With simple step-by-step instructions that require only basic sewing skills, Barbara Weiland Talbert shows you how to make your own beautiful and durable quilts. Taking you through the complete quilting process in an easy-to-follow sequence, Talbert shows you how to select a suitable design, choose the best fabric, cut shapes, piece together blocks, assemble the quilt top, and finish your project. You’ll quickly acquire the know-how and inspiration to create unique high-quality quilts that add a charming touch to your home.
With simple step-by-step instructions that require only basic sewing skills, Barbara Weiland Talbert shows you how to make your own beautiful and durable quilts. Taking you through the complete quilting process in an easy-to-follow sequence, Talbert shows you how to select a suitable design, choose the best fabric, cut shapes, piece together blocks, assemble the quilt top, and finish your project. You’ll quickly acquire the know-how and inspiration to create unique high-quality quilts that add a charming touch to your home.
How to Make a Quilt: Learn Basic Sewing Techniques for Creating Patchwork Quilts and Projects. A Storey BASICS® Title
128
How to Make a Quilt: Learn Basic Sewing Techniques for Creating Patchwork Quilts and Projects. A Storey BASICS® Title
128eBook
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Overview
With simple step-by-step instructions that require only basic sewing skills, Barbara Weiland Talbert shows you how to make your own beautiful and durable quilts. Taking you through the complete quilting process in an easy-to-follow sequence, Talbert shows you how to select a suitable design, choose the best fabric, cut shapes, piece together blocks, assemble the quilt top, and finish your project. You’ll quickly acquire the know-how and inspiration to create unique high-quality quilts that add a charming touch to your home.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781612124094 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Storey Publishing, LLC |
| Publication date: | 09/06/2014 |
| Series: | Storey Basics |
| Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 128 |
| File size: | 7 MB |
About the Author
Barbara Weiland Talbert is a well-known sewing and quilting author who has a line of quilting patterns. She is the author of The Quilting Answer Book and The Sewing Answer Book.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Get Ready
You don't need a fancy machine to make a quilt, just one that is in good working order with well-adjusted tension. And you don't need a lot of new sewing skills. In fact, if you have made home-dec items or clothing, you probably already have most of the sewing skills you need! However, you may need to purchase some additional cutting and sewing tools that are specially designed to enhance and assist the quiltmaking experience.
If you can cut straight and stitch a straight, accurate ¼"-wide seam allowance, you can make quilt blocks and sew them together to make a quilt top. Even your first machine-quilting stitches can be lines of straight stitching. You can graduate to more complex quilting designs after you are comfortable with basic machine quilting.
Gathering Tools and Supplies: The Quilter's Toolbox
Like any hobby, quiltmaking requires special materials and tools designed for specific tasks. In times past, quilt pieces were cut with scissors from fabric leftovers, feed sacks, and worn clothing. Today's quiltmakers can choose from a dizzying array of quality quilters' cottons. While patches were once sewn together and the quilting done by hand, today's modern tools and techniques make it easy to cut multiple pieces quickly and sew them together by machine. Piecing and quilting the layers together by machine is now more popular than piecing and quilting by hand because it takes less time and you can see the results sooner! That's what's covered in this book.
As a sewer, you may already have most, if not all, of the tools you need. There are lots of new, innovative quiltmaking tools available, but you can make many quilt blocks using a few basic tools and techniques. Here's what you need to get started. Some will be shown in illustrations in the following chapters.
Sewing Machine and Accessories
* A well-maintained sewing machine makes piecing quicker and easier than sewing by hand.
* A ¼" quilters' presser foot assists in stitching accurate piecing seams.
* A walking foot or even-feed feature on your machine prevents layers from shifting when machine quilting and sewing on the binding.
* Size 75/11 or 80/12 sharp needles. Topstitch and Microtex needles are sharps; universal needles will work for your first projects, but sharps stitch through quilters' cottons more easily for a finer seam and accurate, straight stitches. Special quilter's machine needles with specially tapered points for accurate piecing are also available.
Cutting Tools
* An 18" × 24" rotary cutting mat with self-healing surface is essential. It should have a printed grid of 1" squares to help with fabric and ruler alignment. (You may want to invest in a larger one later.)
