the savings to your pocket may be significant, using less expensive fabric on a family heirloom project is not recommended.

Thread Count

Thread count also contributes to the level of quality of quilting fabric.

Discount quilting fabric generally has a lesser thread count (approx 60 x 60) than quilting shop fabrics (approx 78 x78). A fabric with a smaller thread count will have a higher shrinkage rate and this is important to remember if you are mixing fabrics purchased from different sources and intend to wash the finished project. These fabrics should then be pre-washed.

Fabrics with a high thread count (100 x 100 plus), such as batiks and some PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabrics, have a fine, smooth finish, but are not recommended for hand quilting or sewing because of the tight weave. Tightly woven fabrics can also contribute to problems when machine quilting, and a machine needle with a sharp point, such as a quilting needle, is recommended.

To Pre-Wash or Not to Pre-Wash

The debate over the pre-washing of quilting fabric goes on.

As a general rule of thumb, if it is unlikely that the quilt will never be washed, such as an art quilt, pre-washing your fabric is not necessary.

However if your finished project is utilitarian and will require washing, pre-washing quilting fabric is always a good idea in order to prevent colors running and also to prevent problems with different shrinkage rates.

Difficult Fabrics

Just as there are difficult quilting threads, certain types of fabrics can also be difficult to work with. Fabrics such as sheers, velvets and silks all present challenges, as they can easily slip and slide out of position.

Luckily, modern sewing and quilting machines come equipped with specialty feet to deal with these finicky fabrics and an inbuilt even feed foot, if you have this feature on your machine, is one of the best feet to use when working with specialty fabrics.

As art quilters, we are fortunate to not be restricted in our use of these wonderful fabrics. It's part of what makes art quilting so much fun

8:54 PM | Labels: Quilting

Art quilters have never had it so good with the variety of machine quilting thread that is available to them these days.

Basic Cotton

Cotton thread, originally the quilters' choice of thread, is now available in a wide variety of colors and weights, with Egyptian cotton particularly, making a huge statement.

And for machine quilters, whilst cotton thread is still a favorite, it now gets to compete alongside other beautiful and tantalizing quilting threads made of polyester, rayon and metallic.

Price and Quality

Machine quilting thread can be expensive, but cheaper threads will add little to the end result of your project, can sometimes contribute to poor sewing machine performance, and if your project is to be functional such as a lap or bed quilt, it will certainly shorten its lifespan.

Poor quality threads will also produce poor results:

• Short staple cotton threads tend to throw off a lot of lint which not only clogs your bobbin area, but can get caught up in the thread itself and result in "bumps" in the stitching line.
• Polyester, rayon and metallic threads can also suffer from poor quality and result in weak thread that breaks and shreds easily. Sometimes it is not the fault of your machine or needle, sometimes it is just simply "bad" thread.

Remember also, thread deteriorates over time and becomes brittle and loses strength. So your mother's collection of old thread, whilst maybe having some sentimental value, is not going to guarantee you a beautiful finish or trouble-free sewing.

Personality Clashes

Learning to work with your threads is important, and when you work with threads long enough particlarly when machine quilting, you begin to notice that each brand and type of thread has its own little personality.

Some threads like a vertical spool and some threads prefer a horizontal spool. Monofilament thread sometimes prefers rolling around in a cup and metallic thread can often act kinky and needs taming with a net.

Understanding that your sewing machine is often not to blame when thread issues occur will go a long way toward a better relationship between you and your machine, and taking time to do a stitch and tension test before you begin on your project will alleviate a lot of anxiety.

Don't throw it out

Old, finicky or poor quality thread can still be put to use, so never throw it out.

• It may be quite suitable for the back of a project
• Consider using it in your bobbin for bobbin work
• Snip it up, sandwich it between two layers of sheer fabric and use it to make "thread fabric"

Hand quilting thread - a word of warning

Some hand quilting threads have a wax coating which allows the hand quilter to easily work with the thread. These types of threads however, are not good for your sewing machine as it is possible for the wax coating to create slippage through the tension discs causing tension problems with your stitching. Normally the thread label will state if the thread is coated, so make sure you read the label if using hand quilting thread in your machine.

8:51 PM | Labels: Quilting

it starts with the cravings ...

For those of us who crave inspiration, Quilting Arts Magazine is designed to provide just that and more.

