52 of my favorite modern quilts from QuiltCon 2024.
machine finished hand applique workshop
52 of my favorite modern quilts from QuiltCon 2024.
Get started with this beginner's guide to crumb quilting. Explore the materials, techniques, and tips for completing a beautiful quilt!
Lately I've been busy with foundation paper piecing which quickly became my favourite. It is a great way of making pictures, images with fabric.…
A detailed step by step guide with illustrations and infographics for turned edge applique using paper backed fussible web.
Going to sleep under your average, run-of-the-mill, storebought duvet feels nothing like snuggling under an artistic quilt that you or your loved one made for you. With affection. With care in every stitch. With countless hours of skill and dedication.
How to Design a Simple Art Quilt. Create an image and make it into an Art Quilt. Fabric scrap and fusible web will make it simple and quick
No longer are you stuck with boring simple baby quilt kits. Continue reading for 10 modern patchwork quilts you can start this weekend!
It has been a weird week. I am running up against the deadline for finishing the "Elements" pieces and I essentially lost two days this week. Monday morning I woke up with a stiff neck and by bedtime I was in a serious amount of pain. Did not sleep and by morning I was in such pain and fear of what might be causing it that I went straight to the Urgent Care Clinic near us. It was a strained trapezius muscle in my neck, making my neck impossible to move without screaming, hot pain and sending tentacles of pain winding up around my skull. The recommendation was rest and drugs and sleep and a soft cervical collar to support the weight of my head. So I lounged around all day on Tuesday reading and sleeping, felt a little better on Wednesday and much better today. So I was back in the studio this afternoon. "Water" should have been easy (that's why I left it for last), but I had a hard time settling on an idea. Close to my heart is the wetland area where we walk, so that began to take shape in my head. I started with an assortment of blue, gray and tan fabrics and fused some strips to form a base. At the end of today I had this: I think I am nearly there. A few additions, then I will trim it to size and bind it. Speaking of the wetland area, we had a surprise when we walked last week. Sofia was with us, and as we came around the corner near the Fanno Farmhouse, Beth and I were talking away and Sofia piped in "look at the turtle!" There, studiously digging in the dirt at the side of the trail, was a large turtle. I took its picture with my phone. That evening on the local news was a story of another turtle that was captured in a backyard several miles away. They are snapping turtles that have invaded the wetlands and creek. They are not native to the area and are thought to have been pets, originally, that were released into the creek and have bred there for years. This is the season when they come onto land to dig holes and lay eggs. They are quite destructive, eating the native fish, frogs, even baby ducks and can take a finger off if you are dumb enough to offer it to one. We found this one pretty interesting and were happy to have encountered it until we learned later what pests they are. If we see another we are advised to call the Parks department or Fish and Wildlife, who will come and take it away. Wish I had known. Now I am on the lookout when we walk.
Dear Liza, This week, I have learned about a whole new kind of quilting! It has been an adventure in history, geography, and craft. Kawandi quilting is from Western India and Pakistan, but it was b…
Hi Everyone, Well, my first day of spring break was completely unproductive. But it felt GOOD to be unproductive! haha! Thank you so much for all of your positive feedback and comments on my finished project. I really appreciate them. I am very excited by how Finding my Marbles turned...
We've put together a list of the best quilt jacket patterns you can try out for your next project.
I love how bright and cheerful this sunshine baby quilt is! I’m a big fan of bold and bright colors. This was made using fabrics from my stash...
Free applique patterns for you to print off including letters, numbers, stars, hearts, elephants, birds and more. Page includes instructions for how to applique baby clothes for an easy homemade baby gift idea.
I love the look of Flying Geese Quilts and here are 15 inspiration projects to get you making a flying geese quilt of your own!
