Last weekend some friends and I tied baby quilts for Colorado victims. So this makes a perfect opportunity to make a to-do list for quilting.
Material (pattern in back needs to match in some way with material in the front.) Often quilts with have a pretty desin in the front and usually a more solid color, usually darker, in the back. The back is two inches wider and longer than the material in the front. That way you can fold the longer material over the front and sew it so that it creates a frame design for the front of the quilt. Experienced quilters tell me that flannel is good for baby quilts and throws. Cotton is a universal cloth for quilts. Denim is good for very sturdy quilts and I see these used for outside and camping.
Batting: there are various thicknesses. Modern batting is much better in not shredding or clumping in the wash than those of previous years. By doing tying of the quilt throughout the surface helps keep the batting to its assigned area. That is the additional purpose of the 2 inches material of the backside of the quilt. When you tuck it around the frame and sew it. (I believe they call it the ditch) then that will also bind the batting to not bunch up after washing.
Yarn: the most popular is 4 ply and for lighter quilts 3 ply. You want to get a color that will match the materials that will sandwich the batting.
Quilting needles: These are usually around 3 inches in length and have large eyes that the yarn can thread through. Thimbles are good to protect the fingers as you move the needles through the cloth.
Quilting frame: When my mother made quilts and we would help, we used big wooden frames with clamps on the corners. She would use tacks to adhere the quilt to the frame along the sides to keep it in place. After we would do several rows of tying we would loosen the clamps and roll them up to the unstitched area and after several hours (dependent Upon the number of people working on the quilt you can get a king or queen quilt done. This weekend I was introduced to the much smaller plastic baby quilt frames that have plastic bars that can keep the material in place. I am told these smaller frames can do big quilts but you have to do them a section of the time. People will safety pin the cloth/batting/cloth throughout to keep everything lined up as you work on the quilt.
One friend introduced us to the yarn pinch. This is a wonderful way to thread a needle as the yarn has a tendency to be very bulky and sometimes hard to thread the needle even with a big eye. She explained the technique this way. You fold the end of the yarn across a needle. Pull it tight and then remove the needle so that the bend piece of yarn is held within you thumb and finger. Press the head of that bent yarn toward the hole of the needle. As you press the yarn through and your fingers pull away; the yarn expands on the other side of the needle hole and it’s threaded. It was a cool trick.
Some quilters will mark with chalk or washable markers where they would like the quilters to tie the quilt or you might chose certain areas of the pattern and quilt in that area and then after you’re done you look over the quilt to see if there are open areas that need an extra tie. For tying, some quilters with loop the yarn down and up in the cloth/batting/cloth, and with the two inch tails on each end tie both ends a double knot. Others will do a loop one inside the other to create a knot that will bind the material. and then do a double knot.
Items on the checklist:
Scissors or finger-nail clippers, yarn, batting, frames, Cloth for top and bottom, safety pins, thimbles,
Quilt needles and threader, and a bunch of friends
One of my coworkers had a surger so that she was able to trim off the excess material and batting and the machine sewed up the edges of the quilts. That saved us a lot of time. If you don’t have a surger than the edges of the quilt need to be finished by hand. You will need quilting thread that has the capability to go through two pieces of cloth plus the batting.
There’s a lot more to this than what I’ve described and many full-fledged quilters might be cringing right now with though of “but what about—“ But this is at least a brief introduction to quilting. Sewing patches and doing designs on material is a more advance form of quilting and will not be address here but is reserved for the big Whig quilters.
There is nothing more physiologically satisfying than resting in the comfort of a quilt. There were many Christmas I asked my mother to give me a quilt. She was one talented woman.
