Quilting show

[celticdragonfly]

Ow. My legs and feet are sore. And I'm *tired*. It's been a while since I spent oh, 2 1/2 to 3 hours walking and standing nonstop. Yes, I'm in bad shape, I know this.

selenite and I took the kids and went to see a quilt show here in Fort Worth.

It was very interesting, and I saw a lot of beautiful and fascinating quilts. Maggie got to take part in the kids' Treasure Chest search - she got a list of elements to find in quilts, and had to write down the number of a quilt that had each item. Well, we did, anyway, she's not up to the writing part, and we mostly had to point out the elements for her. But still she enjoyed that, and got to pick a prize - she got herself a little rainbow plastic zipper purse. We didn't win any door prizes, and I didn't bid on any of the small silent auction quilts, although there were some very nice ones.

However, I was really hoping that the whole thing would be more inspiring and less of a downer for me. Honestly, the displays were inspiring, the merchant section was the downer. I want to get into quilting. I've wanted to for years. Various members of my family have done quilting. (In fact, somewhere there's a half-finished cat quilt bkseiver was going to do for me to take to college...I still want it, Mom!)

Every time I've tried to learn more, I've gotten mostly more discouraged. (Well, not every time. msminlr was encouraging. And I need to get over the rest of the intimidation and just go with what she said, I swear.) Most people keep talking about doing fancy modern stuff with paper piecing and how important it is to get the seams exactly right, and you know, you get it just a little wrong the whole thing will pucker - and sheesh, people, do not start me off with Mt. Everest! Give me a hill! The perfect becomes not only the enemy of the good, but the enemy of the possible. I keep saying to myself "darn it, they used to do this in covered wagons with fabric, needle, thread, scissors. Maybe a ruler if they were lucky." And then I go off and give up for months to years again, because it sounds too important to get it perfect and I don't think I can.

And everything is SO machine-oriented. I don't have a working sewing machine right now. And I'm terribly intimidated by them. Hand me a complex lace and cables knitting pattern, no problem. Weaving with sewing thread, no problem. Sewing machines, those make me tense and unhappy. Threading kattelyn's relatively simple machine totally defeated me recently. bkseiver is bringing her old machine to me in November - which is NOT relatively simple - and I'm terribly afraid the training session is going to go by at what feels like 90mph, and then she'll say "see, it's easy!", which it probably would be to anybody but me, and then after she leaves I'll stare at the terrifying machine in horror, try to use it, and be unable to thread it or adjust the tension.

I was looking at some kits there - but it was all very machine-oriented. And the plans horrified me. Lay stacks of fabric together, use this paper stuff, sew on the dotted lines, then cut here, and unfold, and hey, it's two triangles into a square! (diamonds into something else, really) And you just throw away the rest of that fabric? Throw it away? Doesn't that go against the whole POINT? And I was being advised against using existing material from clothes, which I want to do - okay, admittedly by merchants who SELL fabric, so that's easy to take with a grain of salt. And hearing the bedturning (A bedturning is where they have a lot of quilts lying on a bed, ones that are too fragile to hang, or aren't necessarily great examples per se but have a cool story, and they have someone stand there and tell us all about them as a couple of volunteers in white gloves lift up each quilt in turn to show it off, then fold it over the foot of the bed. So now I know.) with the lady talking about "utility quilts" made from recycled fabrics for household usage as if it was something bad... well, overall I came to the realization that my problem is I was born 100 years too late.

I want to use traditional old-fashioned piecework patterns, make "utillity quilts" that will get used on beds, not artistic wall-hangings. I want to use calicos that I like, especially the now-defunct calico outfits I had bkseiver make for me years back. (And I still want more of those someday...) I'm interested in hand-piecing, and it's not because I'm a "purist" really - it's partially that I have so much trouble with sewing machines, partially because hand-piecing I can do on my lap while in the room with kids, travelling, at cons, etc, and partially because the whole wasting fabric quick methods make me twitch. I'd like to learn hand-quilting too, because sending it off to stores with huge quilting machines seems so impersonal, and I'd rather do it myself - but I'm afraid of doing bad sloppy stitches and getting negative reactions from people who matter to me.

