How to Keep Your Quilts Beautiful

Creating a quilt requires much time and effort. Meant to be cherished and enjoyed, quilts can end up damaged by improper use, cleaning, storage and display. Whether created for every day use or as heirlooms, proper care will ensure that they last to bring the pleasure intended.

Use

When planning a quilt consider the intended use. What fabrics are used, the type of quilting done, etc. - are dependent on the intended use of the quilt.

So decide if the quilt will be used as an everyday quilt on a bed or is it meant to be an heirloom and thus displayed but not used.

Keep in mind that a quilt for a cot, child or lap quilt definitely needs to be of a fabric that is durable and washable, as it will require more frequent laundering.

Cleaning

Baby and lap quilts will get soiled and need to be washed often. It is important that a mild soap is used and that the quilt is rinsed well. Quilt shops carry products specially designed for quilts. "Quilt Wash" is one such product. All commercial detergents are much too harsh and will strip colour from quilt fabrics. A great product for stains, yellowing or other stubborn marks is "Restoration".

Laundering a quilt may not be necessary. Many will only require having the dust removed. The best way to remove dust from a sturdy quilt is to place a nylon stocking, over the nozzle of a vacuum and then gently vacuum the quilt--preferably on both sides. Avoid surface abrasion.

Airing a quilt can also remove odours and dust. There is no need to beat the quilt and keep in mind that sunlight is bad for your quilt.

Dry cleaning a quilt is not recommended. It is not a gentle method as large tumble machines are used and harsh chemicals are applied, which can be quite damaging.

Storage

Light and moisture are a quilts worst enemies. Direct sunlight will not only fade the newest and highest quality fabric in no time at all, but it also will cause the fibers to weaken. Moisture can cause mildew to form, which can be not only difficult to remove, but impossible.

Many people use cardboard boxes and plastic bags with the intention of protecting their precious quilts. Both of these gather moisture, causing stains and encouraging mildew and musty smells. They are bad choices for storage. The big plastic storage boxes are not any better, as they do not have ventilation.

A closet shelf is a much better choice. Do not use open shelving as this exposes the quilt to light and you will end up with fading along the folds. The storage area should be clean, cool, dry, dark, and as free as possible from drastic changes in temperature and humidity. If you have shelf space, it is a good idea to fold the length of the quilt and roll, to eliminate creases. The next time, fold a different way before rolling.

It is also essential that the quilt is clean and dust free before put it away. Stains can attract insects while dust particles actually create abrasion, causing wear.

Avoid storing near an outside wall where condensation will occur particularly in winter. Be aware that smoke for cigarettes and fireplaces can seek out stored textiles leaving an ugly surprise. One of the best places to store a quilt is on a bed. Do you have a guest room? Pile your quilts on the unused bed, in layers, and then top with a cotton sheet to block the light.

No matter where you choose to store your quilts, it is important to inspect them every two to three months. Take them out to air them for a few hours and examine, front and back. It is a good idea to clean the storage area at this time before putting the quilts back.

Display

Both sunlight and artificial light will cause fading. Never display a quilt where direct sunlight will reach it. If you have fluorescent lighting, it is wise to cover the tubes with a UV shield.

When hanging a quilt, use a method that will distribute the weight over the entire width of the quilt. Sew a four inch wide tube or sleeve of fabric along the top edge on the back of the quilt and stitch through all layers of the quilt every inch or so. Do not use nails, pins or staples to hang a quilt. These can tear through fabrics, corrode and cause staining and cause distortion of heavier quilts.

Cherish your quilts and they will reward you with years of enjoyment.

Pauline Rogers has travelled throughout Australia and New Zealand for over 20 years, teaching the art of patchwork and quilting. She operates an award winning shop, Quilters World, in Toowoomba, Queensland as well as a successful mail order and online shop. She founded Quiltfest, an annual quilting event and Margie's Quilts of Hope, a quilting challenge which raises funds for breast cancer research. Visit her website at http://www.quiltersworld.com.au

A Quilting Book for Success

If you think you would like to take up the hobby of quilting, having a good quilting book will make it much more enjoyable. A quilting book will give you the guidelines that you need to understand the techniques and patterns in this beautiful art form.

