I'm as old fashioned as you can ever imagine, so doing things that way just comes naturally to me. Oh, I'm not into hand piecing like gramma started out doing..........she got a sewing machine too eventually! But, I do love hand quilting and so that's how I do it. When new patterns come out it's always a time thing so only the first 23 patterns were hand quilted and since then all have been machine quilted. Here's where I could really use your help............Oh, I could buy a book and read up on this, but first hand knowledge always is the best. Here's what I need you to do......... please!
When you get a quilt machine quilted, or even if you do it yourself. What do you want your quilt to look like? And, how would you tell a machine quilter what you want done?
I think I know that stippling and meandering means the same thing, right?
That evenly quilted needs to be a little more exact? Like an inch apart or 3/4 inch apart?
If echoing - be specific about how far apart you want that?
But, other than that I'm clueless...........perhaps your insight will make this easier for me.
Thanks bunches!
A quilter who has a passion for history. A quilter that wants to share family stories through the patterns she designs....to create heirlooms for the future generations to come. To help others to create quilts they can be proud of and to share a wonderful world of color with everyone.
9 comments:
Hi Linda,
I machine quilted my first couple of quilts, but when I discovered the skills of my local longarm quilter, I have never looked back.
I love the overall look of my quilts to be even and for the quilting to kind of disappear. I like an overall meandering design, not too densely quilted, using a neutral thread color and a flat cotton or bamboo batting.
I even have my applique quilts done this way....just drive right over the applique and pretend it's not there, although I often use photo sheets in my applique and my quilter carefully plans ahead so not to meander over the middle of someone's face!
I do not request intricate custom quilting done on my quilts...although I admire it done on some quilts, I like the overall design of the patchwork to shine!
Looking forward to seeing your reversible quilt.
Regards from Gail in Washington State
I am a hand quilter too but once in a while I need to have a quilt done quickly or I've pieced something with thick seams that I don't want to hand quilt so I send them out. One quilt was made out of batiks and the machine quilter sewed daisys and leaves. It turned out really nice. Ask the person who is going to do the quilt for suggestions, she'll know what she's good at.
I ask for help from the professional too. Last time I had a quilt quilted with embroidery on it. My quilter wanted to quilt over the embroidery stitches. I was in shock. I said not for me! Since then I have seen the same quilt with the embroidery quilted and I love it. Next time I will listen to her!!!
Hi Linda,
Well....I can tell you that each quilt is so different for me, that the quilting is also very different. I really like the old fashioned soft, easily drapable quilts of long ago, so I don't usually have my quilts heavily quilted, I think it makes them to stiff. I like the machine quilting to be secondary to my designs & overall color scheme, yet it all needs to play together. Does that make sense?? If you have a good long-armer, trust her judgement, & by all means if you have a close up photo of quilting that you admire share it with her, she will appreciate it.
Hope this helps,
Wendy in Ormond Beach, Fl.
I love my quilts to be meandered all over with a small pattern or panto design. Then I wash and dry them to give that old fashioned crinkled look.
Forgot to say, I have a Gammill and love to do the allover designs. Nothing too big, smaller designs are better for that crinkly look.
I'm clueless too about this subject- look forward to reading how others decide how to quilt.
First of all, I think the easiest thing is to find someone who has done a quilt you like, hopefully several, and use those quilts to guide your conversation about what you'd like them to do on your quilt. Evenly quilted to me means an equal amount of quilting everywhere- whether pieced blocks get an overall grid, with appliqued getting echoed and the border feathered, it's still about the same density.
I prefer the quilting to relate to the quilt rather than overall quilting like stippling or a panto, but then you pay more for that. I do think you have to have a clear idea of what you like and be able to convey that to your quilter for you to be happy with the end result.
I spend alot of time disecting quilts at shows, in magazines, even quilt catalogs to see how they are quilted and get new ideas. Kinda like taking photos of cute haircuts to your hairdresser!
I love to hand quilt. But the last dozen or so quilts have been big ones, king and queen sized so I have sent those out. I love my long arm quilter, she's a very talented lady. I tell her a little about the person the quilt is going to and she does the rest. Right now she has a Lone Star quilt of mine and I did ask her to do something special, the something special being left up to her talents. But if the quilt is for me then I just have her stipple them, which I love.
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