BS: quilting

Subject: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:07 AM

Any quilters on Mudcat? I'm pretty sure I saw a few of you around here somewhere.

I have quilted before (patchwork cushions, and a rather daring Escher quilt with tessellated lizards made from old velvet curtains) but I want to make a cot quilt for my best friend's soon-to-arrive baby.

I have the design in my head, but could do with some practical tips like - what size should it be? And what should I use as wadding? (I've used blankets, newspaper and scraps of material in the past, but for a baby I'd like to make it safe and possibly washable.) I'm going to hand quilt it but there'll be machine appliqué too. Oh, and has anyone bought wadding and the suchlike online, and if so can you recommend a good UK site?

Thanks in anticipation, you crafty types.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:26 AM

Best for a baby - all new materials as they will conform to safety standards. A cot quilt averages 1metre by 75 centimetres and it's best to avoid fringing that a baby could suck in and inhale.


Sy Fabrics has a huge selection and a good reputation. They're the company I use for internet fabric, or you can try a local craft shop, haberdashers or drapers. If you're still in London, there are a couple of Hobbycraft stores not too far from you, Greenford is the easiest on public transport but Romford is closer geographically. If you want to take a trip out there one weekend, give me a ring and I'll drive you - I can always find an excuse to visit Hobbycraft!

I seem to remember where you are is mostly wholesale clothing stores - come a bit further east and we've got more fabric than you can shake a stick at. Green Street has several good fabric stores, Walthamstow market has many more and of course, Hobbycraft has the specialised printed picture stuff.

Good luck - Limpit is 11 and there's still one of her cot quilts I never quite finished!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:33 AM

Sorry, Greenford, Central line, short walk from Greenford station. It's in some shopping centre that I forget the name of but if you Google Hobbycraft, you can get a map. You see it from the train anyway.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:35 AM

Ooooo, thanks Liz - I thought you'd be a quilter! I'll have a browse at the online shop and if need be I'll definitely take you up on your Hobbycraft offer...

Fringing is way out of my league so the baby is safe, phew.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:46 AM

Oddly enough, I'm not much of a quilter - although I must admit, I have quilted in the past... I have 2 my mother made and one my sister started and I finished but other than that....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:20 PM

1. Use polyester batting or a good cotton. Unglazed.

2. Use good cotton fabric.

3. Use good thread.

My wife's a quilter (oh boy, is she ever!) with boxes and boxes of fabric and "things." She owns 6.5 sewing machines, including a Singer treadle.

I was afraid that someday this subject would come up. Now I have to go back on the meds.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Morticia
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:23 PM

Cotton Patch is a good online shop for quilt stuff.I've used them before

http://www.cottonpatch.net/

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:41 PM

I've got quite a few books on quilting that I've picked up in job lots looking for anything to do with crochet. If anyone is interested I'd be quite happy to send them off if you make a small donation to Mudcat funds.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 01:02 PM

Jacqui - yes, I'd more than happy to give them a good home...

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sorcha
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:35 PM

I used to quilt....and made a lap quilt for the grandson last Christmas. I'm across the pond tho, so doubt I'd be much help. Just don't OVERDO on the time spent quiliting. You'll end up in pain.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:49 PM

Thanks everyone! I'm getting very enthused. I can see how it might get addictive.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:54 PM

I think I can guess which lovely lady's babby this piece of Fibula Artwork is for.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Scoville
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 04:45 PM

Heirloom or daily-use quilt?

The standard crib-blanket I make is one square yard of calico on one side, one square yard of flannel on the other: Prewash, iron, and trim to same size, then put them right sides together and sew around except for about a 3-inch opening. Turn right sides out through that opening and close the opening. Top-stitch or bind edges if you wish. A quilt could be a bigger than that so that the kid could use it as s/he gets a little older.

If you mean it to be a daily-use quilt rather than an heirloom, be sure to wash any flannel you use 3-4 times in HOT water to shrink it completely, or it will shrink and pucker the project on subsequent washings. Also, seriously consider using flannel for batting since it is woven and won't pull apart. Also consider machine quilting the whole thing for durability.

Heirloom quilts can use regular batting and can be hand-quilted or tied, but they will not be as durable and probably shouldn't be put in situations where they may be peed on, spit-up on, etc., and then need to be washed regularly.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 05:00 PM

You'd be right Giok! :) Baby Erin is due any day now... her mammy is getting impatient!

Heirloom quilt I think because I'd like it to be a Christening gift, if I can make it pretty enough.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 07:30 AM

Geez Rapaire - your wife owns the same number of machines that I do! And I have TWO Singer treadles, including the one that my grandmother bought new, in 1925, to make baby clothes for my mother and her brother.

