Patchwork Quilt (project) by hand

[xmyboys]

Just looking for help here.
I have fabric (gorgeous colours!) which I want to make into a quilt. I don't have room to set up a machine so want to do by hand. Will also have time to kill when dc start school and I will have to wait for them for pick up, want to be more productive than reading paper and mn on iPhone!

Am I mad?
Any tips?
I will have time (but also want to make time) to do it, so aware it will be a long slow process.

Oooh. I was thinking of doing this too. I'm going to lurk.

I've made several quilts entirely by hand. My tip to make it easy to pick up and put down is to do something that splits into sensible size blocks, and then put all the bits for each block into ziplock bags so you can just grab that.
English pieced work is more resilient to being toted round part done in your handbag than applique ime

Oooh, so it's not just me. Thanks for your replies.
Bran- the links didn't work but I did google this and yes it is gorgeous. Will definitely think about that design.
I have my fabrics lined up in an order that flows.
Have a sweet little wash bag to use to store it, not all the fabrics but thread and needles on one side and a small pocket on the other side for the fabric pieces.

Yes please

Love the 2nd picture Bran. Beautiful.

ooh - posting justto save my place. I want to do this too :)

I'm sure I dreamt quilts last night!

Thanks Bran for the links. I am loving the traditional one and the modern one and also this one:

www.quilterscache.com/images7/masakosGFG.jpg
NOW BRAIN SCATTER TRYING TO WORK OUT WHICH??

I've definitely decided to do a GFG quilt, they are just too gorgeous and I think will work best with my hand sewing option.

I think I will be lazy and order some wax paper templates online, iron these on the fabric pieces and get started. Maybe then do a layout with some of the above options and see which looks best with my fabrics.

My fabrics are colourful, 1930's inspired.

what are you all thinking??

bran - those are stunning sites. have added to my favourites.

i'm doing a hexagon quilt thingy - first i've ever done and i'm loving it. i'm using quite small hexagons and i'm using liberty fabric (tana lawn) only as i wanted the thicknesses and quality to be the same. i bought lots of scraps off ebay to do it. i'm doing it all by hand and it's extremely slow but very rewarding.

go for it!

and i agree with you bran, about her small diamonds being like leaves.

in fact i'm going to change the design of my quilt to echo her. gaaah - all those white hexagons i've done already... maybe i'll use those round the edge instead.

Warthog - are you doing it by hand? what process do you use if so?

yes i am doing it by hand. very old-fashioned way i'm afraid, as i learnt to do this in school which was a verrrry long time ago.

i have a geometry programme on my mac, so i drew hexagons with 2.5cm long sides - quite small. then i printed them out onto quite thick paper - photographic paper i think. then i cut them out. then i picked the fabrics i liked and used some of the patterns in the fabric to make patterns. then i sew the seven hexagons into a daisy shape. i've been using a contrasting colour for the middle. i'm still doing this bit and it's very slow going. i know it's going to take years because i keep leaving it to do other projects.

so i'll end up with lots of hexagon flowers and will have to lay them out so they work. then go from there.

you mentioned wax paper templates. they sound great! big time savers. where do you get those from?

I found them online here, not sure if this is the cheapest will have another search.

www.pelennapatchworks.co.uk/hexagon-freezer-paper-templates-2-inch-9543-p.asp

hmmm it is very tempting. i'm too far along in my quilt to change now, but it does look like it'll save you some time. although it seems like you still have to tack the fabric to it? or can you leave that step out?

think you would still have to tack the fabric but that's ok, not having to cut and rely on the accuracy of this is one step I'm happy to miss.

wartog - do you think the ironing on templates is overkill? If I will have to tack anyway, should I just use regular paper templates?

i don't know - i guess if you had silky / slippery material it would help a lot. you could try and see if it helps. I don't think it would help me that much for the general pieces, but if i were going to be doing very careful cutting and matching of patterns it might be extremely helpful.

it does take me ages to do the cutting though, and i spent a lot of time checking my templates.

don't forget that fabric can be quite forgiving and that your template can be a little bit out and it'll still work out in the wash.

thanks, my fabric is patchwork cotton so shouldn't be a problem. They had five packs of the templates left, so will give them a try, maybe as i go along I will be more confident and move onto paper ones (as long as they are the same size of course!)
K

sounds good! i found that when i wanted to cut out specific parts of the fabric to make a picture it was very hard to stop the fabric slipping out of place as i pulled it to make it taut. i'm sure your templates will help a lot then.

enjoy! keep us posted.

i did a "quilting-on-the-go" course by Carolyn Forster and that can all be done by hand.

You basically make the blocks, then quilt them leaving around 1inch around the block un-quilted, then sew the quilted blocks together a layer at a time. She does have a book, but when I did the course in June, she had sold out and the book was being re-printed. She is also working on book 2, which will be out next year some time. You might still be able to get the book from The Cotton Patch.

have you heard of "quilt as you go"? Have a google, it's great if you're strapped for space and time, as you do each block individually - including the actual quilting - and then piece it together at the end :)