* Standard or large heavy-duty rotary cutter. Today's cutters have many options: handle shape and design, color, quick-release blade changing, and self-retracting blades. Test several to determine what is most comfortable for your hand. (Note: Rotary cutting tools appear here.)
* Acrylic rotary rulers provide an edge to cut along for accurate pieces. They are 1/8" thick and come in an array of lengths and widths. They are marked in 1/8" increments with many horizontal and vertical lines. Some have angled lines for help when cutting diamonds and sharp-pointed triangles. For your first one, invest in a 6" × 24" acrylic ruler. This is a standard size that is essential for cutting strips; every quilter should have one. It's also good to have a 4" × 12" ruler for cutting smaller pieces from the strips and a 6"-square rotary ruler to use when cutting small pieces.
Hand-Sewing Tools
* Small sewing or embroidery scissors for clipping threads and trimming seams.
* Sharp hand-sewing needles, size 11 or 12 for general sewing, and in assorted sizes for attaching binding by hand. Shorter needles make finer stitches; the higher the number, the shorter and finer the needle.
* Thimble that fits without being too tight, to protect your finger while you hand-sew binding and a label to your finished project.
* Sharp seam ripper for undoing or removing inaccurate stitching.
Miscellaneous Tools and Supplies
* Ironing board (or surface) and an iron with steam setting (you will use dry and steam settings). Look for an iron with a smooth soleplate and enough weight to make a difference when pressing.
* Masking tape for securing layers when preparing the "quilt sandwich" (here)
* 1 ¾"-long quilter's pins or flower-head pins and a pincushion or magnetic pin dish.
* Curved, rustproof safety pins, size 1 or 1½, for holding quilt layers together for machine quilting.
* Oval quilt clips to keep quilts rolled and out of the way of the needle when quilting the layers together.
* Temporary spray adhesive for holding quilt layers together in lieu of pins.
* Water-soluble or air-soluble marking pen and a fine-lead pencil for marking matching points and quilting lines.
* Chalk wheel with powdered chalk for marking quilting lines.
Preparing Your Sewing Machine
Make sewing a breeze by preparing your machine for optimal stitching.
* Make sure your machine is in good working order and remove any lint in the bobbin area — it can interfere with smooth stitching.
* Wind two bobbins before you start a quilting project so you'll be able to quickly resume stitching when the first one runs out.
* Thread the machine correctly and insert the bobbin. Draw the bobbin thread to the top so both thread tails are easy to grasp.
* Set the stitch length to 2.5 mm (12 stitches per inch).
* For block assembly, insert a new needle. Size 75/11 or 80/12 sharps (Microtex and topstitching needles) are recommended (here). Replace your needle after 8 to 10 hours of sewing. A dull needle will snag even cotton fabrics and can create inaccurate seaming.
* Test the tension and balance it so stitches interlock between the two layers of the cotton fabric in your project, and are not lying loosely on the top or bottom layer of fabric. Check your machine manual for instructions.
Choosing a Quilt Project
If you are new to quilting, choose a small project, labeled as a "beginner" or "easy" design. A small quilt with a few blocks, plus sashing and a border, can be an easy way to start. Use it as a table topper or wall hanging. You can make practice blocks from this book (see Chapter 3) and quickly turn them into quilted pot holders or placemats. Or make them and sew them together into the featured nine-block sampler quilt (here).
Look for designs that have blocks no smaller than 6" square. Larger 9", 10", or 12" blocks with bigger patches are super easy and fast to piece, but smaller blocks are often more visually interesting. Squares, rectangles, and right-angle triangles are the easiest pieces to cut and sew together. Steer clear of blocks with curved seams and those with sharp-pointed triangles until you have some block-piecing skills under your belt.
Once you've learned the basics while making practice blocks, you'll be ready to choose other blocks and quilt designs from the myriad quilt books available for beginners, or from individual quilt patterns offered at quilt shops and online sources.
