Quilt Making – It’s Not That Complicated!

carolynbHow complex or simple it is to learn something new simply depends on the way it is taught! Quilt making can be broken down into simple steps.

First, decide on the size of quilt you wish to make. Is it for a king size or queen size bed or one for the kids?

Once decided, pick the quilt material that you plan to use and pre-wash it. Simple hand wash or machine wash and drying will do. Iron the material.

If you have chosen a particular pattern for your quilt, cut blocks accordingly – square, round, triangle etc. Also cut and sew the border strips for them. Now even if your block moved a little the thicker borders allow for stitching.

Now lay out the blocks as per your pattern and begin sewing one to another until all the blocks are sewn.

It is time to now lay down the batting and backing! Allow it to be one inch extra than the quilt top cloth. You can choose between a low and a high loft batting, depending on whether you want slick and smart quit or a warm a fuzzy quilt! Also thickness is determined by whether it will be a hand or machine quilt. For machine quilt a thin (low) loft is preferred and for a hand quilt a thick (high) loft is used. Also keep the backing and the batting piece 1 inch bigger than the quilt top.

Once you choose your batting, layer the quilt top, batting and backing in that order. With a needle and thread make a stitch every 5 or 6 inches to keep all layers in place and not allow for any shifting. Alternately, if you do not want to stitch, you can pin the layers together. You can also use a wooden frame to lay all the layers clamp them together, so they do not shift.

Now you’re ready to either hand stitch or machine stitch and tie the layers together. Once done, take it off the frame.

Finally, iron the quilt all along the edges, choose a cloth for binding and bind it along all four edges to give it a beautiful border and to keep all the layers secure. Sew it either by hand or machine stitch as per your preference.

Read More:Free Motion Quilting (FMQ): Tips for Getting Started | Quilting Tutorial

The Art Of Machine Quilting

m_quiltingQuilting is a great hobby and it acts as a mean to unleash your creative side. You feel so happy after each quilt. The new machine quilting technique helps in quilting more designs with less mess. Here are some tips for a mess free and happy quilting experience.

Choose a good backing fabric that can cover the top of the quilt. Before
choosing the backing fabric, think about the color of the fabric you are using for quilting. Choose same color of thread on the quilting machine so that the pattern looks neat. Once you have chosen the backing fabric, press it to your quilting top. In case you are using cotton or wool, it might need some effort of pressing as well.

Take time to prepare your quilt. Decide how you want to make your quilts. Plan how each layer should blend. If you are using machine quilting, you can use pins for securing your quilling. There will be a requirement for lots of pins so keep them ready. Most machines do not require the quilling to be marked on top. You can easily do it using a quilting design guide.

After you have your quilting plan, think about which thread you must use. There are specific threads available in the market for machine quilling. Choose colors that can blend easily with the fabric you have chosen for you quilling project.

Adjust the stitching length so that it is slightly bigger and use the walking foot for making your quilt stitching. This attachment helps in feeding the layers into the machine easily into your sewing machine. If the quilt is large, roll them up on the edges and then secure it with clips. After you get comfortable with machine quilting, you can try hand quilting to see how it comes out.

We hope these tips help you master the art of machine quilting.

Smart Tips To Improve Your Quilting

daydream-colored-by-wendyImproving the quilting technique is a part of the life of quilters. There are so many classes and workshops both online and direct that can help you equip your skills in quilting. The basic requirements for quilting are very simple. Threads, scissors and a thimble is what you will need to do quilting. Quilters lover sharing and most of the tips gets passed on to others. Here are some tips that can help you with quilting.

Most of the times, fabric manufacturers use codes for indicating pattern match. These codes have all the colors that are used in the fabric. By checking these codes, you can easily match fabrics. You can take the codes that are present at the selvage end of the fabric for matching.

It can be very difficult to manage three or four hundred inches if bias binding. You can use an empty paper towel tube to get this fixed. Secure one end of the piece with a masking tape and roll the other ones over. This should help you to keep them untangled.
Do not throw-off any left-over bias strips. They will come in handy when you do a small project. Any pieces that are 12-inches or longer can be used for making small patterns such as stems on flowers etc.