Quilting has been a favorite pastime of American women, and some men, since the late 1700's. Over the years quilting techniques have changed drastically, from hand quilting to using modern quilting and sewing machines.

In the early years of quilting in America, many of the styles were those that were used in the European countries. These styles are very different from what we think of as the early patchwork quilt styles. A popular quilting method of this time was called broderie perse. The quilters would cut out flowers and other designs from imported fabrics and carefully appliqué them onto a large piece of solid fabric, and then make their quilt. Another early quilting method is called whole cloth quilting. If you would like to learn more about either of these beautiful, early American quilting techniques, there are many quilting books sold on the subject.

As time went on, more and more American women came to enjoy the hobby of quilting. Often groups of women would get together and all quilt in the same place. These quilting sessions came to be known quilting parties or quilting bees. Many times, a group of women would all work together to help one person finish their quilt.

Once textiles began to be produced in factories, American women started to make sampler blocks of their quilting patterns. Sometimes these blocks were meant to be sewn together as a sampler quilt, but it is also believed that many of the blocks were made as a way to remember, and share, their patterns. Some of these sample blocks were made in sets of varying numbers and tied together with ribbon or string. These sample blocks were actually some of the very early quilting books that were made. Some women made labels for each block, giving credit to the name of the person who made it.

Magazines, such as Godey's Lady's Book, began to publish quilt patterns as early as the 1830s. Throughout the years that followed more and more magazines published quilting patterns and articles. During the Great Depression, many magazines had articles telling people how they could make warm bedding by quilting together fabric scraps from outgrown clothing.

Quilting has continued to grow in popularity through the last century and into this one. Libraries and bookstores are full of quilting books and magazines. Many quilters of today like to follow patterns in a quilting book to replicate a quilt from years gone by, while others look for quilting books that offer instructions on new patterns and techniques.

Whether you are interested in learning about the history of quilting, a beginner that needs to learn basic techniques and stitches, or an experienced crafter wanting to learn an intricate pattern, it is easy to find a quilting book to meet your needs.

If you want to find out more about quilting books, click over to Heather's site at http://www.madaboutquilting.com Or click here to get 3 Free Reports about quilting.

FREE PATTERN: Paddington’s Travels

October 19, 2011 by ivoryspring

Paddington Bear, written about by Michael Bond, made his first endearing appearance in 1958. P.B.’s story (and eventually stories) was inspired by a lonesome looking bear on a shelf in a store near Paddington Station, London. Author Michael Bond ended buying the bear for his wife as a present.

Image from www.paddingtonbear.com

Quilting Treasures just released a NEW and SUPER cute Paddiongton Bear line, “Paddington’s Travels”.  I designed a quilt pattern using these fabrics — FREE for your quilting pleasure!  Click here to download the quilt pattern.

Panels are used for the center of some of the blocks.  Just look at these adorable scrapbook pages interpreted for fabric.  There are a total of 8 different panels, and all of them appear in the quilt I designed:

And  how about the Toile Paddington you see in the background of the airplane blocks?  I am telling you, the Paddington Toile prints in this collection are just toooo cute!

Check with your local quilt shops for fabrics!  You can also search for stores that carry this line by going to www.quiltshops.com

Alrightie – that’s all I have to share with you today.  Thanks so much for your get-well wishes.  I am still limping along.    Till tomorrow!

Be the first to like this post.Posted in Quilt Pattern, Quilting | Tagged Free Quilt Pattern, Kids Quilt Pattern, Paddington Bear Fabrics, Paddington Bear Quilt, Quilting Treasures Paddington's Travels, Wendy Sheppard Design | 18 Comments

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Asian Mist: Sneak Peek #1

October 20, 2011 by ivoryspring

Hello Everyone!  I hope you are doing well.  I showed you these fabrics in one my previous posts…

I also showed you the hand-embroidered motif to mimic a wave motif on one of the fabrics:

How about the latest on what I have done with these lovely Asian fabrics?

I have been in designing mode in the last 48 hours trying to meet a couple of deadlines.  If I am late responding to your emails sent in the last 48 hours, you know why… Thanks for stopping by!  Now tell me, do you like my crane silhouette?

