Silk Quilts
Frequently silk quilts were made using silk, satins, velvets and brocades and were embroidered with elaborate stitches, giving them charm and elegance. Often quilters used more than 100 different embroidery stitches in their silk quilts. Because silk is so delicate (and somewhat difficult to ...
- Clever Fabric Hideaways
These are creative storage spots designed to hide fabric from anyone who doesn’t understand why you need it at all! A box labeled “Christmas ornaments” or “baby clothes” In the freezer wrapped in butcher paper and labeled “meat loaf” Go shopping with a friend, trade bags before you ge ...
- Quilting Fabric Designs
The oldest, and probably the slowest method of applying a design to fabric is block printing. A design is cut from a piece of wood or clay, then the block is loaded with dye from a felt pad or inked with a roller and pressed onto the fabric. The size of the block determines the size of th ...
- Roxanne™ R.O.S.E. Thread Counter
Months ago, Dierdre McElroy joined us for our Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation. Dierdre is an expert hand quilter and very knowledgeable about fabric, thread, thimbles and most everything that can affect the quality of your hand quilting. During our Conversation, she talked about how ...
- Storing Quilting Fabric
Maybe this is the year to get the entire stash of fabric organized. Maybe. If it is, here are some tips for storing long lengths of fabric. Most quilters store their fabric by color – reds together, yellows together, etc. When it comes to prints, it becomes a little more difficult. ...
- Using Hand Dyed or Marbled Fabric in Quilts
Have you ever wondered what you might do with hand marbled or hand painted fabric? Several years ago, I decided to learn how to hand dye fabric. It has been an excellent investment in time, since I gained a very in-depth understanding about color and value. A natural spin-off of simple fabr ...
- Transferring Photos onto Fabric
Q: Hello, I am a casual quilter, or have been, and plan to do more now that my grandkids have moved away and my husband has Alzheimers....in other words staying close to home.... I want to make my grandkids a quilt using pictures from their life as they were growing up....where can I fi ...
- Wool Quilting Fabric
It is relatively common to use wool in quilts. The first wool quilts I saw were made for soldiers during the Civil War to protect them from the bitter cold winters. Those wool quilts were made from the remnants of other blankets and worn out wool coats or dresses. Because the quilt top and back ...
- Host a Charm Pack "Swap Meet"
A purchased package of Charm Squares Sure, you can go buy charm squares. There is a great selection of charm fabrics out there. You could also take a more fun approach to growing your charm collection by organizing a charm swap. The first step is to determine t ...
- Mildew on Fabric
If you have a sizeable stash of fabric, you probably know that mildew is not your friend. Actually, it’s difficult to think of any case where mildew is actually a good thing. Why is mildew your enemy? Because the mold by-product will attack your fabrics. In addition to leaving a mus ...
- Screen Printing Fabric for Your Quilts
There are so many ways to embellish quilts. If you have quilted for very long, you have probably tried at least one method of embellishing, whether it’s embroidery or thread painting or adding shiny trinkets like beads and rhinestones. But how can you get the latest, trendy grunge embel ...
- Feed Sacks for Quilting
Quilters have been recycling since the 1800s. Way back then, feed and dry staples were delivered in barrels. Someone discovered that cotton was effective for shipping – much lighter weight and easier to stack for sure. A few companies began using cotton bags for packaging their feed. It didn ...
- Fleece-Backed Quilts
m. mouse here - i just love soft and cuddly fabrics - whether it is flannel (like i'm lying on here) or fleece. when i'm curled up on a fleece blanket, i remember seeing quilting daughter stephanie curled up with her fleece blanket (you can see it below). the thing is not only are they sof ...
- Batik Cat Quilt (and some lessons learned)
This quilt is made from small batik squares that many quilt shops sell in a pack. These were all cat squares. Each kitty square is 4 inches, and I surrounded it with squares and half-square triangles forming a type of Pinwheel Block (called ...
- Pre-Printed Fabric in Quilts
Have you seen the fabric that is printed to look like a quilt top? Many quilters refer to it as “cheater fabric,” but it can actually be a handy tool of sorts for the beginning quilter. Preprinted quilt tops are generally found with baby quilt prints, but if you look, you can find ...
- Using Denim in Quilts
When many quilters clean out their closets, they usually don’t see old clothes. Instead, they see fabric that could have been used in a quilt. One of the frequently asked questions by quilters is whether they can recycle their old blue jeans into quilts. The answer is absolutely! When work ...
- Make a Quilt Using Blue Jeans
Blue jeans make a fun type of quilt, but frankly, the only blue jean quilt I knew of was a rag quilt. That was until Quilter Mandy sent a pattern in from Doreen in Bismarck, North Dakota. To make this quilt, you sew circles of blue jean fabric and squares of shirt, apron, skirt, or other cott ...
- Should I pre-wash my quilting fabric?
In Less Than 17 Hours, You Can Cut 3½ Yards of Fabric into 75 Pieces and Sew 25 Blocks Together, Creating 498 Inches of Fringe.... and a Smile. Make this fast, fun and funky quilt in one short weekend, whether you are new to quilting or have been quilting for years. Learn more - - - ...
- What is a fussy cut?
Quilt as You Go Projects Make Sewing Blocks with Fussy Cut Fabrics Easy When you fussy cut patches in a block, sometimes it is easy to get them positioned wrong in your quilt. Using a Quilt as You Go technique ensures that you place them exactly the way you want them - one at a time - mak ...
- Can I use batik fabric in my quilts?
They Thought I was Nuts When I Told Them I Found a Beautiful Jelly Roll with Batik Fabrics at the Quilt Shop But Their Eyes Sparkled When They Saw the Delicious Heirloom Quilt I Created from Those Easy-to-Use Pre-Cut Strips of Fabric! Who would have believed that wandering around a qui ...
