Curious About Quilting? Plus, My Very Personal Challenge

No doubt all seven of my attentive blog readers have been waiting with bated breath for this month's edition (I haven't turned on SEO yet, of course!) Freddie and Leona have been cracking the whip on me today, since it's my first day back from my vacation, and they want to make sure I know that I can't loaf around anymore.

Yep, I went to see some of my family in the foggy and cooler lands to the north, got my fill of windmills and wine country whizzing past out the car window. It's incredible, just a few decades ago it was all wheat. Anyway, it was an absolute delight to me when Niece the Younger (you'll recall her from the 'Story' page), now 10, saw me piecing a quilt top and demanded, “Hey! I want to do that!”

(Yes, baby, you can do aaaaanything you want! Auntie said so!)

The quilt top in question contained at least two fabrics from the baby quilt I made for Niece the Younger, and she recognized them! She says she still has it, so apparently it's held up, and she asked me a few questions about it. And now, gentle reader, I get to explain to you my dilemma. How do you teach quilting to a 10 year old who lives thousands of miles away? I swore when I started this whole project that I was not going to write a Quilting 101 book. That's been done. So many times. By people smarter than me.

Obviously she gets a kit, a Super Simple Irish Chain, with instructions. In her favorite colors. And auntie sends her tools and some of them, like the needlebook, pincushion, and threadbucket are handmade, of course! But the fundamental techniques? Mmmph. I guess there's YouTube and video conferencing. Does anyone have a recommendation for a quilting book for kids? I've seen a few on the internet but I don't really want to order a book I can't look at first.

Well, anyway, enough about me. What about you? Maybe you're in the same spot as Niece the Younger. You’ve never quilted before but you’re curious about trying it. Great! Quilting is amazing for lots of reasons (obviously I’d say that). However enticing it is, quilting can also be intimidating for lots of reasons. For your first project, go with a minimalist approach, particularly if you don’t have a lot of previous sewing experience. There are several different aspects to keep in mind to help raise the odds that you have a positive outcome when making your first quilt.

1) Equipment. Choose something that doesn’t require fancy equipment. There’s a special tool for EVERYTHING when it comes to quilting. You don’t need those right now. Start small. Remember that quilting was originally done by people without fancy stuff, and you can do it that way too. If you don’t have a sewing machine, that’s fine! Consider making your first quilt entirely by hand. It is a completely viable and economic choice – and, in my opinion, the more pleasurable one. Of course, that's entirely subjective. As far as tools are concerned, you’ll need needles, a pincushion, thread, small and larger scissors, a seam ripper, and pins and/or clips at bare minimum. Strictly speaking, everything else is optional. Some of what you use depends on whether you’re going to go the hand route or the machine route. Things you probably shouldn't buy for your first project: an elaborate ruler with weird holes and edges, a swiveling cutting mat, a $300 iron that can also be used to make toast.

Additional equipment you really ought to have if you’re hand quilting: A thimble and a ruler. If you try hand quilting without a thimble, you’ll be sorry, because your fingertips will turn into hamburger. Thimbles come in a lot of different flavors and they’re cheap, so find one that works for you. A clear acrylic ruler to mark your seam allowances is a fantastic tool, although some quilting authorities insist you should be able to eyeball your seams. I'll be honest, this has never worked for me. I mark all my seams if I’m piecing by hand – of course, if you piece on a machine, you won’t need to do this. A hoop or frame is optional, not mandatory – plenty of people achieve nice results with hoopless techniques. In my opinion, a poor quality hoop is more trouble than it’s worth. If you see a hoop that is flimsy and splintery, do not attempt to use it. I feel like the hoop/frame is nearly indelibly stuck in people's imaginations as part of quilting, so let's take a quick little tour to try to remedy that. Here are a few videos of hoopless techniques:

• Julie Thornton, evidently a stab stitcher and pin baster, has a very no fuss approach and I just love her absolute RIOT of bright, saturated colors.