As textile and quilt artists, our muse is often demanding and adventurous. She is always looking over our shoulder, and never more so than when we settle down with a cup of coffee, pull out our latest copy of Quilting Arts Magazine and settle down for a pleasurable hour or two with our favorite publication.

... then there's the frenzy

The articles in the magazine are designed to inspire, whet our appetite for the unusual, and drive us into a frenzy of creative activity.

Articles on using Angelina fibers will have us daydreaming about butterfly wings and glittery things. Stories about fabric dyeing offer us the opportunity to shroud our sewing room in luscious multi-colored streamers of rainbows. Trading cards and little inchies are suddenly dancing across our vision, mesmerizing and tantalizing.

... then the call to action

And suddenly our muse is called to action. Slowly she drags us to the nearest computer and inexplicably we find ourselves online with our favorite quilting arts vendor, adding stuff to the shopping cart - stuff we can barely pronounce but it sounds intriguing, and then adding more stuff because the color is captivating, and yet more stuff because maybe we'll find a use for it somewhere, someday.

By now, of course, we have our own credit card dedicated to our obsession of the quilting arts and the number is retained in memory from so many similar expeditions. As we click the final checkout button, we let out a sigh of anticipation, stare out the window and wait for the postman to deliver our parcel.

Then our muse, smirking and fulfilled, slinks away to the corner to patiently wait for the next opportunity to pounce; slyly hoping that the next issue of Quilting Arts Magazine is but a short mail delivery away.

recovery ?

As we slowly recover from our muse-induced hypnotic state and our eyes finally manage to focus on the receipt we are holding in our hands, realization slowly dawns ... uh, oh. What the heck did I just order? And how much of it? And it cost ... what?

Perspiration forms on our brow and our hearts start to race as our mind tries to calculate how we're going to pay for all this. Well we have at least a month to worry about that before the visa bill comes in. Let's just hope our next issue of Quilting Arts Magazine doesn't arrive before the visa bill does, otherwise we really will be in trouble.

And where the heck did that muse suddenly disappear to? Strange how that happens.

8:49 PM | Labels: Quilting

There's something comforting about a puff quilt. Maybe it's the little pillows that make up the top that attract us to them. Maybe it's the extra layer of stuffing that makes them so soft and fun to curl up in. Whatever the reason, you can enjoy making one of your very own.

Puff Quilts are very easy to make. You construct "puffs" or "biscuits" of fabric squares, one at a time, and then join them together to make a whole. Usually no added backing or finish quilting is required.

A good size for each puff is between 3 and 6 inches square. For uniformity, select a "backing" fabric to use as one side of each puff. You will also need a lot of cotton or poly fiberfill, or leftover scraps of batting to use as stuffing.

The simplest method for making a puff quilt is to take two squares of the same size, place them with their right sides together, and sew around the edges as if you were making a little pillow - because that is exactly what you are doing. The pieces don't even have to be squares. You can use rectangles or circles if you want. Then, turn the puff inside out, stuff it loosely, and whip stitch the open edge. You now have your first puff! Make a few hundred more puffs, and whip stitch them together along their edges to make the top. Arrange them in checkerboard style, in concentric rings of color, or in a random pattern.

The second method is a little more involved. You still cut two squares for each puff, but with this method you make one about 1.5 inches larger than the other. Place them with their right sides together, with the larger square on top. Gather the edges of the larger square and pin them in place over the smaller square so that the two can be sewn together. You will need to take pleats in each side in order to take up the extra 1.5 inches. Two pleats are probably enough, and you should make them near the middle of the square. This method gives you a little more volume to puff up when it is completed. Sew around the edges and leave an opening for turning it right side out. It might help to sew up one pleat on the open side, because sewing two shut by hand can be a bit tricky. Stuff your biscuit and form any remaining fabric into the second pleat. Sew shut by hand. You will have a thicker puff with a flat bottom. Join the puffs to each other with whip stitching.

For a more finished look, try adding a backing layer to the puff quilt. If you do this you will need to add a binding and either quilt along the lines between the puffs, or tie off each corner to hold the backing on. It is not necessary to add another layer of batting under the puffs.

8:44 PM | Labels: Quilting

…creating with style, stitching with ease.