Selecting Fabric
For any project, you will need fabric to make the blocks for your quilted project, as well as fabrics for the borders, backing, and edge binding. You'll also need batting for the inner layer. Quilts can be made from a wide array of fabrics, but for beginners, the best fabric is good quality 100% cotton fabric especially designed for quiltmaking. Find quality quilters' cottons at your local quilt shop, and don't be afraid to ask for help when choosing fabrics for your project. Quilt shop personnel — and other shoppers, too — are usually very willing to assist with pattern and fabric selection when you need help.
Quilters' cottons are specially made with a higher thread count (the number of threads per inch) to minimize raveling. They may also be more colorfast than fabrics designed for other purposes. Don't use low-quality fabric with low thread count or a loose weave. Low-quality fabrics are more difficult to handle, and, since you will be cutting many pieces and sewing them together, the raveling associated with low-thread-count cottons can affect accuracy in the finished blocks.
It may be tempting to use less expensive fabrics when you are a beginning quilter, but I advise against it. Lower quality cottons often lose body after washing, and they wrinkle more, making accurate piecing more difficult. Your efforts deserve better fabric for the best possible experience. To save on fabrics for your first blocks, check out a shop's sales area, where you'll find lower prices on bolts that are running low or are out of season. Watch for seasonal sales, too. My cardinal rule for buying fabric: Buy fabric you love in the best quality you can afford — you'll be glad you did.
Choosing fabric is one of the most fun and enjoyable parts of quiltmaking. As a beginner, you may want to rely on the pattern you are using for fabric cues. If you're a skilled seamstress with a well-developed sense of color, pattern, scale, and design coordination, fabric choice will come more easily. Beginners may find it easy to simply copy the color scheme shown in the pattern they are following — but not necessarily with the same fabrics. By the time most books and patterns are in print, the specific fabric prints and colors shown are often no longer available or are difficult to find. If you love the design but not the color scheme in the pattern, substitute fabrics in a color palette you love.
A majority of the block designs you will use in patchwork quilts are made of two or more fabrics in two or more colors. The success of your project will depend on how well you select fabrics for the right amount of contrast in the patches within the blocks. When there is good contrast in value (lightness compared to darkness), the desired design in each block and in the completed project is easy to see.
Color in quilts is a subject large enough to explore in long chapters and in full-length books; two good ones are named in the Reading List. Following are some basic guidelines for choosing fabric for your quilts.
Color and Value Basics
It's easy to select fabrics for a two-color quilt: Choose one light background print and one medium or dark print. Red and white, blue and white, tan and black, pink and ecru — there's an endless list of possible two-color combinations. If you opt for this scheme, you may use only two fabrics, one light print and one dark, or you may choose several fabrics that are in the same color family of each of the two colors for more variation and visual interest. Choosing several fabrics is a "scrappier" approach, and many quilters love scrap quilts.
When the design requires several different colors, you must pay attention to the color value of the fabrics. Value is the relative lightness or darkness when fabrics are placed next to each other. (Refer to the illustrations above.) Most patterns tell you what values you need with these descriptors: very light, light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, and very dark. However, as you select your own fabrics, you will need to determine if each of them stands out as a dark, shows up as a mid value, or "sits back" in the finished block as a light value. Also note on the previous page how two blocks of the same design can look very different, depending on where the values are placed.
When you use fabrics in a block that are very close to each other in values, the colors tend to "moosh" together, creating a softer and less obvious design in the blocks and the project overall.
When shopping for fabric, an easy way to determine relative value is to stack the bolts of fabric you've chosen, or fan them out on the cutting counter, and step back. Through squinted eyes, look for fabrics in the stack that seem to blend into each other too much; if necessary, substitute new fabric(s) for one or more of them to create more contrast in the values. This takes a little practice; get help from the quilt shop's sales staff.
Combining Prints in Quiltmaking
Pay attention to the scale of the printed design in each fabric you've chosen. Varying print types and motif scales makes designs more interesting. Too many large prints will probably moosh together, and lots of tiny prints will do the same thing. Better to combine fabrics with a range of motif sizes and types so they will stand out from each other.
Strategies for Selecting Fabric
Don't let fabric selection stop you in your tracks. Instead, use one or more of these strategies to develop your confidence:
* Study the pattern you are following for color values and print scale. Try to select similar-looking fabrics in your desired color palette.
