Quilt Qua
Helping to Expand Your Creative Expression
Categories
Healing Quilts
Mon 22 Sep 2008
By Sandi Dolbee UNION-TRIBUNE RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR October 6, 2005 One is a ministry that makes quilts with threads hanging from them so churchgoers can say prayers for the recipients and tie a knot as a reminder of hope and love. Another is a mitzvah, acts of human kindness involving an ever-growing tapestry that becomes like a giant prayer shawl during the High Holy Days for those in need of God's comfort. They are separate projects, Christian and Jewish, that share a single vision: a fabric of prayer so tangible that you can reach out and touch it. The ... Read More...
The Shelf Life of Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Q: What is the shelf life of thread? And should you keep thread in the refrigerator to keep it from drying out? A: Bob: These days a good quality thread made today whether it’s cotton or poly of course can last for hundreds of years. But the ones that we kind of worry about are cotton thread because we have grandma’s or great-grandma’s spools of thread in our stash and the thread that they were making 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago didn’t have the raw material quality or the processing technique near what we have today. So if ... Read More...
Types of Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Question to Bob Purcell: Can you give us an overview of different types of thread and their use and just basically should we be using different threads in a serger and embroidery, different threads for embroidery and that kind of thing? A: We do get this question quite a bit. Can I use serger thread in a quilt? Serger thread is huge. There’s all types. If you go to the discount store and buy what they have on sale, the larger cones are $1.99 or 2.99; that is pretty much the serger thread, very cheap, loosely spun, polyester, and ... Read More...
Check Your Thread and Tension for Better Results
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Bob Purcell, President of Superior Threads, was a guest in our Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation. He answered critical questions about thread and sewing machines. You can get a recording of the full conversation with Bob as well as other experts in the quilting world: Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation Although the question was about breaking and fraying thread, the answer includes information about setting the tension on your machine. Listen to the Audio Q: What causes thread to fray and break? A: If it’s a good quality thread, the needle is too small or the tension is too tight ... Read More...
Types of Quilting Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Quilters are artists. Their canvas is fabric, and their paint is thread. But that is only part of the picture. Thread holds the canvas (quilt) together, and using the wrong thread can cause frustration, aggravation and even a quilt destroyed before its time. There are three basic types of thread: • Natural Fibers – wool, silk, cotton, flax, jute • Regenerated – rayon, acetate • Man-Made – polyester, nylon, acrylic, elastic, polypropylene, glass, metallic Natural Fibers High quality 100% cotton thread is easy to sew with and it shrinks at about the same rate as the fabric in my quilts. ... Read More...
Miscellaneous Stuff about Quilting Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Thread Finish After thread is made, it is “finished” to make it better suited for various sewing purposes. I’ll admit, I’ve seen “mercerized” for many years on cotton covered polyester thread, and never known what it meant. Now I know what it means. Not that I will remember, or assign any particular additional meaning to it, but now I have heard it. SOFT – this thread has no further processing. It is dyed and lubricated, rolled onto a spool and sold. MERCERIZED – the thread is chemically treated in a solution that causes it to swell and make it easier ... Read More...
Should I Use Matching or Contrasting Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Q: Is it best to use matching or contrasting thread? A: Like so many other things about quilting, it depends…. For sewing patches together, I usually use white or black thread. Black only if all of the fabric in the quilt is dark. For everything else, I use white. You could spend your life changing thread for each block, or using two different colors – one for the top and the other for the bobbin. Unless you press your seams open (which I don’t recommend too often), the thread won’t show, so I make it easy, and just use the ... Read More...
Should I Buy my Thread at Walmart?
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Q: Please advise me as to what types or brands of thread are best to use when sewing a quilt together by machine. And is a fabric store the best place to buy this? I am having a problem with Walmart thread. Sometimes it breaks and I adjust the tension and still have trouble! I am a beginner still also! Thanks! C. Wurzelbacher A: Great Question! Thread used to be really ho-hum. Where I shopped there was only one brand of thread. The choice was cotton covered polyester, and there were about 10 different colors - white, ecru (off white) black, ... Read More...
Cotton Thread
Mon 22 Sep 2008
Q: How is Cotton Thread Made? A: Cotton Thread After cotton is picked, it is run through a cotton gin where the seed cotton moves through dryers and cleaning machines that remove the waste such as burs, dirt, stems and leaves. Then the fibers are separated from the seed. The seeds go on their merry way to be turned into cottonseed oil, and other parts of the plant are converted into various foodstuff or fertilizer. The ginned fiber, now called lint, is pressed together and made into dense bales weighting about 500 pounds. Samples are taken from each bale and ... Read More...
The Edges of My Rag Quilt are Uneven
Fri 12 Sep 2008
Q: I am making a rag quilt .......first attempt at a quilt.....and the end of the rows are not coming out even. Is this normal and how do I remedy this? Thanks for any input....Raylene A: It depends on how much "off" they are. It is difficult to get everything to be completely even, so I don't worry about it being a little off, especially for a rag quilt where the edges are going to be fringed anyway. If it's 1/4" off, I'd just let it go and not worry about it. You can either even the edges up by ... Read More...
