Embroidery

Happy Friday!

I was watching fiber artist Clara Nartey on Youtube the other day, and she asked a great question that I have often wondered myself about the Bayeux Tapestry. Why is it called a “Tapestery” when it is embroidery? I always thought the title had something to do with the size of the piece, I think, but I decided to look up the words embroidery and tapestry in the OED to see what I can find. Of course the tapestry itself is ancient, so maybe the name meant something different when the work was stitched. If you read my blog about the definition of a “quilt,” then you know I love a good definition and word hunt in the OED!

A crazy quilt block with the center embroidery worked on the surface of a stamped letter “I.”

The first definition for tapestry is, “A textile fabric decorated with designs of ornament or pictorial subjects, painted, embroidered, or woven in colors, used for wall hangings, ..” The definition goes on to say the fabric can be used for window treatments or festive balcony banners, and it discusses the nature of the woven fabric used for the banner itself. So I was right in my surmising that the name derives from the size and intended use of the textile. Also, the actual banner or what we call “background fabric” for the embroidery is probably woven in a specific way. I think the Bayeux Tapestry is worked on a fine linen making it a perfect tapestry and medium for embroidery. Embroidery is defined as “The art of ornamenting cloth and other fabrics with figures of needlework.”

A sampling of white work in bullion knots, french knots, button hole stitch, lazy daisy stitches, web work, and wheat sheaf stitches.

I believe Clara was questioning the evident missing element of embroidery in the name of the tapestry, and she is right to question that omission. Embroidery has long been marginalized as “woman’s work,” and The Subversive Stitch is an excellent discussion of the history of embroidery and its place in the art world. Perhaps embroidery was left out of the name to elevate the work, sadly. However, those of us who embroider by hand and by machine know that the embroidery is equal to or far surpasses the tapestry of the work. The embroidery is superb and the working of those stitches took years and probably several embroiderers. By not mentioning embroidery, that work is not given its due, especially in a modern world where we think a tapestry is woven.

Close up of the bird and “I” block in the center of the crazy quilt block. Stem stitches, satin stitches, fill stitches, and french knots help highlight the stamped design.

Embroidery is such a wonderful art form and it is so expressive, and the skill and artistry should be elevation enough for any piece. I’m proud to say I am an embroiderer, and I think I will start calling the Bayeux Tapestry the Embroidered Bayeux Tapestry. The nuns who stitched and worked the piece are artists in the full sense of the word. They reimagined a real battle in wool thread! I’m pleased the piece is receiving so much attention, too!

Hand embroidered pin cushion in crazy quilt pattern with each seam embellished with embroidery stitches.

Have a brilliant week,

Ginger

Reading Now: East of Eden…still beautiful. I am reading third Shady Hollow Mystery again to refresh myself and I am working on the middle of My Life in Middlemarch. Marianne Evans is fascinating! I am eyeing Margaret Atwood’s autobiography (of which I have a copy), on the heels of purchasing a beautiful used copy of The Robber Bride. I also found a book like My Life in Middlemarch except about Jane Austen novels called A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz. I have often argued that Austen is not Chick Lit, so I am intrigued, and it might give me an unneeded excuse to reread and read her novels….I love a full to be read pile!

Please listen to NPR for unbiased news and vote in the upcoming elections.

Quilting: The Stitching Together of the Three Layers

Happy Friday!

Whew, where is September going? I feel like time is flying far faster than my needles. Alas. Today I thought I would talk about quilting, the actual process of stitching the three (or more) layers together. My APQS Lenni is my longarm, and I do not have a computerized unit with it. A lot of long armers have computerized units that allow them to set up a pantograph (the quilting design) digitally, and then the computer guides the long arm through the stitching process. Computerized long arming is a wonder to behold and if set up and monitored by a skilled quilter, is very precise and error free.

I did not get a computer with my machine because it was not in my budget when I purchased my long arm, and because I had plans to quilt predominately T-Shirt and Memory quilts with my machine. T-Shirt and Memory quilts benefit from hand-guided quilting because I often add bits and bob (buttons, placards, pockets,..) to them, and I need to be able to easily sew around them. I usually use a meander pattern because I like that it is free motion and works well for quilting around items, and that it is a good background pattern. Meandering will likely never be the star of the show in quilting terms, so it is perfect for quilts where the clothing used is the star!

The picture shows a Classic T-Shirt quilt where all of the blocks finish at the same size in a grid pattern with sashing and borders. This quilt is a 9T. There is also a matching pillow, and both the quilt and the pillow feature the meander quilting I usually do with T-Shirt and Memory Quilts.

Becoming an expert at quilting my T-Shirt and Memory quilts led to me experimenting with other hand-guided techniques like ruler work, and now I also do Custom quilting for clients and myself. Custom quilting is when more than an edge to edge design is desired for the quilt, and I really enjoy working on a custom quilt where I use rulers and outlining, and thread color changes. I enjoy hand-guiding my long arm!

A custom quilted quilt I made from a vintage quilt pattern. The quilting adds so much texture to the sweet simple leaf applique.

A combination of hand guided freemotion loops with custom hand guided ruler work outlining the star applique.

Will I ever get a computer? Maybe…I am not against computerized quilting…I could set it and work on other things while it runs, but right now, I enjoy my Lenni’s capabilities as they are. Now if I had two long arm machines….

Have a brilliant week,

Ginger

Reading now: I am about half way in My Life in Middlemarch, which I am enjoying. I am learning so much about Marianne Evans! I started the second Shady Hollow mystery…it is cozy and fun. I started East of Eden, and wow…I forgot how lovely and beautiful Steinbeck’s writing is. Those first chapters where he is describing the Salinas Valley are sumptuous. Of course Steinbeck is very like Orwell…beautiful language that is so good even when it is describing horrible things. Jarring, emotive, and so damn good. The language, sentence structure, diction…all tickle my brain in good ways. Having just finished Eliot, I find myself comparing the styles and they are both excellent and a joy to read, but they are different. Eliot likes full, complex sentences, but Steinbeck tends more towards Hemingway…or maybe he is a good in between. Simple, stunning sentences that punctuate his longer more complex words. I have to think about it more. Maybe I should diagram a favorite sentence from each…that sounds fun! Have you ever diagramed a sentence…now that is a brain tickler! What are you reading?

NPR and PBS News Hour are excellent news sources. You can find unbiased even truths.

How to Make an American Quilt Update

Happy Friday! Whew…I don’t know about you, but my studio has been hopping this week. Are you busy, too? I sometimes feel like I am caught in a big project I am moving at a snail’s pace. I have been feeling like a snail this week because I have several big projects on the go at the moment. Though, I am making progress! Daily I see the fruits of my labor, but I still feel slow. I have to remind myself that my work is not meant to be fast paced…rushing only leads to disaster! I do try to keep a few smaller tasks and lists at hand, so that I can reach a finish and mark things off my lists, which helps.