Fibula, just go along with what everyone else has said. I can't add much to that! BTW have I ever let slip that I am a published quilter? One of my designs was published in a local quilting mag a couple of years ago.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 08:55 AM

Congratulations JennieG! Do you have a picture of it online?

I only own one sewing machine and I've had it since I was about 14 (so that'd be 17 years then). I did GCSE Home Economics textiles, I'm quite proud to admit, with no teacher as my school only had cookery teachers. I sat at the back of the Home Ec classes and sewed. My schoolfriends thought I was weird because I liked sewing and it wasn't a very cool thing to do as a kid in 1990. I used to do some dressmaking and embroidery but haven't done much in years.

Y'know, for a self-proclaimed Third Wave feminist and a geek I'm scarily into domestic bliss... it sometimes worries me that I spent years in Higher Education but have a secret longing to be a homemaker...

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Scoville
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:23 AM

I don't know any quilters with only one sewing machine. My mother and I are below-average; together we have:

1) 1950's Singer Featherweight (the little ones in the carrying cases).

2) 1967 Singer Touch-N-Sew (my mother's high-school graduation gift).

3) Early 1970's Nelco (defunct Taiwanese brand, but the machine has all metal parts and will probably outlive me).

4) My paternal grandmother's huge, black, 1936 Singer, complete with Art Deco desk cabinet.

You can't kill an all-metal machine unless maybe you throw it in a lake. When Mom took the Touch-N-Sew for service about ten years ago (first time it had ever been in to the shop), the guy asked her if she ever used it. We laughed: Mom has used it constantly for 40 years, sewn tents, canvas, jeans, everything on it and it's never needed any real work, just cleaning and oiling.

* * * * * * *

And don't sweat it, Fibula. I was a dirt-eating tomboy as a kid and still grew up to be a cookbook and needlework enthusiast. I'd have made a great 1950's housewife, except I'd have had the Maddox Brothers or Son House on the hi-fi while I vacuumed and dusted knick-knacks. Who cares if the neighbors talked?

I use it to keep myself in affordable vintage clothes/avoid sweatshop made stuff (recycling and humanitarianism know no gender-imposed boundaries, after all). If you really need to de-girlify the sewing machine, think of it as another kind of power tool. I like to know how to do stuff: Sew, cook, fix cars, pattern-draft, etc.

You know who else quilts? S. Epatha Merkerson, the actress who plays the tough police chief on "Law & Order".

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:05 PM

"Y'know, for a self-proclaimed Third Wave feminist and a geek I'm scarily into domestic bliss..."

It is perfectly legit to be a feminist who's into domestic bliss. One of the goals of feminism is to allow a woman to be what she wants to be.

Making quilts is more art than housework. Isn't it liberating to create your own art?

Best of luck to you, your quilt, and the baby to come.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 01:49 PM

Yes, indeed, that's the joy of third wave - it's just that it's so at odds with my friends' views it's quite funny and unusual. I'm really outdoorsy as well. I think I'd like to have been a pioneer woman (except I'm in the UK in the 21st century).

I need to start collecting sewing machines by the sound of things :)

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 02:44 PM

My wife has:

A Singer treadle
A Singer featherweight, 1950, still in the box
A Sears 1960s all-metal heavyweight, nicknamed "Behemoth"
Her mother's Sears cabinet machine, same provenance as Behemoth
A Pfaff
Another Pfaff
Half interest in another Pfaff which lives in Indiana

I have to sew buttons back on with a needle and thread....

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Scoville
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 03:27 PM

My friend has a 1950's Pfaff that she got for $50 through a newspaper ad. It has the coolest hammered-metal finish (pewter colored) and came in a cabinet with all the original accoutrements: Manual, extra lightbulbs, oil dropper, etc. Sews like a dream.

And for awhile, an antique store near me had a PINK AND CHARCOAL 1950's sewing machine. Like, the DeSoto of sewing machines. I'm surprised it didn't have tail-fins. I wanted that thing so badly. I don't even know if it worked, and I didn't care, but somebody else beat me to it.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:21 PM

I wondered how long it would take Rapaire to discover this thread!

Did you know that Hancock Fabric is closing about 160 of its stores across the U.S.? A friend told me that when he and his wife visited Odessa (TX) on a recent run to buy replacement skylight lenses (after the hail storm that knocked out four of their five skylights) that she discovered that store's sale. He said "She bought over 250 yards of fabric. I just bet she could make sail's for an old British man of war with that much fabric, and a pretty ship it would be, ha." She also has the Cadillac of quilting machines for doing the final quilting. One of these days I'll have to drive out there (when gas us under $2 a gallon or I get better milage!) and take a look at that operation.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:16 PM

Look, I don't do much quilting or sewing at all anymore, and I have 3 machines!!! My grans treadle, my mom's 1960's Singer cabinet and my White, age 34.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:41 PM

Sorcha, you need a couple of those new computerized machines, three or four long-arms, and stuff like that. Only set ya back US $30,000 or so....