* Begin with a multicolor focus print (see Fabric Selection Checklist) of medium- or large-scale motifs — a large floral, for example. Look for a dark- or medium-value print with at least three colors that you love. Use it as your inspiration to select other fabrics that will work with it. Use the squint test to see what they will look like when used together in the blocks. You aren't obligated to use this focus fabric in your actual project — it can just be a guide in color selection. Of course, go ahead and use it if you love it with the other fabrics you select.
* If a pattern calls for a solid color(s), substitute a mottled tone-on-tone print (also called a "low-volume" print) or a tiny print that reads as a solid from a distance or when using the squint test. These prints are a quilter's best friend because they help hide inaccuracies in piecing and quilting that stand out more clearly in a solid fabric. Subtle variations in color, value, and shading in tone-on-tone prints add movement and visual interest that you won't get with solids. Of course, that's not to say you cannot or should not use solid fabrics — some designs require solids for the desired effect. Traditional Amish-style quilts are a good example.
* Check out the fat-quarter bundles and other pre-cut fabric groupings (see box above) offered by many quilt shops. These are often perfectly color-and-value-coordinated fabric groupings from a single manufacturer's line that work well together. You may need to supplement these pre-cuts with additional fabrics.
* If all else fails, ask for help! Another pair of eyes is always a good test!
Fabric Selection Checklist
After choosing fabrics, use the list on the next page as a guide to make sure the combination you've chosen includes the suggested types listed, which will result in a pleasing overall design. If you are in doubt about how a fabric will work, it's a good idea to buy a little more fabric than required. This provides the leeway to make test blocks as the final check of your selections and replace one or more fabrics if necessary. Add unused fabrics to your stash.
* Focus print or theme fabric. This should exhibit a range of colors that fits into the color scheme you've chosen.
* Contrast. Look for varying values in relationship to each other (lights, mediums, and darks) for depth and definition in the quilt blocks.
* Visual variety. Include varying print scales for interest and to move the eye across and around the quilt. This prevents prints and colors from disappearing into each other in the quilt top.
* Zing. Throw in an accent color — a small amount of a bright, richly saturated color or one that is unexpected. A little goes a long way, and you probably won't want one at all in softer, more muted color schemes.
Border, Backing, and Binding Fabrics
It's best to choose border, backing, and binding fabrics when you select the fabrics for your quilt top. You are more likely to find fabrics that work with the block fabrics then, rather than waiting until you've finished the blocks — which could be a while depending on your available time. Fabric manufacturers develop new color palettes and print designs frequently, which means last year's pink is usually not the same as this year's.
Choose quilters' cottons for the borders, backing, and binding so they will handle and launder the same as the fabrics in your blocks. For the backing, choose a print with colors that complement the colors on the front of your quilt. A busy print for the backing is a great choice because it will help hide stitching imperfections in the quilting stitches.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "How To Make A Quilt"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Barbara Weiland Talbert.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION: Let’s Make a QuiltWhat Makes a Quilt a Quilt?
CHAPTER 1: Get Ready
Gathering Tools and Supplies: The Quilter’s Toolbox * Preparing Your Sewing Machine * Choosing a Quilt Project * Selecting Fabric * Selecting and Preparing Batting * Choosing Thread
CHAPTER 2: Essential Skills: Cutting, Sewing, and Pressing
Rotary Cutting Basics * Stitching a Perfect Seam * Press It Right
CHAPTER 3: Making Patchwork Blocks
Basic Piecing * Alternate Piecing Methods * Making a Log Cabin Block * Piecing Basic Triangle Units * Cut-No-Triangles Folded-Corner Piecing * Making the Sampler Blocks
CHAPTER 4: Assembling the Quilt Top
Easy Quilt Settings * Cutting and Adding Borders
CHAPTER 5: Finishing Your Quilt
Preparing the Quilt Top * Making the Quilt Sandwich * Quilt It! * Before Binding * Binding Your Quilt * Labeling Your Quilt * The Beginner’s Sampler Quilt
Resources and Links
Reading List
Index