Understanding How Thread is Made
Fri 12 Sep 2008
Eavesdrop on a Conversation with Dierdre McElroy, hand quilting expert Question: Can you tell us how we can find a good quality thread for quilting? Diedre:The reason a lot of people probably responded to that is because it is one of the biggest aggravating things going on in the quilting world as of last year to two years ago. Unfortunately, with this particular subject there is no quick and easy answer because the problem has not been solved yet. It would be easiest if we start by explaining to everybody how thread is actually built from its ... Read More...
Quilting Thread
Fri 12 Sep 2008
Diedre: The finishes are what we want to start looking for in hand quilting. The types of finishes that are available are things like a soft finish, which is literally nothing. They dye the thread, wind it on a spool and sell it to you. That’s the number one most frustrating thread you can possibly buy as a hand quilter because your thread is completely open to your fabric. When you pull an 18-inch length of thread through a quilt, it takes the full abrasion and abuse over its entire length every time you pull it through. ... Read More...
Choosing a Good Thread
Fri 12 Sep 2008
This is an excerpt taken from an interview with Dierdre McElroy, expert hand quilter: Penny: How can you find a good thread? Diedre: No, there really isn’t. Feel the thread. Nine-tenths of the time, what you would instinctively want to stay away from is actually the better thread, because you’ll feel it and it will feel like wire. Never pay attention to weight on thread. Weight is a page-long calculus formula that is unique to every single company. If you like using a 50 weight Mettler, you can’t use a 50 weight Gutermann because they’re like apples ... Read More...
A Little About Cotton Batting From A Batting Expert
Thu 11 Sep 2008
H.D. Wilbanks, batting expert from Hobbs Bonded Fibers, presents a description of cotton batting: Cotton is, as you know it's grown. It is a natural product. It breathes. If you’re a hand quilter and you are going to be using cotton don’t expect it to be as easy to hand quilt as polyester, wool, or silk. Typically cotton does not beard. Bearding we define as working its way through the fabric itself. Whereas, it will punch through the needle hole, or you can pull it through the thread, but it’s not going to typically beard. It is a natural fiber ... Read More...
Selecting Fabric Color Using The Ives Color Wheel
Thu 11 Sep 2008
Several years ago, I decided that I would explore the world of fabric dyeing. It was in dyeing fabric that I really learned about color, and the difference between yellow-green and blue-green. By mixing the colors to make the dye, all of a sudden the resulting colors make more sense, and now, many yards of dyed fabric later, it is easier for me to pick out colors for a quilt. By actually seeing what color results from mixing 1/4 yellow and 3/4 red versus 1/2 yellow and 1/2 red, it all makes more sense. What is interesting is that when ... Read More...
Garneted Batting - A Throwback To the Past - But Interesting To Know
Thu 11 Sep 2008
There are four different ways that batting can be made. They are: garneted, needle punched, thermal bonded, and thermal bonded can also be considered heat-sealed and resin bonded. When a manufacturer garnets a bat it can be any fiber. It can be silk, wool, polyester, cotton, bleached cotton, unbleached cotton. The manufacturer puts whatever fiber they’re going to end up with into bins which feed a card. The card combs a very thin layer of continuous layer of batting roughly 60 inches wide, and layers it onto a conveyor that’s going underneath a cross lapper and away from it and ... Read More...
Barn Quilt Project
Thu 11 Sep 2008
In Iowa, quilt blocks on barns lead travelers off the major highways and back through once forgotten communities. The Iowa quilt blocks on barns have become a celebration of the participating community's heritage while generating tourism revenue. These aren't your common quilt blocks. The Iowa quilt blocks on barns are created with paint instead of fabric scraps, but they replicate many traditional quilt patterns - something all quilting enthusiasts can appreciate as true works of art. Iowa quilt blocks on barns range in size, but are generally 8x8-foot wooden squares painted in quilt block motifs. The colorful quilt blocks are ... Read More...
How to Buy a Gift for A Quilter
Sun 07 Sep 2008
There are plenty of great gift ideas for quilters -- ranging from gift cards to quilting club memberships. To pick the perfect gift ideas for quilters you know, it's important to know what kind of quilting they enjoy. It's easy enough to ask if you don't already know. Some quilters prefer appliqué, a sewing technique in which a design is sewn on top of a fabric block or panel. All three applications may be done by machine. The blanket stitch method may also be done by hand. Nice gift ideas for appliqué quilters would include a gift basket with supplies ... Read More...
Gift Ideas for Quilters on Your List
Sun 07 Sep 2008
Christmas gifts for quilters are abundant and can fit into any budget. Give a gift card or certificate to the quilter's favorite craft, hobby, or fabric store. The gift recipient can use the gift for whatever quilting supplies he or she needs. If you think a gift card isn't personal enough, there are plenty of other Christmas gifts for quilters. How about a nice pair of scissors? Good scissors are a tool that every quilter needs. When you shop for scissors as your Christmas gift for the quilter on your list, you will see just how many kinds of scissors ... Read More...
Get Away and Quilt
Sun 07 Sep 2008
Many avid quilters have more than one project going at a time. Often, there's one quilting project that gets put aside so long that it seems almost impossible to complete. If you find yourself in a quilting rut, maybe it's time to consider quilters retreats. There are organized quilters retreats in just about every state in the U.S. To learn about quilters retreats near you, contact your closest quilters guild or other sewing club. Some quilting clubs offer quilters retreats that are one or two day events. In a one day event, you might take your project to work on ... Read More...