Design wall view…I will have heart blocks to put up there soon!

One project that I can really see progress on lately, but is work that moves at a snail’s pace is the How to Make an American Quilt Project. I have referenced it before in this blog..it is a quilt I am making based on the 1990s movie of the same name, which is needle turn applique and hand quilting. A lovely customer tasked me to make this quilt, and he decided on the hand sewing route, which is employed in the making of the quilt in the film. I am finishing up the “Community” blocks, which have 39 pieces in each one. There are eight of those blocks. I am going to finish the last two blocks this weekend.

All eight community blocks; the last two are in progress…can you see my needle and thread in the left bottom one?

The blocks are so satisfying to make, and I look forward to my hand sewing time daily…I think I mentioned how much I enjoy that seeming indulgence. As you are well aware, I thoroughly enjoy all of my work in the studio…planning, cutting, pressing, machine sewing, stitch ripping an error, quilting, binding, photographing, writing…all of my work makes my days thoughtful and soothing. Rarely do I encounter a day where I would rather be doing something else. Hand sewing is especially sweet.

I’m looking forward to finishing the “Community” blocks, though, because the eight remaining blocks are all different, and they have different techniques in them that I am itching to do! I have been trying to decide where I will start…I’ll let you know!

Sending Happy Stitches,

Ginger

Reading Now: I am well into My Life in Middlemarch, and I am enjoying it…reading Middlemarch first was a good idea. I am halfway through Shady Hollow, and that cozy mystery does not disappoint. I am almost finished with Mozart’s Starling, and I have so many thoughts about that book…I read a lovely section about murmurations and our own souls last evening. I am awaiting the arrival of a copy of East of Eden in the post today…My reading life is as full as my sewing life…what are you reading?

All people deserve kindness. NPR is a great place for news and information. Unbiased, thoughtful reporting.

Happy September!

A lot has been going on in the studio this week: quilting some custom orders, binding those orders; tiny 5”x7” tractor quilts, fabric washing, binding making, pattern matching, t-shirt prep and hand sewing. I spent quite a bit of time hand sewing for the How to Make An American Quilt project. I almost have all of the “Community” blocks finished, which I had hoped to finish in August, but those blocks have 37 pieces that are needle-turn applique, and between the cutting out of the pieces and the sewing, the block takes hours to finish. I really have not timed myself (Because that exercise is never fun!) to see how long one block takes, but I think I might time the last two blocks…I’ll let you know! I think I will do an update next week for that project anyway…you might like to see all of my hard work.

Design wall sneak peeks of blocks…

I also spent a little bit of time, 10-20 minutes, each day sketching. I took a quick free Medieval marginalia dragon drawing class, and now I am imagining what all could be drawn in the margin of things…you know borders and sashing. I also love to sketch quilting patterns, and I have a new feather book that I am looking forward to drawing from for sketching and quilting ideas.

Daily sketches…

Orders are progressing, and this weekend, I am going to experiment with using a projector to scale my hand drawn quilt designs…I am really becoming quite high tech, even while I am hand sewing everyday! I wanted a vintage opaque projector (I used them early in my teaching career!), but we already have the modern, fancy projector, thus…I will adapt. I actually used a projector in the last few years of my teaching career, so I think I can manage!

Quilting and a tiny peek at a tractor tire from the tiny little quilts I have been working on.

I hope you have had a productive and fulfilling week! Have a brilliant three day weekend!

Sending Quilty Comfort,

Ginger

Reading Now: I am so close to finishing Middlemarch…that will happen during my lunch reading session! I am halfway through Mozart’s Starling, and I have many plans for my next reads. A new version of East of Eden by Steinbeck is coming out this month, so I may have to reread that…I absolutey loved it the first time I read it, but that was a long time ago! What are you reading?

The world is a very scary place and our democracy feels porous and vulnerable. Listen to NPR for the best most unbiased news.

Work...

“That depends,” said Caleb, turning his head on the side and lowering his voice, with the air of a man who felt himself to be saying something deeply religious. “You must be sure of two things: you must love your work, and not be always on looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honourable to you to be doing something else. You must have pride in your work and in learning to do it well, and not always be saying, There’s this and there’s that—if I had this or that to do, I might make something of it. No matter what a man is—I wouldn’t give twopence for him”—her Caleb’s mouth looked bitter, and he snapped his fingers—”Whether he was the prime minister or the rick-thatcher, if he didn’t do well what he undertook to do.”

Middlemarch by George Eliot

I read this quotation this past week, and it started me thinking about my own work…plus I love Caleb Garth; he is one of my favorite characters in Middlemarch! Of course Finished Fibers, LLC is my job; I am a business owner and artisan for my pay, but I always hesitate for a fraction of a second when I say “my work.” I don’t consider what I do in the studio as a job usually or work…a grind that I have to do daily. I have come to believe “work” for me is more akin to an artist’s work or oeuvre than the daily place where people go to earn money. I do have to meet deadlines, and I work with clients and their projects, not my own individual work, though, I do consider each project my own. My work is very personal both for my clients and myself.

Custom Quilting echo design on someone else’s applique.

So I find myself hesitating when I call what I do “work” because someone could easily misunderstand what I mean. My work is a job…as I said, I have a queue and deadlines and clients and marketing and bills and…work, a daily job that I do to earn money for my family and myself. My work is also my creativity and skills, all of the things that I love to do…planning, designing, fabric pulling, cutting, piecing, quilting, binding, hand sewing…I have the long term project of the “How to Make An American Quilt” quilt that I work on everyday, and it is all handwork, right now it is needle turn applique, and I usually reserve that hand work until the last hour or two in the studio (It finds its way to my TV time, too!), and I still feel a little indulgent when I sit down to hand sew. It is my work and I am being paid to make the quilt, but I also get so much joy from sitting down and hand sewing.

More custom quilting…

I am so lucky to have the joy of work for money that is so deeply intrenched in what I love to do. When I was teaching I often dreamed of my own studio space where I could work for hours, uninterrupted, on a sewing project, and now that is my work in all of its meanings. My work is my play, and I am so proud of it! I think Caleb Garth would be pleased.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I had to tape the front cover of my Middlemarch book back on…it is an old pocket paperback (791 pages which makes it a hefty little brick!) that I have read more than once, and I am almost finished…whew, so much is happening! I am also still reading Mozart’s Starling, and it is so interesting and thoughtful. I’m halfway through the book. What are you reading?

NPR is an excellent, unbiased news source. Stay informed with reliable sources.

Studio Upgrade and Reorganizing

Happy Friday! Whew…have you had a busy week, too? Of course lots of sewing, planning, cutting, quilting, and finishing has been going on this week, but I also finished up a studio upgrade, and a couple of weekends ago, I spent the weekend cleaning and reorganizing after adding a new piece of furniture to the office.

