Quilting – Crafting with GoodByeCityLife

Quilting designs vary quite specifically to a country, or a society, but the traditional American patchwork designs have become loved world wide. Understand that I am not saying this as some prideful Yankee – I am Canadian, yet recognize the world’s passion for American handiwork.

Although quilting has it’s roots in Europe, the beloved American designs came as a result of necessity.

Settlers to the USA were without raw goods that did not require great time and skill. The age of ‘make do’ was born and women’s first taste of multi-tasking and multi-purpose were necessities.

In colder areas, quilting circles were more than just an opportunity for women to visit, to share lessons learned and to work together to make the soft furnishings that ‘made a house a home’.

The quilting social network was invaluable for all women in the community – young and old. Older women would pass on their skills and shortcuts with quilting, but this advice did not stop with crafting. Knowledge was shared about family life, frugal living, childbirth, home made medicinal, cooking, gardening and more.

When societies became more established, when money and time were more readily available, the quilting circle evolved into luxuries of design or commemorative to events. The latter of which we still find today as wall hangings in estates and community centers.

First Finished Quilt

Different times, different places, different climates – women’s conversations around the quilting circle also differed and there was never a need to be formal about such times. A ‘circle’ could easily be a trio of sisters in varying stages of their lives.

Today, grown sisters could be located in different countries and even as a community, many women
today live in social isolation. This is true in the country as well as in the city, although less so in a rural environment. My first experience with a quilting club was here in our country setting.

Very Basics of Quilting

Quilting requires a sandwich of fabrics. A face fabric, which can be made up of patchwork, or blocks, or one piece of fabric – patterned or plain. The padding, or batting, would then be inserted between the stitched areas, such as wall hangings. Bed quilts, had three layers. Top layer, if patchwork, is made up of small pieces of fabric. The blocks or sections are then stitched together. When the design is finished, it is then assembled with batting and back piece. Again, this describes a patchwork quilt.

There are lots of other sorts of quilts though. For instance, if you want a quilt that tells a story, you likely would not have a decorative base panel as the stitching on the outlines of the shapes, figures, or emblems on the top side wouldn’t coincide with the bottom.

On the other hand, plain fabric on both sides do make beautiful quilts in their own rites. The stitching alone is often used to create complicated patterns, figures, trees or flowers for instance.

How to Quilt

Although quilting by machine is popular today, a good many quilt makers still rely on hand quilting as their primary method.

If hand quilting – depending on the size of your finished
product – you may need a quilt hoop. Hoops secure section of the quilt at a time for easy handling. If it’s a bed cover, you might also want to invest in a
quilt frame (see some samples below), to stretch out a large area at a time.

Old quilting frames were hand made to suit the space available and the number of people who would be working on any piece at any time. You could make your own however. Using timber lengths (to preferred size) covered in fabric – then pin your quilt to the fabric to hold it. The ends can be used to roll the fabric forwards and backwards so that only the area being worked on is accessible.

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