Place Your Personal Signature On Handmade Quilts That You Design And Sew
Maybe you’ve been admiring another’s quilting skills for a while now and you’ve decided to dip your toe into the water and test the temperature but are unsure how or where to begin to learn about the tools, materials and even the methods of making your own personal creations in this popular folk art that has been passed down through generations.
Your campaign to begin creating your own colorful, expressive quilts can begin when you examine cotton broadcloth and gingham, which are popular fabrics for quilters of all experience levels. You’ll want to include all different kinds, colors, textures and weights of fabric in your first quilt, but a word to the wise is choose just one, because fabrics of heavier weights can stretch or shred the lighter ones, and different kinds of fabric wear differently, and you’ll want your quilt to stay more even in character. You’ll most likely want to start out with cotton broadcloth when you begin examining your options in fabric by the yard, because not only is cotton broadcloth on lots of fabric stores’ shelves, available in many versatile patterns, colors, textures and weaves, but because it’s also simple to work with, and that’s important for the novice.
Some quilters use flannel, mainly for baby quilts, because flannel is extra soft, wears dependably well and is also warmer than cotton broadcloth, although flannel will also add extra weight to your quilt. Another material style is batik, which is cotton dyed in the batik style and is on sale at many different fabric stores, and although it is more costly than cotton broadcloth, its deeply saturated colors, particularly blues, are extremely vibrant and will not fade even after multiple washings.
Don’t be flummoxed by the sheer expansiveness of choices you’ll have once you go shopping for fabrics and discover that they’re on sale in more colors and textures than you could have possibly imagined, but while you’re at it you might want to explore quilting fabric, which is designed with the quilter in mind. Your quilt will be like a three-layer sandwich, which includes the backing layer, which is usually a piece of muslin, in the middle is some batting or wadding that helps keep you snug and warm through long winter nights, and the top layer, which is the decorative showpiece you will produce from many pieces of colorful fabric.
With all three layers put together and sewn together you’ve got the majority of your work done, but there’s still an additional step of sewing a binding all along the edges of your quilt and that will finish the project and make your quilt more attractive and more durable, too.