The image shows the new cedar trunk below the front window of the office. The trunk is brown with faux drawers and detailing on the front and graceful Queen Anne legs.

I have been looking for a desk to go between my two vintage desks that flank the front window of the office, and early in July I actually found a cedar trunk that would fit beautifully between them and that is a similar style to desks. The trunk has beautiful Queen Anne legs and lovely front details, and it does smell so lovely inside. It is a Lane Cedar Chest, and based on the serial number (Apparently reading the serial number backwards tells you the date of the piece.), my trunk is from 1937! And even better than a desk, the trunk could provide storage space, too. I found the trunk at the local ReStore, but it was a bit out of my budget, but the longer it stayed at the store, the price would go down. So, I waited. In early August I went back to the ReStore, not really believing the trunk would still be there, but it was! I brought it back to the studio and polished it up. Lee fixed a couple of legs that had come loose, and it is a perfect fit! I mean it is so pretty!

Vintage bits, wool, and special fabric are stored in this beautiful trunk. I wish you could smell its lovely cedar smell.

Plus my beautiful, glass bowl I found at the Dorcas Thrift Shop for some of my buttons is beautiful on top. Now I can run my fingers through the buttons anytime I want! Yes, I do have more buttons than the ones in the bowl…buttons are simply wonderful.

Having the trunk allowed me to store some pieces in it that I had stacked up in bins, and moving those bins out of the studio gave me more room to reorganize the customer order storage bins. The office really does flow better now, looks busy and full, and it is a space I love to use. I love my vintage desk chairs and my view of the birdbath from my desk. I really do love working in this space! It is warm and beautiful.

Flannel design wall made with white flannel and bound in a pink floral fabric. The design wall is hanging from a decorative rod with clips.

The studio space with the longarm, sewing machines, iron and work table has been nearly perfect, but I knew when I moved into this space that I wanted a design wall. Well I finally finished it. I started out thinking I would use foam board and flannel for a design wall, but after trying that I found some references to basically creating a flannel quilt sandwich and hanging that from a bar. That plan was far easier for me to do than the other foam board plan. We also had a lovely curtain rod set with clips that was not being used, so this week I finished installing the holders and hung the design wall. I used white flannel with a blue backing fabric, and I bound it with a sweet pink cone flower print. I have already laid out several quilts with the design wall, and I love seeing my work in progress displayed there. No more crawling around on the floor working on a design!

Next up, shelves for the fabric bolts…

All of our spaces should make us smile and be a warm, comfortable, inviting place to work and think. Creativity needs to be fed and making a space beautiful can help creativity and productivity bloom…even if that space is busy and often messy with projects. I’m so lucky to have an office space, a work room, and a foyer of fabric, and I am lucky to have wonderful clients who bring me the best projects to fill those spaces!

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I forgot how angry Middlemarch makes me, but I am enjoying it! Mozart’s Starling is so thought provoking…I spent a whole walk meandering around in my thoughts related to invasive species, diaspora, native, not native…I’m looking forward to the music, too. I found some cozy mysteries on a jaunt last weekend. I might start one of those. What are you reading? My “To Be Read” pile is so exciting!

Be kind to everyone, even people different from you. Listen to NPR for balanced news coverage.

What's Going On....

Happy Thursday! What’s going on? Here in the Finished Fibers studio I have been working on studio updates….a new old trunk (Cedar, 1937) to help with storage and desk space, reorganizing order storage, and a design wall! OOOh, and a new bowl of buttons! I will have pictures and more information once I get everything finished…I still have to rework the pole for the design wall, but I am excited and organized. I spent last weekend working on these studio changes, but what have I been up to all week?

This week I have been prepping two orders, a baby memory quilt and a few bears, while I have been custom quilting a custom memory quilt and planning several future quilts. Of course I cannot share photos of those until the owners receive them! In addition I met with a few customers to finalize plans for new orders and to deliver a few finished quilts. I have also been working on the hand applique for the How to Make an American Quilt quilt. I visited both Cary Quilting Company and Bernina World of Sewing…I have had a full week and it is only Thursday!

You may wonder how a self employed business owner structures her day, and I mentioned in the “Flexibility” Blog that I am a person who likes a schedule, but I am also very fond of building variety and choice into my day as well. I cannot and should not stand all day and quilt on the longarm, nor can I or should I cut and prep all day or hand sew all day (though sometimes that sounds so so lovely!), so I try to build variety of tasks into my day, and I try to have six to eight projects on the go at once. Haveing a variety of tasks allows me to choose what suits me best to do that day, and it allows me to work for a resonable, healthy amount of time on particular tasks. Interestingly, variety also allows me to get lost in a task…I don’t feel guilty about not working on something else because the task in front of me is best at the moment.

I am rather regimented about studio time and lunch time. I like to be in the studio working by 8 or so, and I like to eat lunch around 12:30. Of course there are days when those times shift and move…I might be later coming back from a walk or busy finishing a task at lunch time, so I finish it and then eat. I feel very lucky to get to dictate my day this way, especially after years of ringing bells and prescripted time tables.

I am also careful to pay attention to my best work times. I am best in the morning, especially for thinking tasks, so I usually try to put those first in the morning. I leave more zone tasks…ones I know by heart…to the afternoon.

A sneaky peek…

I would love to hear how your day is structured and how you make the most of yourself in a day. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I do take rest seriously, too. Sometimes taking some time to stare at a wall in silence is the best thing I can do for my creative and busy mind. The studio is full of exciting projects, and I am excited about them all…I’m going to keep sewing!

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I finished the third Lockwood and Co. book, and I picked up Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and I am enjoying it thoroughly! I am deep into the middle of Middlemarch, and I am totally invested in Dorothea and Ladislaw…I have read the novel before, but just like A Tale of Two Cities and Sydney Carton, I get invested every time. I think it may be time for some Sydney Carton…sigh. I found a biography of Wilfred Owen at the ReStore; yes, I bought it. Dulce et decorum est…What are you reading?

Destruction of books, destruction of individual and personal rights, and destruction our democracy is happening in real time. Please stay informed with unbiased sources like NPR and PBS News Hour. Don’t let anyone take away your ability to think and consider.

Quilt Care

Happy Friday and Happy August! I have spent most of the summer using this blog to discuss the qualities of a quilt, so your next question might be, “Okay, I understand the characteristics of my quilt, but now how do I care for it?” So much time, skill, care, and memory goes into the quilts I make, and I want them to be a family heirloom. I also want you to feel comfortable using your quilt in the way you wish with all that life brings. If you would like to hang your quilt, then I will talk with you about options like a hanging sleeve and curtain holders, but I also encourage snuggling with your quilt on the couch or sleeping under it at night (or for a nap!), even with your favorite pet.