I need to draw up my courage, get a new rotary cutter (and pray I can use it properly), get those old calico garments onto the crafts table and cutting mat, and cut a bejeesus load of little squares, and start trying to hand-piece nine-patch blocks. And just pile them up, and eventually figure out what I can do with them - maybe pick another nice fabric and make a double-ninepatch top. And just try it. And if there's not enough to make a bed quilt, well, I don't know. I can always make a crib one. And no, probably it won't come out even, and some of the ninepatches totally won't match others, and okay, fine, it would at least be doing something.

Lynette's coming over tonight, and she used to do quilting, so I'll pick her brain. But I'm also tossing out a couple of questions to quilters on my flist - msminlr and bkseiver, I particularly mean you, although I expect there's others.

1. How big should the squares that go into a nine-patch block be?
2. Do you use "quilting thread" for piecing? If not, what?
3. I know you use "betweens" for quilting (although HOW? they're so short), what type of needle do you use for hand piecing?
4. Any hints for ways to figure out if you have a 1/4" seam allowance on hand-piecing?

I probably won't start this any time soon. FenCon is next weekend, and I'm totally not prepared for it. The house is a mess and laundry is behind. (I am SO not a domestic kind of person. I'm an artist, darn it.) Sock Wars starts next Friday too, and will suck up a lot of my time until I get wiped out of the competition. But still, I'm going to find ways to start (pardon the phrase) piecing this into my time.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I've always loved crzy quilts, and if I had the time to sit and hand-sew, I'd like to do those. But at the moment I've got way too many other things that I want to do ahead of them on the To Do List. XD

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

My grandmother had a crazy quilt that was the most gorgeous thing ever. It was all pieces of rich, mostly dark-coloured velvet, irregular sizes, sewn together and onto an old blanket (I guess it had been stained on one side or soemthing). And there was random embroidery in bright-coloured yarn on top; it didn't go through to the old blanket so I guess it was done before the velvet was stitched on but I'm not entirely sure.

My favourite blanket today is one I made in Grade 12; it's not quilted at all, but made from fingerknitted yarn that was then slip-stitched into a huge blanket. It's an inch or two thick, very heavy and warm, and I used any yarn I could get my hands on - unravelled sweaters, mixed bags from charity shops, cheapie stuff from sales, I think there's even some butcher's twine in there somewhere. It's the one in this icon.

I want to make:
-a crazy quilt like my grandmother's, with dark soft velvet.
-a cloak from lots of pieces of silk (I buy silk shirts etc. in second-hand shops), two layers thick
-a felted blanket from wool sweaters that have seen better days


Neither of these are 'real' quilting, but they'll use up bits of fabric that aren't useful to me in other ways. But my approach to making things isn't to learn how to do it and then get a pattern and then make it... I mostly pick things up, mess up a few times, and eventually end up with something I can use and a plan to do it even better next time. At worst, I waste some time and materials in learning something; and since I almost exclusively use recycled materials, this isn't so bad, as I can usually recycle them into something else.

Experiment, see what happens. Maybe you could make your squares, then crochet around the edges to join them together. That's not true quilting but it would look pretty neat and probably doesn't require any machines.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Um. See, this is where I come in as 100 years too late. True quilting matters to me. The crazy quilts and unusual quilts do not appeal to me. joyeuse13 has one hanging on her guest room wall - lovely, yes, she did great work, but not the sort of thing I have any interest in doing at all. I have a really big traditionalist streak.

(Mind you, I encourage you to go right and and do as you will yourself, whatever makes your creativity sit up and take notice!)

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Crazy quilts _are_ 100 years old, love. The Victorians adored 'em. My great-grandmother, born in 1860-something, made one that includes silk campaign ribbons from the 1876(?) presidential election.

This is not to say that you have to like them--I only like my great-grandmother's because it's a Family Thing. But you ought to be in possession of the facts.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Right. So I'm 100 years late and mentally on a homestead?

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

This is sort of how I feel about the whole scrapbooking thing, since that's the only real visually creative thing I like to do.

There's so many super-specialized papers, or papers with so much picture printed on them it seems a shame to cover it up with photographs. I don't like to cut the photos into all sorts of weird shapes. There's also the incredible amount of raised stickers (the whole Jolee's Boutique thing).

