how easy is patchwork?

[AnAngelWithin]

just wondering really. was thinking of just making a small quilt for m daughters cot to start with but I don't know where to start and I can really afford to buy expensive books and patterns with DH being redundant. I can use a sewing machine to a reasonable standard but don't think I could manage anything complicated. Thanks.

ive never done this, except in school, but wsnt the point of patchwork originally to use up any scraps of material from other projects and make something useful out of them?

Basic patchwork, really easy. You just need to be accurate at cutting everything out, and sewing it together to make it look good.
I'm sure there are loads of ideas on the interweb, but I can't recomend any.

Always quite fancied the idea but I'm think I'm too slapdash to do a good job of it. A small quilt for the cot is a good thing to start with though.

A patchwork quilt is a quilt in which the top layer consists of patchwork consisting of pieces of fabric sewn together to form a design. The quilting design does not necessarily follow the patchwork design.

Originally, this was to make full use of left-over scraps of fabric, but now fabric is often bought specially for a specific design; today fabrics are even sold in quarter matres. (A fat quarter being one yard folded into four and cut, thus giving a square piece of fabric. Buying a quarter of a yard of fabric off the roll would result in you getting a long thin piece the width of the fabric but only 25cm wide which would limit the size of the patchwork pieces you could make from it).

Designs can be geometric and formal or imaginative.

The quilt is formed of three layers: the patchwork, a layer of insulating wadding (UK) or batting (US) and a layer of backing material.

These three layers are stitched together (i.e. quilted), either by hand or machine. This can either outline the patchwork motifs, or be a completely independent design.

The Amish people are famous for their geometric patchwork designs with independent patterns and quilting; typical motifs include floral designs and heart shapes.

In 1934 Carl Carmer published this list of quilt patterns mastered by "Mattie Sue" who was required by her parents in rural Northeast Alabama to complete one hundred quilts before being married.

I did it w/the girls' baby blankets. Just need to sew, basically.

And then used all the scraps left over from that to stuff draft excluders.

look through this site and links to see if you can find any ptterns

Maybe your local library has a couple of books you could borrow or browse through?

It's great fun and not hard. Have a look in the library for nice inspiring books with colour pictures and clear instructions.

You could try using squares to start with, as they are quick easy to machine stitch together. Hexagons and the like are more complex, involving paper templates and hand sewing.

thanks for the link stitch. I was looking on ebay and there are a lot of places selling bundles of 50-200 ready made 2", 4", 6" squares, strips etc, all ready to use. Would these be worth it do you think? Im rubbish at cutting out with the kids let alone anything else!

it depends entirely on how much you want to spend.
if money is an issue, then it would probly be best to stick with squares, and do it the old fashioned way! using up scraps of material
its sooooo easy to spend an absolute fortune on crafty bits.
actually, eve n if money isnt an issue, i would suggest cutting them out yourself. you will get better with practice. and its cheaper!

What a lovely idea to make a cot quilt. I definately think the packs are a great idea as you dont have to buy lots of different fabrics and then make a botch of cutting them up! The easiest 'pattern' is just to sew the squares together and make the quilt as big or small as you like. Ebay is great for packs of squares, or charm packs as they are sometimes called.
Good luck!
Anne

you can get instruction on how to do log cabin patchwork off the internet, and modern patchwork doesn't have to be the neat, perfect style it used to be. my mil is a patchwork & embroidery genius who deliberately does assymetric styles. log cabin is very easy, and doesn't need to be sewn too straight either, so long as the outside is a square, than you sew the square together.
i wouldn't bother buying bits off ebay unless they are really cheap - do you have any suitable leftovers you could use?

here