Good read Sharon and it was a pleasure making one for you x

A lovely piece Sharon .
You definately had a hard time while doing this quilt. I know that you would have liked to have done more to your quilt swap but life often gets in the way of the things we love doing.
You have given me loads of help ,advice and encouragement over the last 2 years which i really appreciate.
People should know just how talented you are. You have such a creative mind and always ready to guide (as you put it) anyone or anything. You only need 3 details and within seconds you have an idea to share. You give your time to everyone and i really dont know how you manage to do ,all that you do do.
On top of all that you are a fantastic friend to have… much love sent your way .
Xxxxxxx

I’ll pay you later Karen!!! What are friends for but to share.

I was going to give the autumn swap a miss but I think I’m hooked. As a swap virgin this time I’ve learnt a lot about how to stalk and be stalked and also discovered new techniques and fabrics that I’ve come to love. Bring it on ❤️❤️❤️

How true…make it at the same time or it never gets made. My liberty butterfly is still not made but it’s on my to do list
Obviously I’m not going to make a Trek quilt but so glad you love yours

Beautiful quilts. I prefer the darker version as well but would happily live with either. I missed the swap this year due to bring overcommitted but have loved all the ones I have recieved. I too wish I’d made 2 of the ones I’ve sent out as I’ve never got around to making one for myself !

I love your quilts but prefer the darker one with the more defined outline. I wish I’d made myself the first mini I did . It was a butterfly by lillyella stitchery , you have inspired me to make it for myself

Lovely blog Juliet. I’ve done all four swaps, and made a few Angel minis, but each one has its own special memories. Each mini is a unique gift. We all appreciate the time and thoughtful that has gone into making what we receive.

Haha, Christine, you sound like me! I have so many crafts I have dabbled in/with too. Currently making Luna Lapins, soooo fiddly. Thankds for thre interesting Blog.

Love this – going to get my bits out and have a go!

Lovely work, both the dogs and the roses look so lifelife. Thank you for showing them.

Love Andreas’s work and this is a great interpretation

Letting the “cat” out of the bag I even read and commented on this and didn’t get that the mini swap was for me! Can’t wait to read next months blog…and for you to show people just how stunning your work is…thanks again for my mini xx

The FoQ is the best show of the year.

The FoQ is the best show of the year. I go each year with my shopping list.

Has anyone tried this ?

The stencils look quite nice and useful. However, your point about the thread was interesting. From the photo, which is a little blurry, it looks like the thread supplied is by a Japanese company called Yokota – it will be written on the back of the label as 横田 and you will also see a USA cotton mark on it. They make a fine thread and a medium one – the fine one has a burgundy and gold label and the medium one has the blue and gold label, which is the one in the kit. This thread is NOT supposed to be split and should actually be used doubled for traditional sashiko (i.e. one thread but you bring the ends together and each stitch has both strands in it).

To use medium sashiko thread, you really need fabric with a much lower thread count than the cotton supplied, which looks like a patchwork cotton. If the weave is too tight/high thread count, it will be very difficult to get the thread through the fabric. If they had supplied fine sashiko thread, you would have been able to get it through the finer fabric without any problems or needing to split it. They haven’t matched the thread to the fabric properly.

The needles in the kit are not sashiko needles. There is a difference between embroidery crewels and sashiko needles – the crewels can bend quite easily and sashiko needles are hard tempered so they don’t bend and super sharp. The stitching action for sashiko (which you can see demonstrated in the video link on my homepage http://www.susanbriscoe.com, which shows the two x one hour sashiko lessons I did on Sewing Quarter last year) involves pleating the fabric onto the tip of the needle and then easing out the gathered fabric, which helps regulate the stitch length and keeps the twinned strand of thread under control.

The marker is fine for sashiko but really you only need a white or yellow marker for the dark fabric, so they are including a lot more colours than you actually need in the kit – selling you more than you really need.

My verdict – nice stencils, kit seems to need better instructions, £39.99 is a lot for what you are getting. You can buy a 40m skein of medium sashiko thread for £2.50 or less, a packet of Olympus or Clover sashiko needles for around £2 and £5 respectively, and half a metre of fabric for sashiko from £6 – £8. So even on the high side, that’s around £15 for materials. A Clover White Marking Pen costs around £8 (this is the roller ball one that irons off or washes out) and other markers are a similar price. That adds up to the stencil and instructions being worth around £17, which seems high.

Great review. Thank you.

Thank you for bringing these wholecloth quilts to life.I hadn’t realised the traditions behind them, but they always take my breath away. I mainly hand stitch and quilt, so perhaps I need to put one of these on the ‘to do’ list. Thanks again

Never seen on ‘in the flesh’, but they are amazing.

I enjoyed this article so much and hope to make a wholecloth quilt myself some day. Thanks/

I started a wholecloth quilt quite a few years ago, this is a ‘work in progress’. I just love reading anything connected with wholecloths and their history

Loved reading this blog giving the history to these fabulous quilts. Very informative, thank you Carolyn.

Was able to see whole cloth quilts at the NEC, they were a wonder and something I’d like to do in the future