Be the first to like this post.Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blank Quilting Asian Mist | 16 Comments

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How To Earn Money With Your Quilting Hobby

Are you a non-professional quilter or a part-time quilter looking to make some money from your quilting? Are you having a difficult time monetizing on your masterpieces? If the answer is yes, then read on.

Study the market before you start

If you are really serious about turning your quilts into cash, it's important that you study the market before you start. Studying the market helps you discover what types of quilts are in high demand. As soon as you find out, you may consider only making those quilts which are in high demand among your potential customers. Doing so makes it easy to sell your quilts while letting you get a good price for a quilt.

People that take quilting just as a hobby don't have to spend much time researching the market as the results from the research might end up in a conclusion that the demand for the item which they love to produce is very low. If your choices are flexible or if you are ready to produce any quilt then there shouldn't be any problems for you to earn a reasonable amount of revenue from your hobby as a quilter.

Pricing quilts

Determining a price for a quilt consists of a few steps, the first one being market research which you should have already done before sewing quilts.

Keeping track of the time you spend

The second step in pricing needs to be done during the creation of the quilt, which is "keeping track of your time". You should note down or maintain a record of the time you spend on the quilt; this includes the total time you spent on the quilt (from picking a design to finishing the quilt).

Start with finding out the overall time you spent on each of the steps in making a quilt (preparing the pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is finished etc.), then estimate the total time it takes on all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have calculated the time it takes to produce one square foot of a quilt of that particular type.

Figure out how much your time is worth

The next step in pricing is determining the price of your time, or deciding how much the time you sped on making a quilt is worth.

If you are a relatively new quilter or if you are doing an unskilled work then the minimum wage might be between $6.00 and $7.00 per hour. If you are an expert quilter or performing difficult work, your time is worth significantly more than that. Something around $10-$15 per hour should be good rate in this case. Still, it's truly up to you to decide how much your time is really worth. The market research you had done can help you in making a decision about that. You may also wish to contact other quilt sellers in your area and talk with them about this and reach a conclusion.

Appraisal

An appraisal is a formally written document about the estimated value and other attributes of a quilt. Stuff that should be included in a quilt appraisal are, a complete description of the quilt, a defined value, system used in determining the value, the purpose of the appraisal (sale or resale, insurance purposes, IRS requirements, division of property etc.) and the signature of the appraiser.

Selling your work

After your quilt is finished, you would likely want to sell or market it so that you can generate money for the time and effort you had put in sewing your quilt. Small scale quilters, new quilters, part-time quilters, or someone doing quilting as a hobby usually discover that the marketing of their quilts is tougher than the production. So let me look at some quilt marketing methods which can be helpful for the above mentioned group.

Quilting brokers and stores

It's difficult for beginner quilters and part-timers to open their on quilt stores and sell their quilts there. For these types of quilters it will be useful to look for other ways of promoting their work. There are quilt brokers and handicraft stores that will be glad to sell your pieces upon paying a cut. It should be easy for you to find such brokers and stores in your area and offer your quilts through them. When your quilts become popular and when the demand for your quilts increases you may wish to step up to larger scale or full time quilting and consider directly marketing your products to customers.

Selling your work at internet auction websites

Another option available for amateur or part-time quilters is to list their work on internet auction sites. There are plenty of them available out there. Online auctions make it possible for a quilter to seek a way to sell the quilts at maximum price. Some of such sites even give you options to sell your quilts at a fixed price instead of listing it for auctions. It's up to you to figure out if you want customers to bid for you product or just buy it at a price you specified.

Some sites might even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can prevent your work from being sold at a lower price than you want. This is a really good way for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their work.

Alternative quilting related income sources

There are many other ways to generate income from quilting related activities. Next you'll find two of such ways that require a certain level of knowledge.

Offering quilt lessons

If you are an experienced quilter and don't have much time (only a couple of hours a day) to invest, you might want to pick this option. You could find some schools teaching quilting and contact them offering to run a quilting class for beginners. If you have a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can run classes, it will be much easier for you to get a contract as a quilting teacher. Another option is to offer quilting lessons at your own place. You might use your spare time like this and you should be able to earn good enough revenue from this.

