hobby rec: quilt-making
Dec. 1st, 2023 10:26 pmFor #DecRecs this year I will be recommending a hobby or craft each week!
Today at![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
verity's suggestion I would like to recommend quilt-making as a hobby!
I recently sewed my first ever pieced quilt top and it was so much fun. I'm about to start the second half of making it into a quilt, which is quilting the top together with the batting and the backing to make a proper blanket sandwich, and I'm really pumped about doing that too!
One of the cool things about this hobby is that it can be like a whole bunch of different hobbies masquerading as one, but also, it doesn't have to be. Depending on which aspects are enjoyable to you, you can pick and choose your approach.
1. You can design your own patterns from scratch, for both the piecing and the quilting! But you don't have to, you can also make liberal use of the many, many patterns that are available by looking in the library for books or by searching the internet for options. Quilt-making is a hobby with SO many resources available, seriously.
2. You can put effort into choosing the perfect fabrics that create the effect you want! But you don't have to, you can purchase quilt kits with everything included, even the fabric, if you don't like that part. Or just find approximate matches for the fabrics used in the original pattern. Or just use whatever random scraps of worn clothing and linens and leftovers from other sewing projects you want!
3. You can carefully sew together a pieced quilt top! But you don't have to, quilts with a single-fabric single-colour top to show off the quilting design are a classic as well. And if you do want to do piecing, then the pieced top can be any degree of simple or complex. You could do a single massive nine-patch, you could do a top made entirely of postage-stamp-sized triangles, you can do all the complex curves of a double wedding ring design, you can do a scrappy quilt, you can do a freeform art quilt, you can do applique (where you sew pieces of fabric down onto a backing to create the design, instead of piecing the fabrics together), and so much more!
4. You can hand-quilt the entire thing, but you don't have to, you can also learn how to machine-quilt with a long-arm machine, or if you don't want to do that, there are places where you can pay someone else to do the long-arm machine quilting for you. And if your quilt isn't too big you can quilt it on a regular home sewing machine even. And this isn't technically a "quilt" but I won't tell if you don't - you can turn your pieced top into a knotted comforter, as a much faster way of connecting the layers of the blanket sandwich at home.
5. You can make lots of different things with piecing and quilting, it doesn't have to only be for bedspreads! Yes you can make a quilt for your bed, or a lap-quilt, or a baby blanket. But by using one or the other or both of piecing/quilting, you can also make pot-holders and wall-hangings and coasters and postcards and pillow covers and clothing and more!
6. The world of different aesthetics is also wide open to you. There are plenty of traditional quilt patterns and fabric choices you can make, but there's also SO much more out there beyond that, doing incredible things, in so many different styles.
7. You can even go extra hardcore and dye your own fabric if you want. My aunt used to do that and made the most amazing gradient-colour quilts because she had complete control over the shades of colour in each of the squares on her quilt top! Heck you could even weave your own fabric to make a quilt out of if you really wanted to.
All of this means that there are always new aspects you can choose to explore if you want to increase the challenge for yourself, but there are easy ways to approach it that don't have to be intimidating if you haven't done much of this kind of sewing before. A choose-your-own-adventure where the results will be beautiful and the process will be satisfying regardless!
For my current quilt project, here's how I approached it:
1. I searched the internet for free baby quilt patterns, and found one where I liked the underlying pattern and thought it would be doable with my level of sewing skills - but the way colours were used did not bring out aspects of the pattern in a way I found attractive. So I took that pattern and plotted out a variety of other colourways using the highly sophisticated tool of microsoft paint and figured out an approach that I thought worked much better.
2. When I had the design plotted out with the intended colour choices, I went to the local fabric shop and browsed their quilting fabric section for honestly hours, searching for fabrics that complemented each other, that worked in the design, that were fabrics I thought were pretty, and that were the right degree of light/medium/dark (the usual advice for traditional quilts is that they generally look best when you have a combination of all three!). I think it would be easier to come into a fabric store less attached to an exact specific colourway for a quilt pattern and be open to rejig it as the spirit moves and as the fabric options allow, but for this particular quilt I had a colour mandate as it is a gift for a friend whose nursery has a colour theme, so I worked hard to find the right colours.
