Thursday, May 10, 2018

Quiltmaking 101 -- batting cleanup


Several years ago I started a series of blog posts that I call Quiltmaking 101 -- tutorials on all the basics of machine-pieced quilts.  Early installments deal with how to use the rotary cutter, how to stitch seams and how to press.  Moving along through the production process, you can learn how to efficiently sew block-to-block quilts together, how to put the quilt sandwich together, and how to quilt it.  Finally, you can learn how to finish the quilt, with bindings or facings, and how to put a sleeve on for hanging.

I think that somebody who never saw a quilt before could probably learn 99 percent of what she needed to make one by following this series of tutorials.  If you want to read them, they're all right here.

But I realized recently, as I went back to check out one of the posts, that I had left some gaps in the instruction.  Most embarrassing, I realize that I never explicitly discussed freehand cutting -- the heart of improvisational quilting -- and how to sew together a quilt with curvy pieces.  So I am putting together a series of posts on piecing curves.  By that I mean both gently curved seams like these:

and more severe curves like these:























I'll be posting these new tutorials in the next couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, I invite you to look at the Quiltmaking 101 link above and tell me if there are other basic skills that you'd like to see additional tutorials on.

7 comments:

  1. Yes, to that. And thank you in advance.

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  2. I taught myself to quilt by googling and reading the blog posts and YouTube videos all you great teachers provided. Thank you!

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  3. Like Daffycat, I also am self-taught. I use your facing technique almost exclusively and have shared it with others in my art quilt group. But in spite of the wealth of info out there, I still enjoy books, and am having a lot of fun with yours, riffing on rail fences. Thanks for sharing what you already have, and for what is to come!

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  4. I'm looking forward to these tutorials!

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  5. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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  6. Hi, Love your tutorials. My latest interest is nano strip piecing. I want to sew a large art quilt (40" across or wider) and don't know how to join those narrow, narrow strips so they don't become distorted. thanks, Anne

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    1. Hi Anne! I had not been familiar with the term "nano piecing!" I'm away from home right now but will be happy to address your question at some length if you can hold tight for a couple of weeks.

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