I always think quilts bring warmth, both emotional and physical, to a room, and they should be snuggly and comfortable. I believe every space can benefit from a quilt, and I would prefer quilts are displayed and used. Recently I had the joy of sleeping under my youngest son’s T-Shirt quilt I made for him. We were staying at his apartment for a few days, helping his older brother move in with him, and he likes his apartment cool. He is also 6’3”, so I made his quilt large and long. Sidney gave me his quilt to use at night, and I thoroughly enjoyed snuggling under it. I also love that he keeps it on the back of his couch to use and share with friends, and that it is his go to quilt. I’ll have to find a picture of it!

I have to find a picture of Sidney’s quilt, but this one is similar!

I also know quilts sometimes need to be stored for whatever reason, so I try to offer advice about storing quilts in pillow cases or acid free paper and box. I always give customers quilt care instructions, which of course, are not all inclusive. Some quilts have special parts and need special care, but I am always available to ask! You can also go to the tab “Quilt Care” on this website to see the instructions that I give out.

Please use your quilt!

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I am still in the texts I was, though I am almost finished with The Hollow Boy (Too Scary to read at night, so I didn’t finish it before bed!), and Mr. Featherstone’s will has just been read in Middlemarch…I reallly think all the people involved are pretty awful except for Mary and her father! In a different part of the book, I love the description of the Doctor falling in love with Rosamund…so sweet. What are you reading?

Be kind to everyone and get your news from an unbiased, trusted source: NPR or PBS News Hour.

Flexibility...

Happy Wednesday! I’m early you say? I usually post on Friday? Yes, I usually post on Friday, but I knew when I started working on blogging once a week that I would need to be flexible. Now I could write this blog and then set a timer to publish it on Friday, and no one would be the wiser…except me, but I think building flexibility into a practice is very important. So I am blogging today, and I am blogging about being flexible!

I am a practical doer kind of person, and I have lived a lot of my life with a tight, set schedule. I taught for nigh on 15 years, and as you know, school is definitely a schedule, and in the schedule department it does not lend itself to flexibility…inside the classroom flexibility is key, though. These days, I am queen of my own schedule, but I have to remind myself that I can move things around and be free to do things how I see fit…there aren’t bells to send me to the next period of my day. However, I am a pretty regulated person, but I am learning to be less rigid in my thinking.

My daily walks are a great example, and they are one of my favorite practices in my life. I walk five times a week, usually Monday-Friday, and I didn’t commit to walking everyday on purpose, even though I think I would enjoy that! (Yes, I do walk extra if I like!). By making five times a week my standard, I can move days around if I need to do so. If I cannot walk on Tuesday for some reason, then I can walk on Saturday or Sunday. I have flexibility when I need it. Plus, limiting exercise to five times a week offers my body a respite or time to relax and recover, which we all need.

I try to practice the same flexibility everywhere in my life. I wanted to blog once a week, and Friday seemed like a good day to post…I could work on the blog all week, but I also knew I might be busy on a Friday or have a shortened work week or something would come up, as it inevitably does. I wanted to know I could be flexible…even if it meant missing a blog…as long as I returned to the practice. And I should not feel bad about needing to make changes to an otherwise consistent practice.

This week I am helping my boys for a few days, which is a lovely reason to shift my schedule! I’m excited…the studio is a creative, working mess that will be here ready to start again when I step back into it. Plus the change will give my brain time to work through a few things I am pondering for projects in the studio! A change in schedule can be a great way jump start creative thought and renew creative energy…my regimented mind just needs a reminder once in a while!

I hope you find the time and will to offer yourself more flexibility, too.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I’m further along in Middlemarch…Dorothea has married Casaubon, and she is feeling the weight of her decision and the juxtaposition of her dreams and the reality. Lucy is frustrating me in Lockwood & Co., but she is frustrating herself, too! I have not settled on a nonfiction book yet, but I think I am getting closer…By the way, I am quite flexible when it comes to reading…I really don’t set parameters for myself in my reading…I don’t worry about the time it takes to read a book and any time is fair game for reading!

Read well, wide, and deeply and be kind. NPR is a great source for unbiased news.

Thread: What holds a quilt together...literally.

Good Rainy Morning!

We have been in extreme drought conditions here in North Carolina for the better part of this year, so the last few days have been very welcome. The steady, dark, rainy weather has been a balm, and I love rainy days anyway, so the studio has been especially cozy. Truth be told, I love all kinds of weather, and I enjoy what is happening any particular day, but my soul has been feeling a bit parched. These rainy days have gone a long way to sooth that need with the sounds of the rain, cooler weather, walking under an umbrella, damp scampering squirrels and brilliant wet bird plumage. I hope your weather has been comforting for you, too.

For the last few blogs, I have spent time discussing what makes a quilt—all of its layers, and this week I want to highlight what literally holds a quilt together: thread. I use thread in every part of making a quilt, but I basically use two types. I use Aurefil cotton thread for piecing, applique, and binding, or for all of the parts of making a quilt that are not the actual quilting, and I use SoFine polyester thread for the quilting. Of course, I use both of these threads because I trust their quality, they have a good range of colors, and my machines like them. Yes, the machines do have a say in thread!

And a good range of colors is very important, too. For basic piecing, I usually use a gray, light or dark, depending on the project colors. I match colors for applique and border piecing, including miters. For quilting, color is important because the thread is visible. Thread used for piecing is mostly hidden in the seams, but quilting thread sits on the fabric. Effect—aesthetics—becomes important. Is the quilting merely background or is it going to highlight? Thread choice matters, then. For T-shirt quilts and memory quilts the quilting, for me, should be background; the shirts and clothing are the stars. I often try to blend the color of the thread to make the quilting textural. Though, sometimes the quilting needs to highlight some aspect of the quilt and thread color can help create contrast and shading. Too, sometimes thread color depends on the quilt’s desire—will a soft rose thread create a lovely texture and provide a nice punch of color?

Thread choice is as fun to work out as fabric choice, and I love laying out threads against fabrics and quilt tops to decide what will work best. And thread is magic…I am often surprised by what color will blend best and how well colors work against fabrics. Often, I have contemplated thread colors for quilting as I am piecing the quilt top. My beautiful thread holders are wonderful inspiration and are pieces of art in the studio as well as making my thread easily accesible. Can you tell I love thread? I haven’t even talked about embroidery thread or yarns, either!

Sending Quilting Love,

Ginger

Currently Reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot, and it is as wonderful as the other times I have read it! I am also reading the third book in the Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud…super fun, well-written, and well paced. I’m still contemplating my nonfiction options…I’ll keep you posted. These rainy days have been brilliant reading weather, too.

Be kind to everyone. NPR is a trusted news source with no political ties; fact based news in an ever biased landscape.