3. Then I cut and sewed and ironed and sewed and ironed and sewed and ironed some more a whole bunch! I was very intimidated getting started on this part because I am a very particular sort of person and I wanted to be sure I was doing things Right, but once I got going I was amazed at just how fun it was. It turns out that piecing a quilt satisfies the same part of my brain that looooooooves to put together jigsaw puzzles, only with quilt piecing, you come out the other side with a useful creation you can do things with! This is like, a revelation. I'm breaking up with jigsaw puzzles. They're fun but they can't outcompete piecing quilt tops.
4. My plan is to hand-quilt it; I love hand-sewing, I find it very peaceful and meditative. I'm looking forward to doing this part, once I've basted everything together and borrowed a sufficiently enormous embroidery hoop from my sister! I'm going to quilt "in the ditch" (basically, just quilting alongside various seams instead of making any fancy patterns with my lines of stitches). It's a complex enough pieced top that quilting patterns aren't needed to add visual interest, so quilting in the ditch is easiest and most straightforward.
And then I'll just fold the backing fabric over the edges and sew it down to enclose it, and it'll be done! Probably not till after the baby's born at this point, but so it goes, I know someone who regularly does not finish baby quilts until the babies in question are 2 years old, so if I'm even just a few months late I'll still be doing well!
I grew up in the sort of household where quilts were normal and where I was taught the basics of how to sew from a young age, and then as an adult I have done a fair quantity of practical sewing which has strengthened my skills, so I felt pretty confident in diving into a relatively complex pattern my first go. And although it's not perfect, it's still beautiful, so I feel great about it. But you don't have to start at this level of complexity if you don't want to! Start at whatever level feels comfortable or intriguing or exciting to you! and join me in quilting!
Today at
verity's suggestion I would like to recommend quilt-making as a hobby!I recently sewed my first ever pieced quilt top and it was so much fun. I'm about to start the second half of making it into a quilt, which is quilting the top together with the batting and the backing to make a proper blanket sandwich, and I'm really pumped about doing that too!
One of the cool things about this hobby is that it can be like a whole bunch of different hobbies masquerading as one, but also, it doesn't have to be. Depending on which aspects are enjoyable to you, you can pick and choose your approach.
1. You can design your own patterns from scratch, for both the piecing and the quilting! But you don't have to, you can also make liberal use of the many, many patterns that are available by looking in the library for books or by searching the internet for options. Quilt-making is a hobby with SO many resources available, seriously.
2. You can put effort into choosing the perfect fabrics that create the effect you want! But you don't have to, you can purchase quilt kits with everything included, even the fabric, if you don't like that part. Or just find approximate matches for the fabrics used in the original pattern. Or just use whatever random scraps of worn clothing and linens and leftovers from other sewing projects you want!
3. You can carefully sew together a pieced quilt top! But you don't have to, quilts with a single-fabric single-colour top to show off the quilting design are a classic as well. And if you do want to do piecing, then the pieced top can be any degree of simple or complex. You could do a single massive nine-patch, you could do a top made entirely of postage-stamp-sized triangles, you can do all the complex curves of a double wedding ring design, you can do a scrappy quilt, you can do a freeform art quilt, you can do applique (where you sew pieces of fabric down onto a backing to create the design, instead of piecing the fabrics together), and so much more!
4. You can hand-quilt the entire thing, but you don't have to, you can also learn how to machine-quilt with a long-arm machine, or if you don't want to do that, there are places where you can pay someone else to do the long-arm machine quilting for you. And if your quilt isn't too big you can quilt it on a regular home sewing machine even. And this isn't technically a "quilt" but I won't tell if you don't - you can turn your pieced top into a knotted comforter, as a much faster way of connecting the layers of the blanket sandwich at home.