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 06:50 PM

Any Mudcat blokes go in for quilting?

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 03:59 AM

I have my grandmother's 1925 Singer treadle (mentioned above);
another Singer treadle, same vintage, my brother's neighbour was going to take it to the rubbish tip a few ago so I rescued it, it's is amazingly good condition;
a 1949 Singer Featherweight bought at a street market three years ago, dear little black thing, sews like a dream;
An Elna overlocker (serger for those in the US);
My Lovely New Bernina Virtuosa 160 - bought new 8 years ago and until the day I die it will be My Lovely New Bernina, it replaced a Singer 726 that I had from new for 29 years that the mechanic couldn't get parts for anymore;
an older Bernina that unfortunately had the motor blow up a couple of years ago - that's the .5 machine. Doesn't work and I probably won't spend the money to have it fixed but can't bring myself to throw it away.

I lurve my machines. As well as quilting I still make many of my own clothes, I started doing that when I was 18. I don't see why I should spend money on something shoddily made when I can make something similar, with better quality fabric and workmanship, for much less money. And have fun into the bargain.

Fibula, I have a flicker photo page, I will post a photo of my published quilt!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 04:02 AM

I am not a quilter, and I have almost finished a 2' square cushion cover, comprising 4 fans made in Japanese fabric. It's totally hand made & I'm currently working on the sashiko quilting. Then I have to make up the cushion.

My stash is Japanese materials, & sits in 2 shoe boxes (silks in one & cottons in t'other). Several years back I bought 6 fat quarters & 2 small packs of kimono offcuts & recently a pack of thirty 7" squares, & members of my craft group have given me scraps of Japanese material. They are quilters cos they make baby or double bed quilts at the mere mention of a family birthday, or colleague's baby. And their stashes fill rooms!

I have plans to use my materials to make a number of small, postcard sized pieces of some blocks I like, & a lot of small wonderful Japanese things like bags & dolls etc. I'll also make Kimonos for Jenny, the Japanese Barbie.

I only have one sewing machine, a Janome bought in 1996 & I hardly ever use it as I like hand sewing.

So therefore I am not a quilter!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 09:16 AM

"I am not a quilter."

Ha! You are infected. You will be piecing and handsewing quilts within two years. One day you'll see some batting in the store and before you know it you'll have it between two pieces of cloth and you'll be worrying about the binding.

And there's no cure....

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 09:37 AM

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 10:02 AM

NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 10:58 AM

The power of suggestion. . .

I love that expensive cotton batting, not the cheap polyfill stuff. You know, the batting that when you look at it, you must reach out and give it a feel. And you can visualize placing it lovingly between the backing and cover of a wonderful homemade quilt.

Four years ago (is that all?) I gave my daughter (Mudcatter Moonglow) a 1955 Singer Series 15 rotary machine that my next door neighbor was going to donate to a garage sale. I had helped her move some furniture and inquired about the cabinet standing in the middle of the front hall. She gave it to me. I had it oiled and a new cord put on. My neighbor was given this machine as a wedding present and never learned to sew, so it was virutally brand new.

It took Caroline a little while to get the hang of it, because she would wait for me to set up projects for her. She loved the idea of having it and it looked beautiful in her bedroom. One day she needed to mend something and set up the project on her own, and it was like a switch was flipped. All of a sudden this child is haunting fabric stores, buying patterns, remaking thrift store garments. The only disagreements we have had over all of this was in the early days when she would try to default to color rather than fabric type in her fabric purchases. I insisted that if she was going to spend the money and the time to make something, she had to get the fabric that was right for it. After a couple of showdowns at Hancocks, she got it, and now this young woman (18) has an excellent eye for fabrics. She makes costumes for Anime conventions (generally incorporating both fabric and hardware store purchases) and in college (a sophomore) is a theater minor so she can learn costume design. (She's an English major--she's not interested in acting, hence the split).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 12:01 PM

Come. Join them. Don't be afraid.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Scoville
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 02:56 PM

So therefore I am not a quilter!

It's like rabies: There's a bit of an incubation period but there's also no cure.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Scoville
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 03:00 PM

And they close our damned Hancock's. Hobby Lobby is OK but they're run by Christians and they don't stock all that cool Día de los Muertos fabric with the skulls on it. Or the tattoo stuff. Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 03:51 PM

Yeah, but there are the repros.

(This is a good reason to avoid Bozeman, MT like the plague. You can spend an awful lot of money there. I know.)