Besides the visual and tactile appeal of this age-old craft, the real beauty of quilting for home-sewer lies in its simplicity. You need minimal special equipment (most importantly an appetite for fabric and creativity!) to produce fabulous, time-honored results.

Getting Started

A quilt is a “fabric sandwich” comprised of two layers of fabric (top and backing) filled with batting and held together with stitches (the quilting). The quilt top usually is pieced or appliquéd; the backing is typically a solid fabric; the batting can be lofty or dense; and the quilting stitches are produced by hand or machine. The basics presented here will give you a foundation and confidence to try your hand at this treasured craft. For inspiration and more detailed technical direction, look to the many quilting books and magazines on the market today, hands-on classes, quilting friends and your local quilter’s guild. Most of the materials you’ll need to get started are already in the sewing room (needles, pins, thread, scissors, marking tools, beeswax, measuring tools, thimble, fabric scraps and batting).

Paintings In Fabric, Collages of Color

Today’s quilting fabrics are many and varied: cotton, cotton/polyester, silk, velvet, satin, linen, denim, corduroy. 100% Cotton is often favored by quilters because of it’s special qualities. It’s strong when wet, creases easily, absorbs moisture, wears well and is available in a wide range of colors and prints. The most popular cottons: broadcloth, calico, poplin, chintz and polished cotton.

• Check fabrics for colorfastness: For washable fabrics, soak each fabric individually in very warm water for 15 minutes; swish and remove. If water discolors, repeat, adding cup of vinegar. Still not colorfast? It’s best to choose another fabric, rather than jeopardize color-bleed on your finished quilt.
• Preshrink fabrics, using the same method you’ll use to clean the finished quilt. Fabrics often shrink; if not dealt with at this stage, the finished quilt will have puckered seams after cleaning.
• Damp-dry and press each fabric.
• Look for fabrics designed specifically for quilt backing in widths up to 108”.
• Choose batting based on the loft (thickness), which determines the warmth or springiness of quilt.
• Chose fabric colors and designs that you love and want to live with:
• Purchase ¼ yard cuts of each fabric and make a few test blocks.
• Mix fabrics: large- and small-scale prints; solids and print; lights, mediums and darks of the same color.
• Incorporate accent colors for unexpected spark.
• Trust yourself and have fun. You know the colors and prints that put a smile on your face.

Calculating Yardage Requirements

Although seemingly tricky, you’ll learn with experience to turn the process of fabric estimation into the art of fabric guess-timation. As a beginner, always overestimate.

• First determine the finished size of your quilt (there are no standards). This is the approximate size you’ll need for the quilt backing and batting.

• Yardage required for the quilt top depends on the design. To estimate yardage: Examine the pattern; measure the pieces in one block, adding 1⁄4” to each and noting the quantity of each color; then multiply this number by the number of blocks in the quilt.

• Measure sashing strips and ¼ inch to each side of each. Multiply by the number of strips.

Quick Cuts

^{TIP Take time when cutting to ensure extreme accuracy for piecing}

• Quilting pieces can be cut quickly and most accurately using a rotary cutter, cutting mat and clear plastic ruler.

• Fold the fabric in half crosswise, selvages matching. Hold the selvage edge, letting the fold hang free; shift one side of the fabric until the fold hangs straight. This foldline is the straight of grain.

• Place the fold along a gridline on the cutting mat. Trim across the fabric, taking care not to move the fabric. After every few cuts, check to be sure the cut edge is still at a 90-degree angle to the straight-grain fold.

• Cut off selvages and discard. They don’t shrink uniformly, which can wreak havoc in the finished quilt. Cut all pieces for blocks, sashing and binding on the crosswise grain unless otherwise specified.

• Cut sashing and binding strips after completing the quilt top to ensure accurate measurements.

• Cut squares and rectangles from strips (multiple layers if desired). Cut triangles from squares by cutting diagonally.

Piece Makers

Most quilt tops are pieced from small fabric shapes. Beginners should choose a simple geometric, such as a rectangle or square. Cut from different fabric colors or prints, the same shape is pieced to create a block (pieced fabric square.) Several blocks will be sewn together for the quilt top. Other shape options include triangles, diamonds and curved shapes, all of which are more difficult to construct. The number of possible combinations for making blocks is unlimited!

Use 1⁄4” seam allowances and stitch accurately so all pieces fit together exactly. Press as you piece, pressing seam allowances to one side toward the darker fabric. On bias edges, finger-press, as pressing with an iron can distort the grain.

