Quote:
Originally Posted by us2indaup
I'm a begining quilter and I wonder if there are easier ways to cut and piece fabric? I have been getting fabric I like from thrift store bag sales, taking out all the seams, ironing the fabric, then cutting pieces one by one(I do have a rotary cutter, but am not all that impressed with it)
Any shortcuts I should try?
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I have been thinking about my advice to you as a novice quilter. I love to mentor new quilters (just can't get away from the teacher in me!). I made my first quilt top fifty years ago, when I was four or five. I was taught by my mother who learned from he mother who learned from her mother!
Hand-piecing is the way I learned. If you have never sewn before, lets talk about some basics. You need a good pair of scissors for cutting fabric only. Do not let your kids or your husband use them to cut paper, balsa wood for models, cardboard, metal, sandpaper, or anything else. And don't use them to cut plastic from the lids of cans to make quilt templates. Hide them in your underwear drawer if necessary. Put a skull and crossbones on them as warning if need be, but keep them only for fabric and thread. You might also want to invest in a pair of small embroidery scissors. They will be easier to deal with when you are clipping thread than a pair of dressmakers shears.
I think the most important consideration in choosing a needle is that it is comfortable in your hand. It goes without saying that you want a needle with a thin shaft; a thick shaft will leave a big hole in your fabric as you sew. There is some difference of opinion on the length. Some ladies here like a longer needle, but some feel a shorter needle gives them more control. It allows them to make their stitches closer together, which is always desirable, and, surprisingly, it allows them to feed more stitches onto the needle. You might want to buy a package of varying lengths and see what is most comfortable for you on some practice fabric.
Thread can be as complex a subject as you want, but for hand-piecing it is fairly straight-forward. Use cotton-covered polyester. You will get the strength and durability of the polyester, but the cotton wrapping will keep it from cutting the fibers in the fabric itself. Cut the thread about 18" long and feed the first end off the spool into the eye of the needle. Thread has warp; feeding it correctly into the needle reduces the chance of it knotting or tangling. I also like to pull the thread through a small cake of pure beeswax. This helps keep it from knotting and also protects the cotton from deteriorating with age.
Up to this point, I have assumed that you will be sewing with traditional cotton fabric for quilting. There are other fabrics that can be used: denim, corduroy, flannel, fleece, cotton knit for t-shirts, and silk to name a few. The only one that could be easily hand sewn would be silk (and it has its own considerations). The rest are better suited to machine stitching.
That said, you would use the same thread on all except the silk, then you would use silk thread. It is best practice to match the thread to the fabric wherever possible. Some folks who applique do use silk thread on cotton, it is thinner and will show less. There are also all sorts of threads you can use for embellishing your quilt, if you desire, but that is another discussion for another day.
Let's talk about fabric and the block pattern together. Generally speaking, what makes traditional quilts work is the contrast of value in the fabric (light and dark, bright and dull, even the difference between a solid and a print). As a novice, I am going to suggest that you pick a pattern that is fairly simple. We will talk more about that in a minute. When you are using a simple block pattern, it is more important to let the fabric to the hard work for you. The fabric becomes a bigger part of the equation so you want to choose fabrics and place them in the block so they help move the eye over the finished quilt.
There are two schools of thought on preparing fabric before you cut it. Most folks agree that it is better to pre-wash your fabric. If there is any excess dye, particularily red, indigo or black, it will come out in the wash and not bleed onto lighter fabrics in your finished quilt. If the fabric is going to shrink, it is better to do so before you cut and stitch it. Once it is in the quilt and it shrinks, it will give the quilt a puckery look. Sometimes this is desirable if you are using the 1930's reproduction fabrics and you want the quilt to look old. I do not wash my 30's repros, but I do wash everything else for another reason. The finish the manufacturer puts on the fabric has formeldahyde in it and I am allergic to it. If you live with any asthematics that is a consideration.
I understand you are wanting to use re-cycled fabric. There is certainly nothing wrong with that; just know that your quilt will likely not last as long so recyled fabric is best suited for utility quilts; so called because they are intended to be used everyday and worn out (as opposed to an heirloom quilt).
Now, to the block pattern itself. Some patterns, such as New York Beauty or Mariner's Compass, are so intricate that they really want a fabric that isn't too busy. The viewer should be able to see the complexity of the block without being distracted by the motif in the fabric. The fabric motif can enhance the the block but shouldn't be the primary element and overpower it.
