Patchworking

[Stylish]

Who here does it, or has done it and how easy is it?

Stylish

I made my sister and her husband a patchwork bedspread as a wedding present. Done traditionally with fabric sewn round paper before sewing them all together by hand. It took me 18 months (the length of their engagement).
Loved doing it, very relaxing and could take bits to work (on nights), watch TV while doing it.
Never used a pattern or anything.
Not really difficult, just the end getting it all sewn put together (kingsize bed so rather large to work with).

Looks really nice on their bed, but their home is quite country-cottage style.

I do patchwork and quilting. I don't have Posey's patience though so I do it by machine (otherwise it would never get finished). I've made quite a few cot quilts and wall hangings and one full-size quilt, and I have a couple of projects under construction atm.

It can be as easy or difficult as you want. You can make some fantastic designs just by using squares or half-square triangles. There are quite a few quilting supply shops that do classes and you could easily learn the basics on one or two day course. There are also loads of on-line sites (mostly American).

Is it just sewing squares or triangles together? Or is there more to it?

Quick question, I have always wanted to do one, I have about 20 hectagons sewn together in my sewing box somewhere. Does the fabric have to be thick or can you use different ones. Does the thinner fray. My bits are six sided and I am not sure they are hectagons, whats the name of a six sided one

6 sides = Hexagon I think

Yes there is loads more to it Stylish, but most people start off with a quick and simple design. You can do a lot more than you think with very simple shapes, like seminole which is a native American style of patchwork (different parts of the world have hugely different styles). Seminole is basically strips of fabric sewn together, then cut at an angle and re-sewn, you would need to buy a rotary cutter to do this I think as it would be hard to cut strips accurately with sissors.

The first thing I made was a Double Irish Chain which is basically just squares and rectangles and only 3 colours and it went together very quickly. Nice picture here (not of my quilt).

I'd recommend Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fasset, I've made a couple of things from the book and I found that he has great clarity in writing about technique and some really lovely designs from simple shapes.

UCM, usually it's best to use the same weight (and thread count) of fabric for the entire piece, this is because heavier fabrics tend to pull the lighter ones out of shape. If you want to use a very lightweight fabric you could always back it with another fabric. You can buy spray fabric "glue" that will temporarily hold the two fabrics together while you work.

Thanks bran, I bought a bag of remnants out of a curtain shop and they were of different thickness. So I wasn't sure. I was sewing burgundy silk next to cream jacquard and I remember thinking at the time, this isn't going to cope together.

How do you find your fabric. Do you do charity shops for curtains etc.

Was reading earlier about peoples qualifications, I am definitely on the 'thicko' list as they would have known what a Hexagon was.

I am just in the process of making my first patchwork "quilt" thingy - it's actually a rug thing for ds to lie on that I can chuck in the washing machine when he pukes on it. I've used thick and thin fabrics together so I hope it goes the distance! I wanted it to be tactile so I have used felt, satin, waffle, gingham, corduroy, velvet etc as well as cotton. It's all in greens and blues. I am quilting it atm but haven't quite worked out how to bind the edges. I made 10cm squares and patched it using the sewing machine. Some of the squares don't match up but I am disproportionately proud of it!!

Any tips on binding very gratefully received!

UCM - I got those books of fabric (usually upholstery fabrics) from the charity shop. Tend to all be same weight then, just slightly different pattern or shades of colour.
Miaou - sorry can't help with binding!

Quick post because dh wants the computer to do important stuff.

Miaou - I did a quick google and came up with this for the binding. It's not terribly clear so I'll try and find something a bit better when I'm back online. If you can borrow a copy of Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fasset it would help you a lot, that's the one I learned to do binding from. Also are you quilting it diagonally (from corner to corner of each square) rather than along the seams? Diagonal quilting would stabilise it slightly better. I'm sure it will be fine though, it's not supposed to be a work of art and your ds will still love it even if it goes a bit baggy in places.

No, not quilting diagonally - my squares are too skewiff for that!!

Will investigate the Kaffe Fasset book at my lovely library. Am a great fan of his needlepoint. Actually, I have got a book on starting patchwork upstairs, will have a look at that too.

I'm thinking I might quilt some patterns into some of the squares - might give it a go anyway.

Thanks for the advice - I'll see if I can inveigle dh into putting a photo up when it's finished!

ooh just had a good look at the link bran - thanks, that's really helpful!

Miaou, what that link didn't tell you was how to do a long strip (although you may know this already). Cut your 2" strips across the width of the fabric. Lay 2 strips, right sides facing, in a cross, with the bulk of on strip going towards you and the bulk of the other going left and only very short bits going up and right. Make sure all your angles are 90 degrees then pin and use a pencil to mark a line from the top left corner to the bottom right. Sew along this line, then open out to make sure it forms a continuous strip before trimming the fabric on the short sides to about 1/4" from the seam (making sure the selvedge is completely cut away). Iron the seam open.

UCM, I buy specialist quilting fabric which is quite expensive but much easier to work with now that I'm experienced enough to be doing very intricate work. I find that most of the quilt shops in the UK stock quite flowery and conservative fabric so I often buy from the USA and have it shipped. I love to drool over Hancocks of Paducah or Cotton Club . I used to get very good value end of lines from Denver Fabrics but they don't do quilting fabrics any more.

Fio I had forgotten that you were a quilter too. We should arrange a MN meet-up at the next Festival of Quilts. I went on my own to the last one and although I really enjoyed it I missed being able to discuss colour and technique with my friend (who couldn't go at the last minute). Have you ever had a look at Jan Mullen's book? I made the butterfly one that's on the cover and it made up very quickly. Basically you use an oversized piece of material to make the block and then you trim it down to size and it's supposed to be lop-sided and skewiff. I really enjoyed doing it.

At the moment I'm doing a foundation pieced quilt (where you sew onto a paper template) in quite muted colours but I'm a bit bored with it as I usually use very bright fabrics. I may put it aside for the time being and start something else that fires my imagination a bit more.

That looks like a fab book FioFio, I like the cover. I'm not into embroidery atm, mostly because I want my quilts to be washable and I fear that my needlework is so bad that it would just come undone very easily. I have been thinking about doing applique though as at the moment I don't really have anything that I can sit in front of the tv and do.

Thank you for the advice, I have now finished my quilt and ds has "christened" it (ie dribbled and posseted on it ). Am very proud of the resulting article.

I love seeing handmade things being well used Miaou, I have very fond memories of patchwork curtains that my mum made for my room when I was little. I used to lie in bed and let my eyes wander over the pattern as I fell asleep. Now that I do patchwork myself I can't believe that she had the patience to make them, the windows are quite big and the patchwork was hexagons (backed onto card and hand sewn).