Finally: The Back

The backs of quilts, the third layer of the quilt sandwich, are traditionally one fabric made or cut large enough to fit the needs of the quilt top. The back should be larger than the quilt top because the actual quilting still has to done. Since I use my APQS Lenni to longarm my quilts, I add six inches to both measurements of the top of the quilt. The leaders and the quilting process often makes the back “creep” or inch a little bit, so if the back is exactly the same size as the top, when you get to the bottom of the quilt, you will find the back shorter than the quilt top. No one wants that to happen! So for a 66” x 66” quilt top, I will make the back 72” x 72.” Anyone getting quilts professionally quilted should make their backs with the same formula. Even when I hand quilt or use my domestic machine to quilt, I make the back larger, so that the quilt can be trimmed and finished appropriately.

The back of a quilt can also be a different fabric type from the front. Flannel and Cuddle or Minky backs are popular, making the back so soft and cuddly. This Custom T-Shirt quilt has a gray Cuddle fabric. The Cuddle fabrics also have such a pretty loft, showing off the beautiful quilting stitches and design.

108” fabrics are perfect backs because they are 108” in length and can be torn to fit the needed width, thus making the back one solid piece of fabric with no seam. No sewing or pattern matching need happen in this instance. 40”-45” fabric is pieced to create the back, usually with a horizontal seam(s), and pattern matching will need to happen on larger print fabrics.

Backs can also be more than just one fabric. some quilters like to use leftover fabrics, or scraps or remnants to create a scrappy back, which we like to call a “party in the back!” Pieced backs can be fun and useful in using fabrics, and they can be helpful in a memory quilt that has a piece or pieces that don’t fit on the front. Of course a quilt can be double-sided, too, meaning, either side of the quilt can be the “top” and both sides are decorative and pieced.

Practice quilting on blue fabric with my quilt sketch book on top of it. You can see here how quilting can really be seen on solid or one fabric without pieces.

Backs may seem to be less important than the top layer of the quilt, but the back is seen, too, and coordinating fabrics and having a lovely back makes the whole piece more beautiful. Plus, the back of the quilt, especially with single fabric backs, often shows off the quilting from the front better! The back is also the home of the quilt label…offering a place for a message and a place for the quilter’s information. We should all label our quilts!

The back of this quilt has a beautiful hot pink blender and a lovely navy label. I love the embroidery here, which adds to the sweet recognition of the piecer and the quilter.

A quilt is so special because it is layered and nuanced in so many different ways beyond the three layers of the quilt sandwich, and memory and T-Shirt quilts are especially evocative. What layers would make up your quilt?

Sending Quilting Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I finished another Louise Penny mystery, and I am well into Middlemarch now. I am also reading the third novel of the Lockwood & Company series…a ghosty, fun world. I might pick up a nonfiction to add to the mix, but I am not sure which one yet….Margaret Atwood’s Memoir? Mozart’s Starling? Something by Annie Albers? Some literary criticism? I have lovely options…What are you reading?

Always be kind. Listen to NPR, and avoid biased news sources. My little studio is a small haven; I hope you have a haven, too.

What is inside my quilt? Batting!

Batting or wadding is the middle layer, and it provides that layer of warmth to a quilt. However, batting is important in other ways, too. Batting can affect the weight and utility of a quilt, and it can affect the loft or how the quilt stitches sit in the quilt. There are a lot of different types of batting: cotton, polyester, wool, cotton/polyester blend, bamboo, bleached, unbleached, and batting choice can affect the overall feel and look of a quilt.

The image shows an A-Frame wooden shelf with batting off cuts rolled up and prepackaged batting.

I use an 80/20 cotton/polyester blend, unless a client asks for a specific feel or weight or even loft to the quilt. 80/20 is 80% cotton and 20% polyester, and I use it most often because it has the good qualities of cotton batting, but it is a little bit lighter than a 100% cotton batting.

Image shows a batting roll with batting off cuts on top. I usually buy batting 108” wide on a 30 yard roll because I make a lot of different sized quilts. All of this batting is 80/20 and bleached.

T-Shirt quilts tend to be heavier simply because of the t-shirt fabric, so the 80/20 allows me to eliminate adding more weight. Plus I like how the quilt stitches respond to the blended batting and the loft it gives the quilt. Wool and polyester batting can be fluffier, and the quilting is more pronounced…meaning the loft of the stitches is higher. I want the T-Shirts to be the star of a T-Shirt quilt, so I like the lower loft I get from the blended cotton/polyester batting.

Of course we can also go all the way back to the definition of a quilt to see that batting or wadding is an integral part of what makes any quilt a quilt instead of a blanket, comforter, or coverlet. A quilt is really a quilt because it has a middle layer of batting!

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I finished You Can’t Go Home Again and The Jane Austen Book Club. I have picked up another Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery, and Middlemarch by George Eliot. I also have to finish my Wonderwoman compilation, and I have another of those to read. Bleakhouse is waiting in the wings along with Daphne Du Maurier…maybe I will wait until fall for that one. I once read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway by the ocean, which is just the best reading experience. The waves lapping the shore while the boat rocks in the book. Maybe one day I will read Ethan Frome in a cabin in the depths of winter in New England. Do you have a book you would like to read in its place? OOOH….Bleakhouse in England….

Be kind. Kindness is everything.

The Quilt Top

Last week, I discussed the three (usually) layers that make up a quilt top, and as I said, as I was working on that blog, I had planned to expand on each layer there. Four pages (Yes, I do like to compose on paper often!) later, and I wasn’t even finished yet with what I wanted to say. So, I decided to dedicate a blog to each layer of the quilt because apparently, I have a lot to say!

The quilt top, sometimes called a flimsy, is usually the pieced portion of the quilt. Though, scraps make great backs to quilts…so backs can be pieced, too. The top consists of blocks and possibly borders, unless it is a wholecloth quilt. a wholecloth quilt is a quilt that has one fabric on the front and the quilting is the star of the show, creating the beautiful designs in the quilt. These quilts may have one or two seams, but they are not considered pieced like other quilts.

It is only appropriate to show a Hurricane’s Towel quilt, since they are NHL Champions! This quilt has a fantastic top with the white spirit towels surrounded by black sashing, and the Hurricanes’ fabric is wonderful as the outer border!

In T-Shirt Quilts, the T-Shirt blocks, sashing, and borders makeup the quilt top. They don’t always have to have sashing or borders, either. Often the quilt top is the most intricate part of the quilt, and it takes the most time to make. The top is the show piece, and the number of skills and aesthetics in those tops vary widely and beautifully! Applique, curved piecing, embroidery…the list of what can make up a quilt top are immense, which is the fun part!

This close-up of a Classic T-Shirt Quilt top shows how lovely the simple block design can be.