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 07:03 PM

I wish we had repro fabrics 20+ years ago when I was dressing dolls in period fashion.Most wore plain fabrics cos I couldn't get appropriate small patterns.

My 1560 Early Elizabethan doll is dressed in a crimson cotton with trailing gold flowers that is near enough, even tho cotton was not used, & 1796 originally had a fine floral print overdress, which I replaced with a silk regency stripe overdress. 1720 wears a beautiful Chinese silk.

My dolls wore better fabrics than I did!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 10:11 PM

Well, doh, Sandra....they are a tad bit smaller and take less dry goods too! LOL!

I mean it about the pain of hand sewing...do too much at once and the carpal tunnel WILL get you. So might tendonitis of both elbows. Trust me on this one, I know.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 03:35 AM

Thanks for you warning, Sorcha.

I've had arthritis & RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) in my hands for over 10 years & try to pace myself as my hands always have a degree of discomfort/pain.

Sewing, computer work, holding books, knitting, cleaning, cold weather, all affect my hands.

If I need to use my machine I have to put it on my table (which means clearing enough space) & much of the sewing I've done in the past is too precise or awkward to manage on a machine (sewing little armholes, sewing mohair bears)

I certainly will finish off my cushion cover on the machine - sewing 2' seams is not something I want to do.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 07:49 AM

I like machine stitching and my granny taught me how to machine things properly - she was a stitcher in a factory all her life. She used to slap my wrist (not hard! She's a nice granny!) if I held the material the wrong way and would regale me with tales of how people sewed their fingers if they weren't paying attention.

I like hand-quilting but I'm a bit worried about RSI - I got tendonitis in my wrist last year from doing very repetetive mouse movements on a digital imaging project. That was not pleasant.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 08:17 AM

mouse tip - if you are right-handed use mousie in your left hand - takes a bit of getting used to, but it shares the load. I learned that when I was was first diagnosed, & now I can't use mouse in my right hand, even tho I'm very strongly right-handed.

google search on RSI glove

I've not tried the Handeze glove tho I know folks who swear by it.

Warning from one site -
However, if a person already has a typing injury, it is very important that he or she checks with a medical specialist, first, before using and wearing any typing gloves.

As you probably know, the most important thing about hand pain is STOP IMMEDIATELY IF IT HURTS. Next thing is DON'T OVERWORK - frequent stops with appropriate exercises are essential.

Besides, as experienced quilters like Liz the Squeak can tell you, there is nothing wrong with giving a late present!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 08:51 AM

Pat uses a table like this (put product number 1935GR in the search box). The dropped area is adjustable for height and fits her Pfaff nicely, allowing her to sew on a level surface. Coupled with a chair with adjustable height, she is pretty well ergonomically set. AND the table can be collapsed and moved! (We have two of these, one for each sewing room. My room is a small closet that I share with the mop bucket.)

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 11:42 AM

OOOh!!! I'm an experienced quilter now am I?!!

*blush*!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 11:46 AM

Q: What do you call a quilter's husband?
A: Tattered, hungry and broke!

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: GUEST,Scoville at Mom's
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 09:14 PM

Yes, Reproduction Fabrics, unlike Hobby Lobby, is an instrument of the Devil. I could get myself into serious trouble there.

ReproDepot.

eQuilter.

Hancock's of Paducah.

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 10:00 PM

Yeah, the last time it was about US $200.00+ of serious trouble. And when I ask to buy just one little thing....

sigh....

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 10:17 PM

Rap, can you make one of those with fabric and stuffing? Hey, man, you got it MADE! LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 03:50 AM

I just bought a great book The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe I was looking for Jane Lemon's Metal Thread Embroidery , but it was not on the shelf, so I bought this one instead.

Last week I saw JAPANESE QUILT BLOCKS TO MIX & MATCH by Susan Biscoe but I don't need that book, jut some of the info in the intro, so will wait till the library gets it & borrow it.

And I ordered some kimono offcuts this morning.

sandra (shopaholic)

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 04:08 AM

It's no use... I've got to go to Hobbycraft today!!!

This is for my other vice, cross stitching. I promised a set of flower cards to someone and haven't been able to find just the right shade of puce....

Ho hummm

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 08:51 AM

My wife got some kimono fabric a few years back. She made a small wall-hanging out of it, coupling the kimono fabric with a fabric of cowboy books. She called it "East Meets West: Cowboys and Kimonos."

Subject: RE: BS: quilting
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 10:37 AM

Sounds interesting! My mother bought some interesting fabric when she was in Japan and other travels years ago and I have it all folded in the same boxes, never used. I should think about some other use for it than she intended, since I'm not going to make a suit or a kimono or whatever she had in mind (the stash includes some lovely brocade, some lovely wool fabric, and I am not sure what else. I guess I should go look.)

SRS