Chain-piece by stitching multiple units together without backstitching or stopping between each. Use a 15-stitches-per-inch stitch length, shortening it at the beginning and end of each unit in lieu of backstitching.

Artful Appliqué

More intricate curved shapes are usually machine- or hand-appliquéd onto flat fabric or onto pieced squares. Use tear-away stabilizer under the backing fabric to prevent puckering.

Blind stitch, blanket stitch or satin stitch to secure them. Press appliquéd areas from the wrong side only. For machine appliqué, decrease the needle thread tension and use bobbin thread that matches the quilt top.

Putting It Together

After completing the quilt top, you’re ready for layering, basting and quilting.

• Cut the batting and quilt backing so they extend 2” to 4” beyond the quilt top on all sides. If the backing must be pieced, press seams open. Allow polyester batting to lie flat and relax for several hours before cutting.

• Press the quilt top and backing separately, and mark quilting lines on the quilt top right side before layering. Pin-mark the center of each edge of the top, bat and back.

• Wrong side up, tape the backing to a large flat surface (floor or table), making sure it’s smooth and taut, not stretched.

• Place the batting on the backing, then the quilt top (right side up on the batting, matching pin-marks. Smooth, but don’t stretch, pinning in place.

• Beginning at the center and working toward the edges, baste a starburst to secure the layers together.

• Pin-baste one quarter of the quilt at a time, using 1” rustproof safety pins. Pin every 2” to 3” in parallel rows spaced 4” to 6” apart (illustration 2). Or thread-baste, using white cotton thread (avoid darks, which can leave a colored residue on the fabric), a large milliner’s needle and a long running stitch. (illustration 3).

• Do not baste on drawn quilting lines or on piecing seams.

• Untape the backing, then fold the raw edges over the batting and pin to the quilt top. This prevents raw edges from raveling and batting from catching on things during quilting.

Time to Quilt

TIP: Refine your quilting stitch, machine- or hand-produced, as exquisite quilting can elevate even the most modest quilt from mediocre to magnificent.

Quilting holds the “fabric sandwich” layers together, while adding dimension and surface interest to the quilt.

Plan the quilting sequence before beginning. Generally, begin anchoring the quilt horizontally and vertically, then anchor any borders. This stabilizes the layers. Next stitch along any sashing strips or between blocks, starting at the center and then working out. Finally, Quilt within the blocks and borders.

For machine quilting:

• If possible, use an even-feed presser foot to avoid puckering.

• Use a size 11/80 or 14/90 needle.

• Use 100% cotton thread or fine monofilament nylon thread, opting for the same color throughout.

• Use a stitch length of 15 stitches per inch.

• Stitch continuously with as few starts and stops as possible.

• Continually check for tucks in the backing by feeling through the layers in front of the needle. Ease in excess fabric before it reaches the needle.

• Roll one or both sides of the quilt into a cylinder that will fit on the machine bed and sewing surface; secure with pins. Unroll as you quilt different sections.

Beginners should opt for machine-guided quilting (machine dogs active) until they are more comfortable and experienced handling and manipulating so many layers. Free-motion quilting (feed dogs covered or dropped) requires the quilter to advance the fabric in a steady rhythm, following the quilting design lines, and is used to quilt designs with sharp turns and intricate curves.

Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting is the easiest and most common method, giving definition to blocks, boarders, and sashing Outline quilting, stitching ¼” from the seam lines to emphasize designs, and channel quilting, stitching in evenly spaced horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines.

For hand quilting

• Use a size 7 or 8 betweens needle.

• Use approximately 24” of thread (100 percent cotton is best). Longer lengths will cause tangling frustrations.

• Use small, uniform running stitches that go through all thicknesses. Take two to six stitches, if possible before pulling the thread through.

• Keep an even tension, pulling slightly taut for proper dimension

• Do not backstitch. Instead, bury a knot at the beginning and end of each thread length.

Finishing Touches

Finish quilt edges with a mock binding (fold the backing fabric over the quilt top raw edges and edge stitch in place) or double binding (use a separate strip of straight-grain binding fabric cut wide enough to make two layers for a durable edge).

8:43 PM | Labels: Quilting

8:43 PM | Labels: Quilting

8:42 PM | Labels: Quilting