5. You can make lots of different things with piecing and quilting, it doesn't have to only be for bedspreads! Yes you can make a quilt for your bed, or a lap-quilt, or a baby blanket. But by using one or the other or both of piecing/quilting, you can also make pot-holders and wall-hangings and coasters and postcards and pillow covers and clothing and more!
6. The world of different aesthetics is also wide open to you. There are plenty of traditional quilt patterns and fabric choices you can make, but there's also SO much more out there beyond that, doing incredible things, in so many different styles.
7. You can even go extra hardcore and dye your own fabric if you want. My aunt used to do that and made the most amazing gradient-colour quilts because she had complete control over the shades of colour in each of the squares on her quilt top! Heck you could even weave your own fabric to make a quilt out of if you really wanted to.
All of this means that there are always new aspects you can choose to explore if you want to increase the challenge for yourself, but there are easy ways to approach it that don't have to be intimidating if you haven't done much of this kind of sewing before. A choose-your-own-adventure where the results will be beautiful and the process will be satisfying regardless!
For my current quilt project, here's how I approached it:
1. I searched the internet for free baby quilt patterns, and found one where I liked the underlying pattern and thought it would be doable with my level of sewing skills - but the way colours were used did not bring out aspects of the pattern in a way I found attractive. So I took that pattern and plotted out a variety of other colourways using the highly sophisticated tool of microsoft paint and figured out an approach that I thought worked much better.
2. When I had the design plotted out with the intended colour choices, I went to the local fabric shop and browsed their quilting fabric section for honestly hours, searching for fabrics that complemented each other, that worked in the design, that were fabrics I thought were pretty, and that were the right degree of light/medium/dark (the usual advice for traditional quilts is that they generally look best when you have a combination of all three!). I think it would be easier to come into a fabric store less attached to an exact specific colourway for a quilt pattern and be open to rejig it as the spirit moves and as the fabric options allow, but for this particular quilt I had a colour mandate as it is a gift for a friend whose nursery has a colour theme, so I worked hard to find the right colours.
3. Then I cut and sewed and ironed and sewed and ironed and sewed and ironed some more a whole bunch! I was very intimidated getting started on this part because I am a very particular sort of person and I wanted to be sure I was doing things Right, but once I got going I was amazed at just how fun it was. It turns out that piecing a quilt satisfies the same part of my brain that looooooooves to put together jigsaw puzzles, only with quilt piecing, you come out the other side with a useful creation you can do things with! This is like, a revelation. I'm breaking up with jigsaw puzzles. They're fun but they can't outcompete piecing quilt tops.
4. My plan is to hand-quilt it; I love hand-sewing, I find it very peaceful and meditative. I'm looking forward to doing this part, once I've basted everything together and borrowed a sufficiently enormous embroidery hoop from my sister! I'm going to quilt "in the ditch" (basically, just quilting alongside various seams instead of making any fancy patterns with my lines of stitches). It's a complex enough pieced top that quilting patterns aren't needed to add visual interest, so quilting in the ditch is easiest and most straightforward.
And then I'll just fold the backing fabric over the edges and sew it down to enclose it, and it'll be done! Probably not till after the baby's born at this point, but so it goes, I know someone who regularly does not finish baby quilts until the babies in question are 2 years old, so if I'm even just a few months late I'll still be doing well!
I grew up in the sort of household where quilts were normal and where I was taught the basics of how to sew from a young age, and then as an adult I have done a fair quantity of practical sewing which has strengthened my skills, so I felt pretty confident in diving into a relatively complex pattern my first go. And although it's not perfect, it's still beautiful, so I feel great about it. But you don't have to start at this level of complexity if you don't want to! Start at whatever level feels comfortable or intriguing or exciting to you! and join me in quilting!
