Tuesday 14 August 2012

Do You Know How To Create A Quilt?

By Sean T Saunders


Making your own handmade quilts at home saves you from having to purchase quilts from shops if you want to purchase a beautiful quilt from the market, then you need to spend lot of money on it. However, if you have some basic idea on quilting you could easily create your own handmade quilts at home. It can also be a wonderful pastime activity that may help you to create other clothing items such as bed coverings which may be used to decorate your home. Learning how to create handmade quilt is quite easy and you have a number of informative resources available on it. Here in this article we have listed out step by step instructions which will give you an idea on what you need to do to create good handmade quilts.

1. The first and foremost step is to think about the pattern. Usually separate blocks of fabric are sewn together into rows to create the complete quilt pattern. If you don't have any clue about where to start with, then you can pick from free quilt patterns that are readily available on the internet. You can also opt to make your own pattern if you'd like. Basically, the first step is to determine which will be the core block. You can get some ideas from the free quilt block patterns obtainable from online resources. Get an idea on the blocks' final dimensions. Decide on the number of columns and rows you'll need to make your desired size of quilt.

2. Purchase your desired fabrics. Upon deciding on the pattern, determine which fabrics you need for your quilt. If you are just a newbie, go for cotton fabrics because they are easy to work with. Also, be sure that you purchase fabric for the quilt backing.

3. Buy quilt batting. It goes between the quilt backing and the quilt top. Choose batting capable of meeting needs of how closely together the final project must be quilted.

4. Start cutting the fabric carefully based on the pattern instructions by using a rotary cutter and mat.

5. Next, sew the quilt top and then the individual squares. While doing this stick to the pattern which you have chosen. The individual squares must be carefully sewn together to create a row. Then, the rows are sewn together. Adding border to the four edges is yet another option you may choose to have. Press the seams with an iron.

6. The next step is the actual quilting process. Lay down the material for quilt backing on a clean, flat surface, with the print side down. To keep the backing material firm over the surface, secure it with tapes. Next, you need to place the quilt batting over it. Then, put your quilt top, right side up, over the batting. Now you should use safety pins to attach all the three layers, securing a six-inch space in between them. Use either free motion quilting or stitch in the ditch technique to quilt your project.

7. The final step is adding the binding. Make binding strips, 2.5" wide by the perimeter and add a foot. The fabric needs to be ironed well to remove any wrinkles. Lastly, start sewing the binding strip to your quilt's front, flip to the back and then hand stitch it in place.

These are the basic steps involved in making a simple handmade quilt.




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