When Is Quilting Ever Enough?
July 21, 2008This past weekend my small quilting group finally succeeded in dragging me away from my family's summer project (laying patio bricks--who wouldn't want to be dragged away?) to attend the biennial Iowa Quilt Guild Show. Quilters from across the state showcase many quilts that would otherwise be seen only by the lucky recipients of their work. Quilts made for births, graduations, weddings and more joyous events are featured, as well as some gorgeous art quilts. Take a look at Rosalie Baker's fabric interpretation of her great-granddaughter below, and you'll see what I mean!
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"You Are My Sunshine" by Rosalie Baker of Davenport, Iowa |
Unlike many of the shows I attend as a machine quilter, this one is especially interesting because of the large number of hand-quilted projects displayed. While the machine-quilted quilts still far outnumber them, it's comforting to know that the art of hand quilting is alive and well. After all, for the longest time I struggled to get machine quilting to be "acceptable" among local quilters. I'd hate to think that it eventually led to the demise of hand quilting!
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Best Hand Quilting Award, JoAnne Scharn, Lytton, Iowa, |
for her quilt "Japanese Garden" |
As my friends and I marveled at all the quilts hanging in the show, I noticed that the amount of quilting varied greatly from quilt to quilt, both those that were hand quilted as well as machine quilted. I have judged machine quilting shows and am accustomed to looking at a quilt with a critical eye when it comes to quilting density and other factors. But when my friends also began to comment about the discrepancies in the amount of quilting, it became apparent that this might be a terrific topic for another installment of QuiltTalk.
Quilting "density" refers to the amount of quilting in a given area of a quilt. Batting manufacturers indirectly talk about density when they indicate how closely batting must be quilted to maintain its integrity after handling and washing. You can find batting that recommends quilting as close as 1/4-inch, or up to 10 inches apart!
When deciding on how much quilting to add to a project, consider these points:
- What does the batting manufacturer recommend?
- How soft and supple do I want the quilt to feel?
- Do I want any areas to "pop out" by creating texture or background quilting?
- Do the designs I have chosen consistently fill the quilt's spaces?
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Is my border as heavily quilted as the body of my quilt?
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Will the quilt be washed frequently?
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Are there any straight lines or seams that I want to keep straight? (Think stitching in the ditch.)
Your answers to these questions will help guide you in determining how much quilting to add to your project. To learn more about how batting will affect your quilting density, read the "Quilting the Quilt" feature in the July/August 2008 issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. As you start your next project, avoid two common pitfalls when it comes to quilting density:
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Heavily quilting the quilt's interior but lightly quilting the borders, resulting in wavy edges:
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Leaving large areas unquilted, including appliqué pieces, which will cause those areas to wear more quickly as they shift on the batting.
In the meantime, take a look at some of the photos below that I took at the Iowa Guild Show. On these photos I have not identified the makers, just as a quilt show judge would see them. Pretend you are the judge--when would you have written the comment, "needs more quilting?"
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