Handicrafts – Quilting

I have one publisher that I go to consistently when I want to learn something new:  Kids Can Press.  I have several of their books including: Kids Can Do It – Quilting.  It is a very SIMPLE book that aquaints you with simle projects that employ different quilting techinqes then culminates with putting together a small lap quilt.  Perhaps you can check it out from your local library to to determine if it is something that would interest you.

Linda, I asked my mother what she would recommend. She’s been quilting for years and taught my two oldest daughters. Here are her suggestions:

start with a book by Alex Anderson. I think she has two that would work. One is something about teaching children to quilt. [A friend of Mom’s] uses it quite a bit for the kids she teaches in their home school groups. I just checked and she also has one that deals with six easy projects for beginners. There are also DVDs from Fons and Porter that she might look into. Their instructions are always pretty straight forward.

Best case, of course, would be for her to make a trip over her for about a month and the girls and I would put her through the paces. :-> Is that an option?

Mom loves company.

Another idea I thought of is possibly hooking up with a local quilt shop, if one is nearby. Some of them have a Block of the Month club that helps you get your feet wet at a very reasonable cost. When I did one a few years back, you went to the shop on the appointed day and paid $5 for a kit that contained the fabric and instructions for making one block of the quilt. Then the next month you brought back your completed block and they would give you the next kit for the next block free. As long as you completed the blocks on time, there was no other fee. And sometimes they would have demonstrations to give you tips when you picked up the kits. Just an idea that you might check into.

I’m a sewer/quilter/smocker/knitter, etc. (though most of what I do these days is patch boys pants). Some of my favorite instructional books are those by Country Bumpkin Publications (also can be found under Inspirations Books). They are all titles A-Z of ……. They have an A-Z of Quilting however I was pretty well versed in quilting when I found out about it so I don’t own it. I have all the smocking, embroidery and knitting ones. What I love about these books are all the real color pictures to go along with the instructions – not drawings. They are very detailed in their instruction and it is a great reference book to keep on hand after you have learned the techniques the first time. They are top of my list on sewing books of any kind. You can buy them at sewing shops and other online retailers. I bought mine straight from the Country Bumpkin website – they will run specials (especially around holidays) on their books and even with shipping from Australia, they were cheaper from them at the time I bought mine. The quilting book I started with that was very helpful (I found mine used and cheap online) is Patchwork Quilts Made Easy by Jean Wells – they have a 1930’s log cabin baby quilt in there that I have made for all three of my boys. It has very clear and easy to understand instruction. I machine piece mine but hand quilt them. 

Lesley

Linda,

Some people refer to hand quilting as being that everything in the quilting process is done by hand. I am not quite a purist in that respect. I prefer to use the sewing machine to piece together all the cut out pieces and have the quilt top done quicker that way (maybe I’m impatient?) – then I do all the actual quilting stitches by hand. I also learned a way that as you sew the next step in your block on the machine (this is really hard to explain in writing) you don’t stop between blocks and when you are done sewing them (on the machine) you have a string of all your blocks together. It is sort of assembly line style and for whatever strange reason it is very satisfying for me to put them together that way. This really helped speed things up when I was making my baby quilt for my second child and learned that I had to go ahead and make the third years before I’d planned 🙂 One thing that I am sure most books and classes will tell you but that I learned as I was learning was that the pressing after you add each piece is VERY important – also the direction you press your seams really matters. Anyways, I hope you and the girls have fun. I am afraid I am the only one at my house that will enjoy this skill 🙂

Lesley