What the heck is Quilting anyway?

Quilting is the collective name for “fabric piecing” (act of sewing small pieces of fabric together to make a larger usable piece) and “quilting” (the act of binding a insulating layer between two layers of fabric).

Quilting is the original fabric recycling program. Using new and/or used fabric, animal hides or furs to create quilted blankets, clothing, bags and anything else you can think of.

While the process has been around for thousands of years, today folks are most familiar with the blanket quilt.

When times were tough and supplies were scarce, communities came together to pool resources. Folks would exchange fabric scraps to piece together blanket tops that would then be quilted by a group…hand quilting is extremely labor intensive, but could be done quickly by a small group and was used as a social gathering.

That old saying “Many hands make short work”.

As times got better and the industrial age came into full swing it became cheaper to buy clothes and blankets. We became a disposable society.

But…

We are Nostalgic. We like to create things. Quilts are functional items we can enjoy making and remind us of times gone by. They also make wonderful gifts.

While a lot of quilt projects are made with new material, you can make projects such as T-shirt and jean quilts, bags and such…the art is in the design.

Designs range from classic quilt blocks like the “log cabin” to modern ones like “bargello”.

There are infinite possibilities with fabrics and block designs.

The quilting process used to take weeks or months. With technology, we can now quilt a project in a few hours to a few days using computerized long arm sewing machines with fantastic stitch designs. You are only limited by your imagination.

You don’t need fancy equipment to create incredible quilt projects. Many folks still hand piece and hand quilt.

Quilting is almost always a collaborative effort. Many Quilters use pattern or block designs by other artists. They resize, choose fabrics, add borders and other embellishments to make it their own. If they don’t do their own quilting, they find someone who does do quilting to help them complete the project. Quilters often seek the advice of other quilters through guilds and online groups.

Quilting continues to evolve with new blocks, patterns and sewing techniques all the time.