I actually really LOVE the art of appliqué! Even though I don't use it that much (practically never) but I do love seeing others' works on the Internet and appreciate the artistry so much :) My October project that I've mentioned earlier in this post is also appliqué-friendly and, personally, I'm going to experiment a little in this field! So I thought if anyone wants to try the same I should tell a bit more about the methods of applique in advance. Method 1 So, the first thing you should remember is that the majority of fabrics tend to fray on the edge. And because of this, if you just simply baste a cutout to the ground fabric, eventually it will fray quite a lot even if at first it doesn't look like it. However, sometimes this kind of ragged and frazzled edge might be the desired effect! Especially, for enthusiasts of rustic style. In such cases, this method is what you need. And, basically, all you need to do is just work back stitch along the whole shape, stepping a little away from the edge. Make your stitches rather small so that all of the fibers are secured. I'm using quilting cotton in this example and it doesn't really fray that much – I frayed it myself for this picture as well as I could. However, if you use linen, for example, it is likely to fray a lot easier and the fibers might pull apart right in front of the stitches. In this case, your back stitching should be even smaller. Method 2 If you don't want the edges to fray, you can work buttonhole (blanket) stitch around the shape. You can work it more densely, of course, like I did in one of the examples in this post. By the way, I'm using a thread of contrasting color for all of the appliqué methods in this article to make it more clear. Naturally, you can use thread of a color similar to the appliqué cutout if you don't want it to stand out too much. Ah, and this method is commonly used in felt applique! Method 3 Now, if you don't want any fraying to take place but also don't want to work a border of buttonhole stitch around it, you can use a fusible interfacing! :) Instructions are easy: 1) cut a piece of interfacing material equal to the piece of fabric you want to apply it too, 2) interfacing material has two sides, one of which is adhesive. Put the interfacing piece with the adhesive side up, and lay the fabric piece on top of it, with its backside down and face up. In conclusion, the adhesive side should be next to the backside of the fabric. 3) iron it thoroughly (settings of heat are according to the type of fabric) staying for several seconds in one place. When you have applied interfacing with the fabric, cut the shape out of it. The thing is, the fibers are now glued from underneath so they are going to hold together and are very unlikely to fray. It is almost like paper. Well, unless you expose it some rough tugging like in a washing machine or if you use it on everyday clothes So, what you will do now will depend on your artistic choice. If you want it to look raw like it is, you can baste it down with tiny running stitches of similar color. Or you can use any decorative stitch, you can find many on the Stitch Library. I used french knots here :) Method 4 This one is likely to look a bit more dimensional, but there is like 0 chances for any fraying to happen. And again, we need interfacing material (it will give a certain advantage but actually you can use another fabric, I will mention it below). BUT we need to put fabric and interfacing material in a different manner now! So, what we do is we put fabric face up, and then we lay interfacing material with adhesive side down. So, the face of the fabric and the adhesive side are supposed to be looking at each other. Then you can draw the shape down and backs titch along the edge. Cut the shape out with a seam allowance and cut a slit in the interfacing material. The turn it out. Now you have a shape like this – face of the fabric up and adhesive side down. You can now place it where you need on the ground fabric and iron it down. If you want to secure it even better, you can stitch a border of buttonhole stitch again, or baste it down in any other way. Or you can work invisible stitch like I did in this example. Like I mentioned, this method can be used with a different fabric instead of interfacing material. Just skip the ironing part and baste the piece down in the way you prefer the most :) So, here are 4 methods for your fabric appliqué! As for me, methods 2 and 3 are what I'm more likely to use but in the end, it all depends on the situation. Hope you find the method you of your liking too and try some appliqué in your next project! :)
How To Make A Puff Quilt The Easy Way ~Bubble Quilt ~ Puffer Quilt. Free sewing Tutorial
As the fall arrives and summer winds down, I find myself thinking about images that relax me. I just finished this art quilt in early September. It transports me back to quiet afternoons at Long Beach Island in NJ with my family or visits to the Outer Banks in NC. Beaches are universal. After creating Read the full article...
Happy New Year! Despite the long pause in postings, I did actually complete a few more sewing projects in 2014. January 2014 - Drawstring book bags for Allie and Cate's birthdays February 2014 - Robert Hughes baby quilt (I really need to consider taking a "how to photograph your quilts" workshop:) quilted with stars and spirals May 2014 - Amy Becker's HS graduation lap quilt Amy picked out fabrics at Fabric Depot during her Portland visit, Christmas 2013. I supplemented with a few fabrics I found at The Stitching Post and at Kapaia Stitchery during a trip to Kauai (always looking for an excuse to fabric shop). The blue batik with butterflies was the first fabric Amy chose. Other colors were built around that. quilted with vining flowers and leaves Now Amy has this nice warm lap quilt - perfect for her college years at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She assures me that it does get cold there, especially when the air conditioner is running. November 2014 - New curtains and duvet set for the Sisters house After 20 years, Stefanie and I decided it was time for a change in the upstairs bedroom in our Sisters house. We found some curtain fabric at IKEA (seen below in the medium-sized pillows). After a futile search for a coordinating duvet cover I decided we just needed to make our own. Not as cheap, but so much more fun! On the bed in Anna's old room at our house (tempted to keep it here, but...) Had to add a