Quilts can be double-sided, though, too, meaning both the front and the back are equally as important; either one can be the “front of the quilt”, and both sides are pieced and decorative. T-Shirt Quilts and Memory Quilts can be double sided, too, and work especially well if you have a lot of shirts or clothing to use.

Actual quilt top alone before the layering and quilting takes place…this rainbow pixel quilt is so beautiful and made with Cherrywood fabrics, which are wonderfully rich in color.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I think I will finish You Can’t Go Home Again this next week…I am still enjoying it over 600 pages in, and I have learned a lot about Thomas Wolfe, too. The novel is the last one he wrote and was published posthumously. I am also reading The Jane Austin Book Club, and now I am adding more Austin to my To Be Read Pile and The Mysteries of Uldolpho, which might be a good fall book to read during the gothic autumn. I am also reading Wonder Woman: Blood and Guts, which is a compilation of that series of comics in the new smaller graphic novel format of Compact Comics put out by DC. My reading plate is over flowing, and I am happy.

NPR is a great place to get unbiased, factual, honest news. Kindness is everything.

So It Is a Quilt, Not a Blanket: What Makes Up the Three Layers?

Well, I’m not sure I can top last week’s absolute banger of a blog, which I thoroughly enjoyed writing, and I hope you enjoyed reading. I mean who doesn’t love a bit of dictionary talk?!? Okay, Maybe just me!

This week I want to discuss the three layers of a quilt, which is the typical quilt sandwich. Of course, quilts can have more than three layers. Some patterns, like crazy quilt blocks are built onto a layer of foundation fabric making that quilt, whether quilted (all three layers sewn together with continuous stitches) or tied ( the layers are held together with thread ties all over the quilt), four layers. Or some carefree quilters leave their papers in a foundation or English paper pieced top, offering up a fourth, crinkly layer.

Usually, though, three layers suffice:

The image shows a quilt laying top up. The quilt has navy borders and intricate Zinnia blocks with a barn and tractor with birds in the air blocks, too.

Top: typically thought of as the front of the quilt and is the top layer; usually the most intricately pieced and takes the most time; the show piece of the quilt.

The image shows the back of the quilt shown above. The back is blue and white bird and flower fabric.

Batting: the middle wadding layer that adds the warmth and loft (the thickness and texture of the quilting) to the quilt

Back: As the name suggests, the back of the quilt; often one fabric.

The image shows the quilt from above with the left corner folded onto the top of the quilt showing both the backing fabric and most of the front.

Once the three layers are made or cut, then the layers are sandwiched and quilted. In my studio, I load the back and top seperately onto the longarm leaders and add the batting layer between. The three layers all come together on the top leader of the quilt frame, and as I quilt them, they become one quilt. Then I trim and bind it, so that the edges of the quilt are neatly finished and protected.

The whole process of making a quilt layer upon layer is magic! Beautiful fabrics cut up and sewn into new shapes, while the quilt stitches hold the layers together and add dimension to the design. And always the utility—layering and quilting fabrics adds strength and longevity to the whole piece of art.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

P.S. I worked on this blog and wrote a lot about each layer of the quilt, and in the interest of my readers, I decided to split the blogs up into two or three instead of one long one. I didn’t realize I had so much to say about quilt layers!

Reading Now: I am still happily working on You Can’t Go Home Again, and I picked up The Jane Austen Book Club from the 25 cent shelf outside at Reader’s Corner. And I read The Hangman, which I picked up at the bookstore, too. I actually picked up a lot of books…maybe I should do a blog about my TBR pile(s)? Let me know if that is something you would like to read.

Kindness is everything. Listen to NPR for balanced, well researched news.

Quilt or Blanket...does it matter?

Happy Friday and Happy Solstice This Weekend!

I am fully in summer mode in the studio now, which only means earlier morning walks and fans running as I work! This morning my walk was in the rain we are finally receiving here in Raleigh, and it was glorious. Everything looked so relieved and quenched, though we still need more rain to even begin to alleviate the dry weather we have been experiencing all spring. The studio is such a cozy place on rainy days, and I hope this rain lasts all day!

I thought a blog about vocabulary might be helpful, but I think it is going to take more than one blog to cover the special language we use as quilters/sewists/artisans. This week I thought I would explain the definition of a quilt and discuss how it is different and similar to a blanket. Some quilters really take offense at their quilts being called a blanket, but I don’t mind. I know what people mean!

For this discussion, I went back to my favorite source for words, The Oxford English Dictionary, and yes I own a complete set, which means I need a magnifying glass to read it, and yes, I derive a great deal of pleasure from looking up words. The OED, as it is known, is a singular piece of ongoing scholarship, and if you have the time to read about it, you should. The OED tracks words from their earliest usage right up to the present day…if you have a brand new set, so intrepid logophiles can see how a word has been used and changed over time. For instance, the word “wood” used to mean crazy…as in Chaucer saying someone behaved, “as if he wer wood” in Middle English. Yes, I read Chaucer in Middle English and Beowulf in Anglo Saxon…I am a literary medievalist at heart!

The picture shows one volume of the OED open to the word quilter, and my little flat globe magnifier I use is sitting on top of the word “quilter.” In college when I was taking Chaucer and Old English classes, I would spend hours in the floor of DH Hill in front of NCSU’s full set of the OED.

Upon looking up “Blanket” and “Quilt” in the OED I found so many fun similarities; both are from Old French and have been in use for centuries and they can both be nouns and verbs. English speakers likely saw them both introduced after William the Conquerer won The Battle of Hastings in 1066, which is the sign post for the shift in English that we see from Old English to Middle English. That French influence softened up the harder Anglo Saxon and gave us so many good words!

Blanket (Old French: blankete. French: blanquette) as a noun is a large oblong sheet (one layer) often of soft loose wool used for retaining heat. As a verb the word means to cover.

Quilt (Old French Coute to Coulte. Becoming Coulte and Qwylte in Middle English) as a noun is layered cloth, often decorative, fastened and used as the outer covering on a bed. We have also called quilts Counterpanes, which are outer coverings for beds, woven, raised, quilted, made mostly of patchwork; coverlet. As a verb the word Quilt means the action of fastening the layers of cloth together.

So the difference between a Blanket and a Quilt becomes very obvious, right? A Blanket is one piece of fabric, wool, cotton, linen, but it is only one layer, and it blankets your bed. A Quilt is layers of fabric, contemporarily three layers: top, batting, and back. These layers are then Quilted or fastened with stitches. and the tops of quilts are often made from patchwork, making them historically more decorative. Though with all of our modern printing methods blankets can be highly decorative themselves.

Quilts, as you can see, do require a lot more work than a blanket, so I can see why quilters get upset when their hours and hours of labor is called a blanket! I make quilts, but I understand what people mean when they contact me asking for a blanket…I know they really mean a quilt, and by the end of the process, I think my clients really understand the difference.

