Ever wonder how a quilt is made? A quilt is a kind of bedding made of several layers sewn together. It is made thick and padded, a technique called quilting. Quilting is an artistic process, tedious but very fulfilling. When you thought of quilting, you need scraps of materials, a needle and a thread to join chosen layers of materials to form a quilt. Be informed that typical quilting has three layers: the top fabric (quilt top), the insulating material and backing material.
Quilting can be done manually, or speed up the process with the use of a sewing machine, or by a specialist longarm quilting system. Basically the quilter's hand or the sewing machine passes the needle and thread through all layers and then brings the needle back up. This process is repeated across the entire desired quilting piece. Stitches used on quilting can be purely functional or decorative and intricate. Commonly used stitches are straight, running, and rocking. The stitch used basically depends on the quilter and the purpose of the quilt being made.
In learning how to make a quilt, there are no absolute rules to follow. Quilters will always develop new ways to accomplish the same tasks. Use these instructions for you to get started. In the long run, you may develop better or time-saving methods of your own.
- Be familiar with the technique. You need to start off by reading quilting patterns. This is an excellent way to begin learning how to make a quilt. This will help you be familiar with the techniques and learn quilting terms. After learning a few quilting patterns, any quilting chatter you hear will really make sense.
- Learn Quilting Fabrics. Learn fabric characteristics before you wash or cut a fabric. You'll be confused initially on fabric selection. This is one of the time-saving and practical tips for quilters. Once you know the perfect fabric to use, the process of quilting comes in smoothly, without wasting a single fabric and time.
- Get comfortable with color. The moment you walk into a fabric store, there are a variety of color options. Remember, there are no rules on choosing colors, but a basic understanding of a simple color wheel can help you choose colors and fabrics for your quilt. If you want to skip the color wheel, consider as the color value. This reflects to how dark or light a color is in relation to other colors. The differences and similarities of the color value work together to define the designs of your quilt.
- Layout. Before buying the fabrics, you need to determine the size you prefer for the quilt. Check the standard mattress sizes first. There are a variety of quilting layouts over the internet. Decide as well if you need sashing and borders. You may consider a straight sewn border, a mitered border, a pied border, or use a border print to make it truly unique.
- Quilt Sandwich and Quilt the Quilt. Choose the battting to use and determine to piece the quilt backing. Then start quilting the quilt. You can do it manually or with the use of a sewing machine.
- Binding. The final stage of quilting is to sew the binding to the quilt. Binding is the fabric that is used to cover the raw edges of the quilt. It is not difficult to make binding strips from any fabric. Binding can be narrowed or wide, that would depend on the look you wanted to achieve. It can be made from a single layer of fabric, but two layers would make it more durable.
This is just a good start. Learning how to quilt would never stop from this. You will learn more and gain new techniques with every quilt you work on. For more quilting ideas, you could check for moda jelly rolls or fabric jelly rolls online.