Most of my layouts are fairly simple - picture words picture words picture words. I do my titles and most lettering on the computer, but that's about it.

I also find the switch to 12x12 paper to be a challenge.

I feel you on the useful quilt thing. We have a double wedding-ring one on the bed right now.

DV

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

We have a double wedding-ring one on the bed right now.

Ooooh! Who made that for you? Those are beautiful - but I know NOT to covet anything with curved seams for some time.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

My stepfather's grandmother.

It's pretty and it stands up well to being kneaded with claws.

DV

[coalboy.livejournal.com]

I am all for you starting on ninepatches and anything else with rectangular blocks, as soon as you feel able to do handpiecing. You can adjust things more easily without the machine.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

My as-yet-unfinished quilt is entirely hand-pieced and will be hand-quilted if I ever get that far. Your rotary cutter (and, I hope, cutting mat and transparent rulers) are useful mostly because they take the hard boring part out of it, thus leaving you more time for the fun stuff. Hand-piecing is SO much fun, especially if you're used to stitching or making lace. What I do is running stitch with an ordinary chenille needle using sewing thread. Do one backstitch every inch or so. Tie a knot to begin and end your seams. The end!

Quilt shops will be happy to teach you a hand-quilting class. It's really not hard. Don't worry about how huge your stitches are--a quarter-inch is probably too big, but mine are about 1/8" and I'm happy with them.

In knitting, some people like the flashy stupid trick yarns, and some people like knitting sweaters in fingering-weight. You just had the bad luck to run into trick-yarn garter-stitch Muppet-scarf types, that's all...trust me, the traditional quilters are out there!

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Quilt shops will be happy to teach you a hand-quilting class.

Not that I can find so far. The local stores don't have any beginner classes for the most part, and what I can find is blatantly machine-oriented. And I went and looked at local quilter's guild pages - it was all very advanced-oriented, and 'look, fancy talk coming on eccentric advanced unusual machine techniques!' All I've found so far is the novelty-yarn stuff and the machine-knitter equivalents.

I'll just bloody teach myself, darn it.

"ordinary chenille needle" - yeek, only today (through some earlier websurfing) had I ever even HEARD of a chenille needle. They're not too big? I have to wonder what it's like when you reach the edge of the fabric, too...

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Hm...you may need to go to a smaller city, then. Of course, I haven't done anything quilty in 5 yrs or so...but I can't imagine that it's totally gone from the whole state!

When you get to the edge of the fabric--do you mean when you run out of seam to piece? Just tie off as though you were sewing on a button. Cut the thread. Start next piece.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah...size of chenille needles. They come in the same sizes as tapestry needles--the only difference is that chenilles are pointy. I'm most comfortable with 26s or 28s, but that's because I like stitching on 36-40ct linen.

9 patch et al

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

First of all, my/your Esante balances its own tension. You can change it for something unusual, but mostly, it's auto. Cheers! And it has its own needle threader, zippity-do-dah!

9 patch - finished size of 1" square, so 1.5" x 1.5" will do it. You could cut 1.5" strips with your rotary cutter, then cut the 1.5" the other way. Make yourself a 1" square template, and VISUALLY center it on the wrong side of one of those fabric squares you just cut. Draw around it - a mechanical pencil gives you a nice, fine line without having to constantly sharpen. Now put 2 squares face together, and stick pins through the lines/top 2 corners on both. Good - they're lined up. So sew with a small running stitch, and take several back stitches at the end of the line to lock the sewing. Don't sew past the square you drew - that's seam allowance.

Betweens are used because they are short, and it's easier to pop them up and down through the quilting. Once you get used to using them, they are great for hand sewing, too. They work for piecing. Piece with whatever thread you have on hand - a great way to use up some odd color. Don't piece with quilting thread, though. Oh, and never use hand quilting thread in a sewing machine - it has a treating that messes up a machine. They now make machine quilting thread if you want to do that, later.

Other specific questions and clarifications answered upon request. VBG.

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

Remind me to bring my Jinny Beyer book, as she's all about hand-piecing. All about it.