• Brenda of Mt. Scrapmore demonstrating a technique much like what I do when big stitch quilting. Do keep in mind though, if you don't use a hoop, the quilt must be very well basted because the layers shift around like nobody's business. And as to that... Allow me to enumerate the reasons I personally don't like pin basting. Firstly, pins are another pointy thing that can spring away from you and wind up buried in the carpet, hidden and lurking, waiting to hurl themselves into unsuspecting feet. Secondly, after the 3827th pin, your fingers really hurt. Thirdly, your needle and thread get caught on all those pins. Fourthly, all those metallic bits interrupt the soothing sensory experience of working with textiles. I'm guessing if you're a hand quilter, chances are you enjoy that, right? Aaaah. So nice.

• I'll save my opinions against spray basting for another time, because this post is already long enough. With that, allow me to share this lovely link on thread basting, from Sharon Schamber – because if you're hand quilting without a hoop, basting in a star shaped formation and around the perimeter is NOT ENOUGH! Fortunately, Sharon's got your back. I like this technique, I learned it from this video, and I use it myself. Thanks, Sharon!

2) Pattern. Returning to choosing a first project, pick a simple pattern. You want your first project to get you familiar with the fundamentals of quilting. Later you’ll build on your initial success. If you decide you enjoy the process, you can work up to more elaborate projects – and no doubt you’ll eventually specialize in certain techniques and styles! If you choose something too complex the first time, you may find your project onerous instead of enjoyable, or you may become discouraged and abandon it all together. Don’t let that happen! The easiest patterns to piece contain only squares and/or rectangles.

3) Size. Consider a baby quilt, lap quilt, potholder, or other small project. A full sized quilt is an ambitious undertaking, and they can be quite a handful, literally and figuratively, especially if you haven’t mastered any of the basic skills yet. A smaller project is going to be much easier to accomplish.

4) Quilting Method. If you’re not going to use your machine to quilt your project, nor have it quilted by a pro, consider tying your quilt or doing big stitch quilting instead of traditional quilting. This will make the quilting process faster. For those who are unfamiliar with these terms, “quilting”, technically, refers both to the whole process of making a quilt and, more specifically, to the action of running thread through the three layers of a quilt to hold them together (the three layers being backing, batting, and top). “Tying” a quilt means that instead of running lines of stitches all over the quilt, you simply run the needle and thread/yarn/ribbon/embroidery floss from the top, through the batting, to the bottom, and then up to the top again, picking up a few threads on the back, and tie off the thread, leaving an inch or so of thread on either side of the knot. When tying quilts, I use a surgeon’s knot, which is easy to learn. “Big stitch quilting” is, as you might imagine, similar to traditional quilting, only … BIGGER! Typically you use perle cotton thread and a running stitch. These stitches wind up being about ¼ of an inch and are easier to see than in traditional quilting. The result is a pleasant, casual, and distinctly handmade feel.

In traditional quilting, stitches are judged by their evenness and size – the more even and smaller, the better. However, traditional quilting evolved before the industrial revolution, which brought us first the option and now, seemingly, the default of uniformity in everything. Because of this, bigger stitches with some deviance only serve to emphasize that something is homemade – and to be frank, most people love that. As long as you properly bury your thread ends, and the quilt holds together, you do not need to worry that your quilt doesn’t look like the quilts that were made in 1800. Quilting is for everyone, and that means you! Also, if you choose to continue quilting, your stitches will get smaller and more even with time and practice, and you can move on to a more traditional style later if you choose. I use both styles, myself, based on how much time I have and what kind of aesthetic I’m after.

5) Contact the Mother Ship. Stuck? Happens all the time. Ask for help. There are quilters everywhere and they tend to be super friendly and helpful. They’re all over the internet, in your nearest city or town, and heck, if you went to the supermarket on a fairly busy day and stood in the produce section and loudly said, ‘Hey, is anyone here a quilter?’ I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you got an affirmative!

WE’RE EVERYWHERE.

Seriously, look for a guild, wherever you are. Unless you’re extremely rural, there’s probably one close by. Google it, use Quilt Folk’s guild locator, ask the people at a local quilt shop. You’ll be there anyway, right? That’s another place to get some help. The people at the quilt shop. They can often point you in the right direction.

Good luck! Start small, start simple, and keep a handle on the equipment you think you need. Using a minimalist approach will set you up for success in your first project.