Quilting for a beginner

[TheHungryCaterpillow]

First time I've thought about it...can use a sewing machine for very basic things. Is this a bad idea? DD keeps stealing my blanket for her play tent so I thought I'd make her something to go in it. Her tent is a hexagonal shape.

I've watched a few you tubes and I thought I'd give it a go. I have a question about the edge piece. In some it calls it binding, but in a few videos it seems just to be a normal piece of fabric. Is that what it is? Or do I need a special type of fabric for the edging?

What thickness batting should I be looking at? We have tiled flooring.

[theconstantvacuumer]

Hi, you need bias binding for the edge of the quilt. It can be sewn by hand or machine. Look at online haberdashery shops, it isn't expensive.

As for batting, if your sewing machine can cope with it, I'd got for nice thick batting if you have a tiled floor. I wouldn't worry about getting an expensive brand.

[TheHungryCaterpillow]

Thanks you! How thick is a nice thick one? Will it tell me somewhere in the manual what maximum thickness it can take? It's MIL's machine, on loan. I've managed to use it to repair Ds's clothes, but that's my total experience with it!

Can you suggest a few online shops?

[theconstantvacuumer]

Try Minerva Crafts. Use the search facility to look for batting and bias binding. Use SEW10 for 10% discount.

Also look at Flossie Teacakes website. She has some great instructions on how to make a quilt and a list of online shops that she recommends. Some of these are her sponsors and will have ads on her sites with discount codes.

I'm not an experienced quilter so perhaps someone will be along shortly with better advice!

[theconstantvacuumer]

I'm not sure what thickness, read the descriptions of different battings to see what suits.

Does your machine have a walking foot? That will help you sew through several layers.

[Marcipex]

I've made a couple of rag quilts as easy beginners pieces.
Basically, you make a lot of fabric sandwiches with wadding in the middle, sew them together , and fringe the seams.
Here is a pic of the one I made last week.
I think it's a lot easier than making a big top layer, big piece of backing, and trying to keep the wadding unpuckered.
My local shop makes choosing the wadding simple, by only stocking two kinds, cheap and expensive.
The cheap polyester one is so thick that I've split it into two layers for a less bulky quilt.

[LumelaMme]

For binding, you can cut ordinary fabric on the bias, fold it double and iron it. It's what I've always done and it works really well - I even used an old dress once and it's held up for ten years of daily use.

There are some very good books about machine piecing quilts and there must be some good youtubes too.

Nice work, Marci!

[YeOldeTrout]

I use regular fabric for my binding, never worried about bias, so far so good.

very thick quilt sounds daft to me, OP, can of worms.

Quilting is not same as patchwork, btw...

To be honest I use a darning foot for my quilting now, but that works with thinner quilts maybe.

[Marcipex]

Thank you Lumela

[OneofTHOSEWomen]

Bias binding tape is quite cheap. I just used tape for my first quilt and the thinnest batting in the shop.

[Marcipex]

Another method is to make the backing larger than the patchwork top and fold the edges up to make a sort of frame.
I find it hard to get it neat though. Don't look too closely.

[lurkerspeaks]

I love making my own bias binding... there are loads of tutorials on youtube but I would strongly suggest purchasing one of the metal bias tape makers if you are going down this route as they make pressing it so much easier!

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001701MHM/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2/277-8204938-4592530?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_r=10TC1F8YMER17SNBXV4H&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=569136327&pf_rd_i=B001703IYW&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Or you can buy it.