UK Quilters
“A lightweight, soft, sew-in wadding made from bleached cotton with scrim, allowing an excellent combination of a soft hand feel and a lightweight construction while still providing significant stability and support. Especially developed for quilts and light coloured fabrics but is also very well suitable for lightweight but warm jackets and coats.” Sounds too…
When it comes to wadding we all have a favourite and everyone has an opinion as to why theirs is the best, for some it’s the price, for others the brand or company that makes it, some go solely on the fibre mix – so many things to think about and consider. For me personally…
Composition: 50% soyabean/50% cotton The Vlieseline web site quotes “ Softer and smoother than traditional waddings/battings. For quilts, wall hangings and clothing etc.” https://www.vlieseline.com/Products/Battings/278-Soya-Mix So what did I think? The wadding is unbleached and quite patchy colour wise however it is very soft and a nice smooth regular thickness. It does drape nicely. The website…
Wholecloth quilts have no patchwork – they just rely on the beauty of their elaborate quilting patterns. There are several included in the current exhibition of North Country Quilts at the Bowes Museum in County Durham, which I would thoroughly recommend if you can arrange to go in the remaining months of 2021. The quilt…
I have very few of these as hand-quilting is something I just don’t do. My hands just don’t seem capable of holding and manipulating a needle. Its probably because I don’t ever do it – except for hemming down bindings – if I can possibly help it. It also probably stems back to schooldays when…
This is the story of a present for a special birthday. Last year a dear friend was about to celebrate her 90th Birthday. Now this isn’t something that happens every day and I was in a complete panic about a suitable gift. She didn’t need anything for the house, she would be well catered for…
I don’t hand sew if I can help it. I’ve never been very dextrous and in recent years arthritis has not been helping. However – I have quite a few books on hand quilting. This is partly because when I first started doing patchwork I thought it all had to be done by hand. I…
This carries on from my first blog and answers the questions : Are you part of a sewing group – what do you get out of it? So, I had got as far as discovering Project Linus at the Craft Fayre. This is a volunteer organisation who make quilts for sick children in hospital and…
Finally, having done all the preparation for hand quilting: chosen suitable fabric, wadding & thread selected a pleasing design transferred it onto the fabric using a suitable marker layered with wadding & backing put into a hoop found a betweens needle, and a good thimble that fits we reach the actual quilting! Cut a length…
It really pays to select the right thread for hand sewing so your project runs smoothly without the thread splitting, tangling or snapping. Gütermann creativ provides the perfect choice with this premium quality 100% mercerized cotton hand sewing thread that is both tear and abrasion resistant, washable to 95 degrees and does not twist or…
Needles The type of needle you use for hand quilting depends on which stitching technique you use. I stitch in the traditional way using the “rocking stitch”. More details about how to do this will be in the last post of this series, but you can see a short video of me stitching using this…
What equipment do you need to start hand quilting? Well, there are lots of different views on this, so I will share what works for me. Hoops 14″ quilting hoop, bound with tape I prefer to use a hoop to hold the part of my quilt that I am working on. The best hoop to…
