Everyone who sews has lots of small scraps. I use mine to make quilt tops. Cut muslin or light color fabric into strips 4 inches wide and as long as you want the quilt (maybe 3 yards). Or you can cut squares about 10-12 inches.
Each year, our family honors my grandmother who was a great seamstress and quilter by having a gathering we call the Barnhouse Bees. Every time we meet, we choose a theme for the following yearly bee.
I like to sew a lot. I wanted to make my friend's first baby a special quilt. I made the flock of geese pattern. The quilt was unique and I had a lot of fun with it.
My 85 year old mother-in-law lives with me. We've been buying fabric and notions at thrift stores for about a year now, costing us 2 dollars a Walmart sized bag. We decided it would be neat to make the family quilts for Christmas.
Update: Here is what I mean by "turning". When you make your squares, you turn one square opposite the other square so that one side goes horizontal and the other square the sides go vertical, and there is no need to match the seams.
When making quilts, I use old (clean) mattress covers for the fill. Cut to the size that you need.
When hand sewing, I am partial to quilting, I like to thread several needles to be ready when I have finished with one length of thread. To be even more organized, I prefer to use a magnet to keep the needles and threads straight so I don't have to stop what I am doing just to thread another needle.
When quilting with thin, flimsy fabrics, use "used" fabric softener sheets as an inexpensive backing. It gives it body and makes it a whole lot easier to work with.
When cutting several of the same shape, staple several layers of the paper needed or fabric needed and cut several at one time. If you are cutting paper put your staples outside your pattern lines on three sides.
I do a lot of quilting and, as you know, you have to iron a lot of quilt pieces. I was always running out of water for the iron. I have found a really neat way to have lots of water and be able to pour it in your iron without spilling it everywhere.
Make the quickest most accurate quilt you'll ever make using a gridded stabilizer. It's made with one inch squares, but you can use any size squares you want. I place the squares in the area I choose, use the tip of my iron to make them stick till I get all the squares on.
For drawing quilting paper-pieced blocks, I take a piece of template plastic (available at Joann's very cheap), and then cut small grooves using an Exacto knife and a cutting mat, corresponding to the lines of the pattern.
When you are working on quilt squares, a perfect carrying case for all your stuff you need is a pizza box. The squares stay nice and flat and all your tools and thread fits just fine.
I have been working on a queen size quilt and not sure how to tie a quilt. Do I knot the corners of each block which are 9 in blocks? Any suggestions? Thanks
You are probably going to want to tie the quilt about every three to four inches. So put a tie in on each of the corners and one in the middle of the square. I have made a few tie quilts, but my grandmother made a lot of them.
Tie the knot in each corner my wife said. Hope this helps.
I tied one every 3 inches that seemed to work well. I went across and then the next row alternated so the ties staggered and not all in a line. Hope this helps. I used embroirdery thread to tie with. I bought a spool of it for a dollar something.
Thanks so much for all your responses. I managed to finish my quilt and very happy with it.
I use iron on backing to make the quilt pieces easier to work with.
I have bags of clothing (stained or ripped) that I want to make a simple quilt with. Can anyone tell me the easiest pattern for a beginner? I also have about 40 pairs of jeans.
By Marion R