In a simple block, such as Churn Dash, Duck Tracks, or Shoo Fly, the fabric takes on more importance in making the finished quilt look more difficult than it really is.
http://www.quilterscache.com/C/ChurnDashBlock.html
http://www.quilterscache.com/D/DuckTracksBlock.html
http://www.quilterscache.com/S/ShooFlyBlock.html
I would suggest one of these, there are others, and I will post a couple of sites you can look at for patterns. May I suggest you pick something with simple straight stitching lines? Stay away from Y-seams (where three seams intersect at one point) and curves. They will come later. Also, pick a block that will be large enough that it won't take ten years to make enough for a finished quilt! Twelve, sixteen, or twenty 10" or 12" blocks will make a decent sized bed quilt. The smaller the finished block size, the more it will take to make a standard double bed quilt.
There are some patterns that are particularily well-suited to re-cycled fabrics. Chinese Coins is one. Hit and Miss is another (aquares set in a completely random pattern). And there are always string quilts.
Scappy String Quilt Instructions (broken link)
I want you to understand that despite what some people say, there are no quilt police! LOL! There are few, if any, hard and fast rules in quilting. I prefer to think of them as guidelines rather than rules because what works in one instance for one person may not for someone else. Are you familiar with the saying, there's more than one way to skin a cat? Well, there is certainly more than one way to quilt a cat, too! LOL A very wise quilter teacher told me once, "There is no right way or wrong way. There is only your way and my way." Good advice. There are many, many techniques out there. What I am sharing is what works for me as a hand piecer. It is simple and straight-forward, easy to explain and, hopefully, easy to understand.
The rotary cutter and cutting mats some have mentioned are wonderful inventions. They have really reduced the amount of time needed to prep fabric before stitching. In my opinion, they are better suited to machine piecing for this reason. Nearly every machine nowadays has a 1/4" mark on the throat plate to use as guide for stitching accurate 1/4" seams. The quilter cuts the fabric larger, including the seam allowence. Then she lines up the raw edges and, using the guide on the machine, stitches pieces that come out the right size.
Hand piecers don't have that advantage, and that is why I think templates are the way to go. Some really experienced hand-piecers, Ginny Beyer comes to mind, can just place a dot at the intersections and can eye-ball a perfect 1/4" seam allowence. If I lived a million lifetimes, I don't think I would ever be that good (and I've already been quilting half a lifetime, started at age four, fifty years ago).
Templates can be made from any number of materials. You can use cardboard from discarded cereal boxes or stiff sandpaper (the sandpaper has the advantage of not slipping on the fabric). Just know that after repeated use the edges will start to get dog-earred and curl, so your pieces might not be quite as accurate. Go back to your master pattern and make a new one. Do coffee tins come with large plastic lids over there? You may find quilting template plastic at the store. There are also acrylic templates on the market now. I think they are pricey and they limit you to just those sizes. I also have some metal templates that were made for me from tinplate by a tinsmith. The man who made them used historic tinsmithing tools so there are no burrs to snag the fabric or cut me. My point is there are lots of options and you just need to see what is available to you.
Once you have the template in hand, you will mark each piece on the wrong side of the fabric. I prefer to use a mechanical pencil for tracing. It will show up on most fabrics. And it never gets dull and in need of re-sharpening. The lead is a uniform thickness so the line is always perfect. (I just have to hide them from my teen-age son who can't fathom why a woman would need a mechanical pen! That's a man-tool in his mind! LOL) There are drafting pencils that come in silver, white or yellow for marking on dark fabrics. You can also use tailor's chalk or a thin sliver of bar soap. Just know that the last two are not very permanent so they need to be stitched before the marks are brushed away. Do not use ink or marker pens. The ink will bleed through.
Remember that you are marking the stitching or finished edge of each piece. You need to place them far enough apart on the fabric so you have room to cut 1/4" larger than the stitching line. Also keep in mind if your block has mirror images, left and right pieces like a butterfly's wings, you need to flip that template piece. I think it is easier just to make another template that is already flipped.
Generally speaking, you want to place the templates on the fabric so you are following the grain line. That is, the warp and weft of the fabric (the threads that go vertically are the warp, the ones that are horizontal are the weft). If you have a triangle, you obviously are going to have a bias edge. Try not to handle those pieces too much or too roughly. Pressing them right after stitching helps to lock the stitches and keeps the block from stretching or twisting.