Sending Quilty love,

Ginger

Currently Reading: The OED of course, and I am still working on “You Can’t go Home Again,” while picking up Middlemarch…I want to read Bleak House, too…Yes, Dickens is calling to me again. My brain loves his descriptions. And writing this blog has wetted my appetite for some Chaucer, too. What are you reading? Read what you love!

Unbiased news and information is more important than ever. NPR is an excellent source. I hope you are kind to everyone.

Bits and Bobs

One of the reasons I love my work is that every quilt is one of a kind, and I love using the unique quality of each piece of clothing to its full advantage. I use placards with buttons, zippers, snaps, pockets, and any special parts of the garment. I often use lacy edges and decorative neck lines. Even blouses or dresses with lace over a fabric panel can be used in a quilt. Sleeves and cuffs can be fun to use, too, especially on shirts that have buttons on the cuffs.

Even bears can have pockets. This sweet bear has a pocket from a jacket on his behind.

I also like to combine elements from a piece if I can. For instance, if there is a small logo on the front or sleeve and the large graphic is on the back, then I can move the smaller item, and integrate it into the larger graphic through applique to create a square.

Since all of my quilting is hand-guided, meaning I do not have a computer connected to my APQS Lenni. I move the machine for every quilt I make, and I can more easily avoid fun bits and bobs that I cannot quilt over, like metal zippers, buttons, larger sequins, beads, and bulky pieces. I can also quilt around pockets to leave them open and useable. Speaking of pockets, I have used a lot of different kinds of pockets in quilts, even side pockets in shorts, flannel pants, and jackets.

This sweet little heart is made from the strap from the bridesmaid’s dress used to make this unique baby quilt.

I also like the nod back to its original iteration that bits and bobs offer. Placards and pockets show what the fabric was, and I think these bits and bobs highlight the life lived in the clothing, too. Layers of meaning and memory built into the layers of the quilts.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Next Week: Next week I am going to discuss Quilt Vocabulary. Do you have any words or phrases I use that you would like more information about? For instance I used “fussy cut” in a picture description this week. Leave me a comment below to let me know what I can define for you!

Reading: I am well into You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe, and for a novel published 1934, it has some very timely descriptions. The Great Depression has just started, and George Webber postulates that the corruption and grift in America lead to the hard times. His descriptions sound eerily familiar. I am still contemplating my next read, but I am thinking about rereading Middlemarch by George Eliot, and reading My Life With Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead. I have a lot of good options. Too, Cherrywood fabrics announced their challenge this year and it is in honor of Jane Goodall…did you know she helped write several books? Of course I am going to read some! My reading life is full and lovely.

Be kind to yourself and others this week. NPR is still an excellent source for knowledgable news coverage.

Ooooh...Fabric!

For the last few weeks, I have discussed clothing, interfacing, and layouts, so I should also talk about the fabric I use in my quilts. Beyond the T-Shirts and clothing, most memory and T-Shirt quilts require other fabric, too. The sashing, cornerstones, borders, and backs are 100% cotton fabric usually, and I only use 100% high quality quilter’s cotton. My favorite brands are Kona Solids and Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solid lines. Between those two companies, I usually have no problem finding the right color to meet clients’ needs and desires. Bella Solids also have lovely colors.

Quilting cotton typically come 40”-45” wide on the bolt, but sometimes I can use 108” wide cotton fabrics, too. I tend to keep black, charcoal gray, light gray, white, navy blue, royal blue ,and red in stock because those are common colors requested. I also meet local customers at local quilt shops like Cary Quilting Company in Cary, Bernina World of Sewing in Raleigh, Sew Happy Fabrics in Clayton, and Sew There! Quilts and More in Angier. These shops have excellent fabric and staff who make shopping wonderful, and they are kind enough to share my information with their customers, too. Not local to me but worth the trip, I also love The Mountain Thread Company in Boone, NC…I could go on and on about fabric shops! A blog is definitely in order!

Chocolate Cuddle back…look at the way the quilting looks so lovely, and it feels so soft.

This lovely blue bird fabric in the style of Chinese pottery is gorgeous, and I ordered it for a customer from Spoonflower.

I can also use flannel fabrics for memory quilts. And sometimes customers want an extra soft back, so I use Cuddle fabric for them. I also love ordering fabric from Spoonflower. They are an on demand fabric printing company. They print my labels for me, and I have ordered fabric for customers several times from them. Spoonflower has a huge catalogue of surface designs or you can create your own design and have it printed, like my labels. I find Spoonflower particularly helpful when customers want more niche novelty fabrics.

I have also used sheets provided by customers for parts of quilts, too, and now digital printing allows for so many beautiful fabrics—there are so many options! And I am fond of saying that just about any fabric combination can work for a T-Shirt quilt. Most T-Shirt quilts, unless they are thematic in some way, have a lot of colors and graphics represented. The shirts themselves may seem disparate and eclectic, making choosing fabric seem difficult. Honestly, the borders help pull everything together. The shirts or clothing represent a life lived and living, and the fabric merely acts as a frame for those memories.

108” wide back fabric bolts stacked against the wall. They will go on the shelves when they are built in the studio hall.

When choosing fabrics for quilts, I usually start with what customers want. Is it a memorial quilt? Are there colors that represent that person or some aspect of their lives? Do you want to use favorite colors or do you have a room with particular colors where the quilt will live? Mostly customers already have an idea in mind when they commission a quilt, but sometimes they don’t. In both cases picking out the perfect fabric is a fun challenge for me, and I really don’t tire of looking at, touching, and exclaiming over fabric. Can you tell I love my work?

Happy Quilts!

Ginger

Reading Now: I’m am further along in You Can’t Go Home Again, and I finished the Louise Penny mystery I was reading. Now I have to choose a new book…like fabric, I have so many tantalizing choices!

Real, honest, fact based reporting is more important than ever, and I find NPR offers me the best news source. Everyone if welcome here. Kindness is everything. Fabric makes beautiful rainbows.

T-Shirt Quilt Layouts: How do I decide?

Layouts are always a fun creative challenge for me, and often my awesome customers let me dicide how to layout their quilt design. For both Classic and Custom T-Shirt quilts, I take several factors into consideration when I am designing a layout:

1) Customer Desires

2) Color-light, dark, and medium

3) Graphics-size and shape and what I think of as their weight.

Of course customer desires are taken into consideration first. No sashing verses sashing and T-Shirts that need to be made central or need to be put together in the design drive the rest of the process. Customers who want a Classic T-Shirt quilt can even create their own layout using the grid provided in the ordering tab or by laying out the shirts and providing me with a picture of the layout.

An NCSU thematic Custom T-Shirt Quilt. Gray solid sashing surrounds each shirt and is the inner border. Black solid fabric is the middle border and binding, and Grunge Red Dots are the outer border. In this layout I worked to evenly distribute the red shirts by using the gray, black and white shirts to do so. The heavier or larger graphics are also separated by smaller or word graphics, too, creating an interesting and balanced design.