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

http://www.jinnybeyer.com/ax_commerce/shp_detail.cfm?productID=000802FB-5654-1269-A60300017F005857&category=00011874-4E9D-1269-A60300017F005857

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I have requested it from the Fort Worth library. Also a video by her.

[joyslin.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy to loan you some quilting books that have instructions for hand pieceing and patterns that don't require being an engineer to do.

Let me know, and I'll bring them to Fencon for you.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

How big should the squares that go into a nine-patch block be?
[[Whatever size is convenient for you to cut out of your scrap-stock. Anywhere from two to four inches plus the seam allowance.]]
Do you use "quilting thread" for piecing? If not, what?
[[No. I use ordinary sewing thread. It's cheaper, plus I've still got a LOT of what I inherited from My Mother The Packrat, so finding something that doesn't clash with the fabric being pieced is easy. It's not like it's going to show, after all.]]
I know you use "betweens" for quilting (although HOW? they're so short), what type of needle do you use for hand piecing?
[[grin] Once my fingers got used to the quilting needles, ordinary needles feel unwieldy. Again: I'm working through my mom's needle supply, so other than the quilting needles, I really don't know what size ANYTHING is. Remind me next weekend to show you what I carry around in my needle caddy.]]
Any hints for ways to figure out if you have a 1/4" seam allowance on hand-piecing?
[[Draw yourself a stitching line. When I'm piecing non-square shapes I use a template and draw around the shape, then eyeball the seam allowance as I cut things out. You really don't want much LESS than 1/4 inch, because there won't be enough solid fabric beyond the seam to resist the stress of use. But larger seam allowances are not mortal sins.

I'm making a list of a few quilting toys to bring along next weekend; we can steal a corner of a table in the bar and have a Quilting 101 workshop.]]

And furthermore....

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

Agree that you can make your nine-patch squares whatever size you choose - just allow for 1/2" seam allowance each way.

Don't you have a Double Wedding Ring, pieced by Great Grandmother Springsteen? (Delilah)

I took my first hand-piecing class from the Extension Service. Look for Quilting Guild on the net - for instance, I belong to the one in Plaquemine, and there is one in Zachary, too, as well as a national organization.

Re: And furthermore....

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

No, I do not have a Double Wedding Ring quilt. We have such a thing? Covet covet. Both because Double Wedding Ring quilt, COOL! and also pieced by G-G-mother Springsteen? Cool! There's a yellow crib quilt with girls in sunbonnets embroidered on it that I have, that I think was Grammi's church group's work?

The quilting guilds around looked very machine-and-wallhanging oriented, and very advanced.

Glad to hear you say that about the ninepatches - because Lynette had recommended 4.5", so hearing 1.5" was nervewracking.

Then I see something like the icon that zoethe has here:
http://zoethe.livejournal.com/502007.html
and start thinking about more complicated things like that - but I probably really shouldn't.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

On the perfection angle -- what you really need to see is a museum exhibit rather than a quilt show. Alas, I don't know where a good textile history museum is, but I've seen a few 1800s quilts in places like the Texas Memorial Museum, and they make me feel a whole lot better about my quilting. The points don't all match; the quilting stitches are sometimes uneven; and it doesn't matter.

A few years back, when my brother & sister-in-law were living in NYC, I visited them while the Gee's Bend Quilt exhibit was at the Whitney. Decidedly functional quilts; uneven pieces, often cut from old clothes; would make the quilting perfectionists stab their eyes out with #11 sewing machine needles; has officially been declared Art.

On the clothes -- the reason many folks recommend against using old clothes is that so many store-bought shirts are polyester blends, which aren't as good for quilting as 100% cotton. If you're using old calico outfits, I don't see any reason NOT to recycle them into quilts.

(I don't do a lot of quilting myself, because I've found I don't enjoy the process as much as I do with other crafts, so I have to REALLY want the results to go to the trouble. The ones I do make are decidedly imperfect, but they're at least as good as the ones I've seen in museums ;-).)

[filkferengi]

You should talk to mmegaera. She's an enthusiastic quilter, who makes things to be used and loved. She's got a whole closet of fabric [at least one] & works in a variety of styles & techniques. She likes to hide in the corner too, but can be quite eloquent on the right topic, such as this one.