Any hand quilters here??

[ma23peas]

I have never made a quilt, and tomorrow I need to teach 15 girls how to! EEK! I did grow up with grandma's that quilted and own several of theirs, so I feel I'm 'familiar' with it....I even have thousands of squares my grandmother saved from her fabrics from the 1930's-70's!!

 

I would so appreciate if you have any websites, tips, hints I can share with these girls.

 

I have bought them hand quilting thread, thimble, hand quilting needles, a fabric cutting board/wheel to show them how to cut...quilting pins...I just need to have them pick out 20 squares of my assortment and start piecing them together...we hope to create the squares as a group and donate the quilt to a local battered women's shelter...we're hoping to make this a long term project where we make the children of these women special quilts (smallish around 4'x4') that they can take with them wherever they go. I'm pretty sure we have a contact that will "quilt" them for us for free (she has a huge machine)...

 

I'd appreciate any help, since I'm going into this green!! We're actually teaching 40 girls this skill but my group is just 15...so any projects that might fit that group please share!!

 

Tara

[Imprimis]

I hand-piece quilts. I actually learned from 3 wonderful books: Quiltmaking By Hand by Jinny Beyer, Quilter's Complete Guide by Fons and Porter, and Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting.

 

As far as websites go, there are a couple that have some basic piecing instruction that may be helpful for you and your students Welcome to the World Wide Quilting Page andThe Beginning Quilter's Resource Page.

 

If possible though, I would try to get a hold of one of the books above---I bet you can find them at the library.

 

Have fun!

[paula j]

The way I was taught was I had an actual cut out pattern. I had to put this on the back side of the material and draw around it with pencil and then use a quarter round (tool to make a 1/4 inch seam allowance) to draw a 1?4 inch seam allowance around each piece. Then when I would put the pieces together to sew I could see the seam line to sew on and would pin them together. My first quilt was quilted in a large embroider hoop 1 block at a time and turned out beautiful.

[ma23peas]

Thanks!! I bought one book at Michael's, it only had 2 pages about hand piecing....I think I'll focus on teaching them how to tie a knot at the end of their thread and how to follow the line I'll predraw for them on their squares...what is a backstitch? I keep reading to put one in every inch or two to keep slippage away??

 

Thanks!

Tara

[tex-mex]

http://www.blockcentral.com/tips-handpiecing.shtml

 

http://www.freepatterns.com/content/content.html?content_id=1013

 

http://www.sewn.net.au/TipsTools/Articles/HandPiecingBliss.aspx

 

I like to use size 10 sharp needles to hand piece.

Listed below is a great tutorial:

 

http://woodlandpatches.com/store/straighthandpiecing

[ma23peas]

tex-mex, beautiful quilts!! I just saved those pages on that last website to my pictures file so I can show them at the meeting tomorrow..

 

I understand the back stitch now, one question I have...say you're piecing two squares together, when you get to the corner the picture makes it seem as though you have to stop on the corner and make a knot before moving on...why can't you just keep stitching around the corner by turning??

 

Thanks!

Tara

[Mary in VA]

If you stitched around the corner you would be creating a pocket. The quilting you will be doing is all straight lines. When you piece by machine you sew from edge to edge. When you piece by hand you start 1/4 inch from the edge and go to 1/4 inch from the edge and knot it. That helps you match the seams when you sew two rows together and keeps bulk from building up when four blocks meet at the seams. It may be hard to visualize, but you'll see when you sew. It will allow the seams to spread out.

 

Also you need to iron the seams flat after you sew. But you should iron the seams to one side, which is different then regular sewing.

 

HTH,

Mary

[ConnieB]

Check out this website:

 

http://www.quiltguilds.com/alabama.htm

 

It is a listing of some of the quilt guilds in Alabama. Don't necessarily limit yourself to guilds only in the immediate area....many of the members of guilds travel to give talks, teach, show quilts. Some charge, some do it for the love of quilting.

 

Ask them about smaller guilds in your area also, not all guilds list themselves because they want to stay small (usually due to meeting space limits).

 

Ask them about quilt shows in the state....this might be a wonderful field trip. Also check your phone directory for quilt stores....they typically also have a lot of staff that is willing to talk to new quilters (after all their business depends on new folks coming to the hobby). Some stores are more "new" friendly than others, so if you don't feel like the first one was interested, don't let that stop you from calling another. Each store has a personality all it's own. They may also know customer(s) that would be thrilled to talk to your group and maybe show you their stuff (both quilts and skills).

 

I've been quilting for a long time, though I am more a machine piecer, hand applique type (and I send most of my quilts out to be hand quilted). It's not hard to teach yourself, but it so much more fun when you have an experienced mentor to show you the little tricks of the trade. And to share your love of fabric!

[adams101]

I quilt, but not by hand. My motto is "If I can't do it on the machine, I'm not doing it!" Mom laughs at me. She has been known on many occasions to sew down my binding for me. I HATE HANDWORK! But, I do have some problems with my hands, so they could be why.