Pressing is another element to a lovely quilt. Pressing means setting the iron straight down on the seam and not scrubbing side to side, that is ironing, and will stretch those bias seams for sure. You are actually going to press twice, once from the wrong side of the fabric. The pieces will be flat, just as you sewed them, right sides together. This is the pressing that sets the seam. For the second pressing, you are going to lift up the top half and flip it backwards over the seam allowence so you are now pressing from the right side.
The rule of thumb used to be to press the seam allowence towards the darker piece,and that is still good advice. However, it is better to press for ease of construction. When all the small units are joined together, you will begin to stitch them together and you will have places where the seams intersect. To reduce bulk and avoid lumps in the top you want to have those seams pressed in opposite directions so they butt up or nest together. This is also good advice for machine piecing, the one difference is that hand piecers do not stitch through those seam allowences.
This is how I sew the pieces together. I always stitch from right to left because I am right handed. Ergonomically it doesn't make sense for me to do it the other way. If you are left handed do it the other way. BTW, if you are being taught by a teacher who uses the same hand as you, stand behind her so you can mimic her movements. If you and the teacher use different hands, sit across the table so you mirror her movements.
I first place a straight pin at the point where the stitching line for those two pieces will end. If the seam is very long I will place one or two pins along the seam allowence to keep them from shifting. I do not knot my thread; instead I bring the needle up one tiny stitch to the left of the other end. Hold onto the tail so you don't draw the thread all the way through. Now push the needle down right at the intersection. Do a couple more of these little back stitches right on top of the previous one to secure the thread and you are ready to go.
A running stitch is the stitch you will use. It is just an up and down movement. Try to get four or five stitches loaded on the needle before you draw the thread through. When you come to a pin, remove it, check to make sure you are still lined up, do any adjustment and stitch to the next pin. That will likely be at the end. Take a couple three back stitches, clip the thread and set aside. Ideally, there should be ten to twelve stitches per inch. Yours are not going to be that small at first. It is more important that you work on getting them consistent in length. Once you have mastered making them all the same length, you will naturally begin to make them smaller, just comes with practice.
Once you have all the little units stitched and pressed, you have to sew them together to make the block. Use the same method, although you will need more than two pins. Pin at the end and at the intersections. This will keep them aligned properly and your points will be nice and crisp. Remember those seam allowences that are pressed in opposite directions? When you are doing the running stitch and you come up to that loose seam allowence, gently push it out of the way so you are only sewing through two layers of fabric. When you get to the intersection, just flop the other seam allowence out of the way and keep stitching right across the interection. Finish the same as before.
Here a couple of sites with patterns that can be downloaded. Generally the directions for cutting and piecing are for machine-piecing. they are still a good source for patterns.
http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/quilts/index.html
Do you have a quilt shop nearby? I see you are in the UP. Are you near Houghton/Hancock? When my son was stationed in Dollar bay, he took me to some lovely shops.
Quilt Shop Directory - Lake Superior Circle Tour
They can help you find a guild or direct you to class for beginner's. Even the Jo-Ann's near us has a guild that meets there. You can also try the parks and rec department or the school district's enrichment classes for adults, or contact the home economist from the county extension. I have seen classes offered through all those programs.
Here is the site for locating Cooperative Extension offices throughout the United States:
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/
Our local library hosts a guild. The American Sewing Guild has chapters at libraries in two of our neighboring communities. They are out there; you might have to get a little creative to find them, but you should be able to hook up with one if you look.
Here is the site to find a chapter in your area:
http://www.asg.org/files/locator/index.php
Checking out the books at the library is a good way to become familiar with some different techniques without making an investment. Once you find your niche, you may want to purchase your own copies for reference.
I wouldn't worry about the batting or the quilting until you are to that step. Right now, find a simple pattern and get your fabric. Show the pattern to the clerk and ask for her help in selecting you fabric. She will be able to help you choose fabrics that will have some contrast and the right value, etc. Don't be afraid to ask other customers for their opinions as well. As a group, quilters are very generous and very helpful.
I know this seems like a lot, but it is really simple. Just print this out and take it one step at a time. You will be fine. I would love to hear of your progress. Hand-piecers are becoming few and far between so I will do everything I can to encourage you. Please keep us posted, we would love to hear of your progress, and offer any help that we can. Any time you have questions, we are as close as your keyboard. Good luck dear.
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