After taking customer desires into account, I think about color. Typically T-Shirt quilts are comprised of a variety of shirt colors…unless the quilt is a thematic one, like a college quilt or an activity driven quilt. The same color questions hold true for those theme-based quilts, too, though. I tend, especially with Classic quilts to separate the blocks into light, medium, and dark once they have been interfaced and cut to size. With Custom quilts I think of the size of graphics initially. For color, I try to keep light, dark, and medium evenly placed in the design, keeping like shades separated by the other types—too many dark, medium or light colors in one place can unbalance the overall quilt design. The same is true of the actual color of the pieces; like colors need to be dispersed evenly in the quilt.

A Custom T-Shirt Quilt with no sashing and a royal purple outer border. There are a lot of white shirts in this layout, but that doesn’t harm the design because the white pieces are evenly placed in the overall design.

Once color is taken into consideration, the type of graphic and its size is considered for each shirt in the design…for instance, a T-Shirt quilt might have shirts with a single line of text, tiny front logos, or round graphics. I endeavor to separate the same type of graphics to create interest and again, to balance the quilt. Round graphics can be placed beside square graphics, while big, bold pictorial graphics might be placed next to smaller text graphics.

I know I say it a lot, but my goal is for my customers to love their quilts, so careful, thoughtful layouts are the way I design. Plus layouts are like a puzzle, especially with Custom T-Shirt quilts, and I really enjoy that process. All of the considerations I have discussed here work in tandem and are recursive. I think about them all simultaneously while I design a layout.

In this blog, I have focused on T-Shirt quilt layouts, but a layout is just as important to a memory quilt…or any quilt really! I am excited to share, as I can, what I am working on in the studio right now. I am having a lot of fun!

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: Yes, I did start the next Louise Penny book, Bury Your Dead, and I am still working on You Can’t Go Home Again, by Thomas Wolfe. I picked up Margaret Atwood’s memoir (of sorts, as she says), and a critical literary book about the Romantic poets, which are both coyly waving to me from the shelf. I am not above having three…or more…books on the go at once…

I listen to NPR several times a week in the studio as I work. I recommend it if you really want an unbiased new source. Be kind and have a great week.

Interfacing!

Interfacing…sounds boring right? Well, I think interfacing is the secret to a good t-shirt quilt, and it makes the process of making the quilt much easier. I use Pellon 911 Featherweight interfacing. I cut out the t-shirt pieces bigger than I need with interfacing of the matching size. For instance I cut classic blocks to 14.5” to interface the blocks. Then I use a steam press to apply the interfacing to the t-shirt piece. Once the blocks are interfaced, I cut them to the appropriate size. For Classic T-shirt quilts that size is 13.5 inches. Custom piece sizes depend on the design, and I usually don’t cut those pieces until the design is finalized.

The image shows a red t-shirt piece with the corner turned up showing its interfacing on the back laying on top of the bolt of interfacing. A hand with rings is holding the corner of the shirt piece.

Yes, I do cut every piece individually twice…working to center the graphics or the piece that is important in the clothing. T-shirts are not the only pieces of clothing I interface, either. Any fabric that is stretchy or thin can benefit from interfacing. I always use a pressing cloth to help in the steam press process.

The image shows the red interfaced t-shirt piece on top of the bolt of interfacing.

I am still sometimes surprised by how much interfacing benefits a piece of clothing. I have had customers who are worried about worn, well-loved clothing, and I always assure them that the clothing will “wake up” with a little interfacing. Even the rattiest t-shirts I have been given to use in a quilt look beautiful in the quilt. Of course sometimes I have to repair a hole or two, but once the interfacing is applied that shirt is ready to live a new life in a quilt where it will receive less wear and tear, and the interfacing is giving it an extra layer.

Interfacing does not add a lot of weight to a t-shirt quilt; the t-shirt fabric is really what makes t-shirt quilts a bit heavier, but I use a lighter batting, too…which I will talk about in another post!

T-shirt quilts are so beautiful and cuddly, and I sew them to last and look their best. And each one is cut and sewn with care and respect to the memories going into each quilt. Interfacing is just one of the tools I use to make quilted memories.

Sending Quilty Love,

Ginger

Reading this week: I finished The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (So good!), and I made lots of progress in You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. I will likely pick up the next Louise Penny book…I tend to read those in threes and then take a break…I do have a menagerie of books waiting in my future reading pile…maybe I will pick up one of those…the possibilities make me giddy! What are you reading?

NPR, WUNC are still great places to hear unbiased news. Kindness matters more than ever.

How to Make An American Quilt: A Reproduction Project

Almost every week I say the same thing; I have excellent customers who bring me exciting and challenging projects! I am currently working on a longterm project that is a wonderful example of an interesting and creative challenge. A customer has hired me to reproduce, as closely as possible, the quilt from the 1995 How to Make an American Quilt movie. My customer specifically referenced the movie, which astonishingly, I had not seen. So I spent time watching the movie several times to see the details of the quilt, and I discovered the movie is based on a book, so I read that, too! I enjoyed both! The movie centers around a quilting bee that is making a quilt for the main character. As the blocks are made each woman’s story is highlighted. Love, loss, independence, joy, mistakes, and complicated relationships abound, and the blocks reflect the makers. I also found a book that catalogues the quilt and its blocks. The book is called Where Love Resides: Reflections on Love and Life by The Patchwork Place, and the book has been an excellent resource when designing the quilt and its blocks.

The Where Love Resides book is open to the Community Block picture and the hand drawn 16” block is laying under the book, so that some of the flowers, leaves, and stems can be seen.

My customer desires a king size quilt, which will be 96” square, with the blocks finishing at 16”. I am using the sewing methods from the movie: hand applique and hand quilting. I drew the blocks to their appropriate size, and now I am working on the hand applique. The Community block is every other block, so I am making those first.

Two hand drawn blocks from the movie. The left one is two intertwined flower stems creating a “u” shape in the middle of which are the two rings. The right block is a paint palette with a paint brush.

Various hand drawn blocks including the mermaid block and the couple holding hands.

I am really excited to share this process with you and to discuss the fun bits I have found as I research each block and how it is made…one even has folded flowers! Maybe before I share another update, you can read the book and/or watch the film!

Sending Quilting Love,

Ginger

Reading Now: I finished the Louise Penny book I was reading, and I picked up the next one A Brutal Telling! I am further along in You Can’t Go Home Again, and George is heading back to New York. If you recall, I recently reread The Lord of the Flies, and I am now watching the new BBC miniseries for it. The series is beautifully done, and the boys are captured very well. I am going to be heartbroken; I can tell.

NPR.org is a great place for balanced and informative news.