border piece as it was just a bit too small. Found a fun coordinating fabric at The Stitching' Post. Shams and throw pillows. The quilting in the shams mimics the print in the curtain fabric. All set up in its new home. On to 2015... January 2015 - Jeanne's lap quilt This quilt was made for my good friend and fellow swimmer, Jeanne. She will be out of the water for a bit, recuperating from surgery, so of course this called for a quilt! My daughter, Anna, suggested the colors - perfect for a swimmer. Another swimmer friend, Jenn, joined me for a shopping trip to Fabric Depot and also helped with part of the sewing. Sandi and Jeanne The design incorporates over 60 small blocks with names of some of Jeanne's friends. Next Up???? cityscape art quilt based on a photo of Roussillon, France art quilt based on our Croatia travels last September flower/plant themed art quilt for the Hardy Plant Society Hortlandia Plant Sale in April hopefully taking Hilde Morin's Bowl Art class
There's an imminent new arrival in our extended family, so it's time for me to get working on another version of my baby beach scenes. Simon suggested I incorporate surfing since the father is a keen surfer. That was the starting point for my designing, anyway. I ended up with this row of (potentially surfable?!) waves which will go across the top of the reef/water section, and I started by piecing them. I divided the waves into organic shapes, much like those I used in the much larger Australian scene and space quilts, which I could then piece from different colour water fabrics. The first step was to trace these onto mid-weight non-woven interfacing and mark some registration points along the curved seams to help piece thems evenly, then cut the pieces apart. After carefully selecting the fabrics to use for each piece (colour, and a smooth gradation was the main consideration)I placed the interfacing patter piece directly on the fabric and drew around it with a air-erasable marker, adding the 1/4in seam allowance by eye as I went. I then added the registration marks and the piece number with a fine-tip permanent pen before cutting it out. I've saved all the interfacing pieces in case I want to do the waves again. Then I pinned all the pieces in place on my pattern and checked I was happy with my fabric choices. Then it was just a case of gradually sewing them all together, carefully easing the curves. The wave section is all done now and will be pieced to the top of the reef/water section once that's done (the bottom is straight-ish).
Want to wow everyone with your applique then check out how to create interesting fabric for applique pieces - tutorials
Appliqué is a fun way to express yourself with fabric. Learn How to Applique Like a Pro by following these easy steps. It's easier than you think.
Quilt Making Tutorials Articles and Tutorials for making quilts, from designing, cutting, piecing, and quilting.
Free applique patterns for you to print off including letters, numbers, stars, hearts, elephants, birds and more. Page includes instructions for how to applique baby clothes for an easy homemade baby gift idea.
Stitch a fox applique with this step-by-step tutorial. Free templates included.
If you been looking to try out hand quilting but don’t know where to start, this is for you! Check out these quilting tutorials for hand quilted…
Going to sleep under your average, run-of-the-mill, storebought duvet feels nothing like snuggling under an artistic quilt that you or your loved one made for you. With affection. With care in every stitch. With countless hours of skill and dedication.
This project has been in the works since August and I'm so excited to have it finished and gifted to my new baby nephew! My sister...
Never made a quilt as you go block before? This tutorial will show you all about quilting as you go method - easy and for beginners!
Hand quilting is the technique of sewing together the three layers of a quilt (batting between two layers of fabric) in a decorative freehand stitch.
The bargello technique can be used to create backgrounds for applique, to showcase landscape prints, and to use up your stash. In a previou...
Join us as we learn how to make picture quilts with expert fiber artist Wendy Butler Berns whose method is simple, fast, and oh-sew fun!
I have to be honest, I had always looked at beautifully hand-quilted quilts and thought, “Well, that’s just crazy.” Although I loved the look feel and texture that hand quilting added to a project, I never saw myself doing such intricate work. The funny thing is, I love hand embroidery. Ah, the slow pace, the relaxation of having a project to work on at all times (I always have a hand embroidery project in my purse); and the satisfaction of finishing something that only required a simple needle and thread. I don’t know why it took my so long to realize that hand quilting is just one big hand embroidery project and usually using just one stitch, the running stitch! Hand quilting, especially in the modern quilting movement, has made a big resurgence in the last few years. Many quilters have discovered the beauty and added texture this simple stitch can add to a project. My personal favorite is big stitch quilting. This isn’t the hand quilting you would see on a traditional Hawaiian quilt or a hand quilted whole cloth quilt. Those quilts are normally done with a thinner thread and very small stitches so the quilted pattern shows through, not the thread. This style also takes exponentially longer to finish. With big stitch quilting, the thread really is the star, and that is why I like to do my big stitch quilting with Sulky 12 wt. Cotton Threads. Sulky 12 wt. Cotton is equal to about 2 strands of embroidery floss, so it will stand out nicely on the project, and the colors are luscious! Whether I am just doing several lines of big stitch quilting on some white fabric, Or quilting a pieced quilt top, This thread really changes an ordinary project into an extraordinary piece. The beauty of this is I am just doing a standard running stitch! Are you looking to try something new? Then join me in the Slow Stitch Movement. Check out all of Sulky’s 12 Wt. Cotton thread here and let’s start stitching! Happy Sewing.
Check out these picture quilt patterns and projects from the Bluprint community to inspire you to plan your first picture quilt.
A Quilted Halloween Story follows the adventures of an intrepid quilter as she weaves her way around quilt block names on a Halloween night.
