Happy Friday!
A sneak peek of the Home block from HMAQ project. Aren’t my pretty teal embroidery stork scissors lovely? This block is hand needle turn applique.
I hope your week has been lovely. I was listening to someone talk about the quilt police earlier this week…one quilter criticized another quilter’s work suggesting that she had “done it wrong.” I am a firm believer that there is not really a “wrong way” to sew generally. I tend to feel that as long as a person gets to the same quality end that technique can vary widely, and the “quilt police” or those overly, sometimes aggressively, critical quilters are really talking about a difference in technique, which may result in a difference in aesthetics. Both ways are perfectly acceptable and just as sturdy construction wise, but they are different in appearance. I could spend this blog discussing what goes through the mind of the quilt police: are they really insecure about their own work, so that they feel the need to tear others down? Do they really believe their way is better and feel superior enough to say so? Are they just simply mean and unable to control themselves? I’m not sure I want to spend a lot of time in the mind of someone who makes a point of picking apart someone else’s work. I am interested in the technique and aesthetic idea, and that idea made me think about my own work this week because applique is a great example of technique leading to a difference in appearance.
A closeup of the needle turn applique in the Community block for HMAQ, in this case a flower and leaves in a pot topped by a ribbon lip edge.
As you know, I have been working on needle turn hand applique for the HMAQ Project. Applique, by the way, is the layering of fabric most often to create a picture or attach a piece. Usually the shape of the picture is cut out of the appropriate fabric and them sewn onto a background fabric. In my hand needle turn applique, I do not use any adhesive. I trace the shape of my pattern and cut it out a fourth of an inch larger than that. Then I use my needle to fold under the seam allowance and carefully sew down the turned under edge. I love the lightly puffy look with the tiny stitches just nipped into the fabric. You can see all of the lovely hand work.
I have also been working on a quilt with machine applique this week. For this application, I use HeatnBond to affix the fabric pieces to their background; there is no turning under because the adhesive helps keep the fabric from fraying. And then I machine sew a blanket stitch around the piece. I love this version, too, where the pieces lay flat and have the lovely stitched border.
Machine applique of three black pieces onto a white background.
Both of these techniques are applique, but they produce a different look. I love both and different projects call for different processes. I gave my customer for the needle turn applique a choice, and I sent him examples of both types of applique, so that he could see the visual difference. Both of these techniques are labor intensive (Some quilters are not interested in applique!), and hand applique does take longer, though machine applique is not fast by any means! We could talk about price here, too, which is different based on the technique.
Hand quilting in a border.
Hand quilting and machine quilting are another great example. Hand quilting is lovely with all of its tiny stitches, and the stitches read to the eye as separate. Whilst machine quilting creates a more continuous line to the eye. Again, both are very valid techniques that simply offer a different look. And no, it is not valid to say machine quilting is not real quilting. Hand, machine, or tied, the end result is a quilted product. And there is validity in saying that you don’t like one technique over the other…as a quilter whether that means the act of doing the technique or the final appearance, but commentary that one is inferior to another is not valid.
Freemotion, longarm quilted loops on a heart quilt.
I realize I am an odd ball…I tend to love a variety of techniques and the aesthetics they produce. I find a lot of joy in machine sewing and hand sewing; they each artistically and tactilely offer me something different. I am sure my quilts benefit from my versatility, too. I feel like the “quilt police” are missing the point and missing out on the beauty right in front of them.
Have a great week,
Ginger
Reading now: Whew, I really love Samuel and Olive in East of Eden…Cathy is still a sociopath. I am also way back in the far reaches of Canada at a monastery in the latest Louise Penny mystery. And I started a critical text about the Romantics called The Trembling Hand, which I love so far. Mathelinda Nabugodi brings a fresh, much needed voice to the conversation of the literary canon of that time. I’m also reading more Wonder Woman!
I thought you might like a picture of my currently reading pile!
NPR is in the middle of their fall contribution drive. I am an NPR sustainer because I believe their unbiased, clear journalism is necessary now. If you are not and think you can contribute, then please do. If you are not a listener of NPR, then I suggest you listen for a few days.