Designing new quilt patterns

If you are someone who is good at sketching new and unique quilt patters, you can easily make lots of money selling them to other quilters as demand for fresh patterns will always be great. For marketing quilt patterns of your design, you could use the same methods described above for marketing quilts.

Like in any venture, if you use your time and resources in the most efficient way it's not hard to make a successful quilting career or generate good revenue from quilting.

Kirsten Stone is an avid quilt maker. You can find more of her tips at http://www.quiltingboard.com/forums/show/360/1.page

Finally! Something I can tell you about!

As my infrequent posts have shown, a lot of what I do has to be hush-hush. Publishers are always concerned about having ideas scooped by some nefarious quilter with no fresh ideas of her own. Believe it or not, it does happen. Any way, it means that we have to keep things under wraps until we can spring it on you, complete and fully formed. Perhaps that’s not such a bad idea.

Quiltmaker is coming out with it’s fourth volume of 100 Blocks, and I have a block in it! I made the block way, way back in May, I think, and of course couldn’t show it to you then. (Gosh, I feel so secretive, like some sort of shadowy spy, in a wry sort of I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you sort of way.) I think this is my second time for contributing a block, though I did just mail one off for the fifth edition, and my brain is addled by editing and organizing and all things book.

And, actually, I can’t show you my block just yet. But there will be a blog tour the week of November 7-11, and all will be revealed. (Oh, so now I’m a mystical magician.)

But I can show you this:

My block didn’t make the cover, as it did for the volume one, but this time my name did! How very cool is that? Honestly, I don’t think of myself as famous enough to have my name help to sell magazines, so it’s surely a giggle when it ends up on the front! Follow your dreams, guys, relentlessly follow your dreams. They just might come true.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 8:49 am and is filed under Hand Applique by Machine, General Silliness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Reconsidering

We were standing in front of one of the shop’s samples, a charming card trick quilt. The owner of the shop remarked that it seemed that the quilt, designed by someone who was normally known for her clever ways of piecing, was made in the most difficult way possible, and that to simply break it down into more basic units would allow a much easier path for piecing.

I shared the story of a design that took me three tries to get right. It was not until I laid out the finished first version (bed sized, of course) that I saw that I had made it in the hardest possible way. So many points to match, biases and tiny pieces that put seams where no seam was needed.

So I rewrote the pattern and remade the sample. At first I felt foolish for not seeing the simplicity of the design. I truly had lost the forest for the trees. Thinking now that I had finally arrived at a clever and simple piecing method to create the desired effect, I spread the second version of the quilt on the living room floor for admiration.

I ran up the stairs to get a better look and froze. If I had only tipped the design on point! Even the simple piecing of the second version seemed needlessly difficult. For criminy sakes!

The first two versions of the quilt were added to the “yes, you may use this quilt” cupboard. The pattern was rewritten yet again, finally, and that’s the design that became a pattern.

As I was telling the shop owner this story it slowly dawned on me. With all the traveling I’ve been doing I haven’t had the time to make mistakes, let alone correct them. For the few quilts I’ve designed in the last couple of years, I’ve had to stick with tried and true. Deadlines don’t mesh well with innovation.

For years I’ve been saying that I need to travel less. But I’ve always felt that teaching is my true calling. Not to mention that it’s a big source of my income. It’s such an honor to be invited to teach that it’s very hard for me to say no.

I also love writing, and designing and sewing. Oh, how I miss sewing! I have these ideas in my head about fun things to do with my applique, quilts that I’d love to make, techniques I’d like to explore, products I’d like to bring to market. Not to mention the grandbabies I need to snuggle and children that are growing up and away who need to be savored while they are still nearby. And the husband I’d really like to run off with someplace to have an “illicit affair”.

So, I’m putting it out in the universe. I’m drawing a line in the sand. No more teaching trips will be booked into 2012. Too late to travel less, next year is now totally closed. And only a few more, maybe five, six tops, added into 2013.  Unless, of course, the offer is too good to pass up.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 9:12 am and is filed under General Silliness, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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