quilting

Quilt Along Series: Bias Binding, Hand Finishing & Washing

by Amy November 9, 2010

For our final week of the Beginning Quit Along Series we are going to talk about another method for binding a quilt and how to care for quilts. The baby quilt above was made with Charm Packs from the Bliss collection by Moda Cut a Bias Binding: This binding method is very similar to the [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Adding Binding (finished edge)

by Amy November 2, 2010

This week we’re going to talk about adding a machine-done binding to finish you project. Next week we’ll finish by talking about hand-done bias-binding. Pick whichever option works best for you! A neat binding makes the quilt look professional, crisp and finished. It can also provide a cute ‘frame’ for the design. When I first started [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Sewing the Quilt Together

by Amy October 26, 2010

We are now ready to combine the three layers of our quilt sandwich and ‘quilt’ our project. There are a variety of methods for quilting. I’m going to focus on machine quilting, but we’ll discuss others as well. Basting: Basting is a very important step in the quilting process. It seems tedious, but doing it [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Quilt Batting and Backs

by Amy October 19, 2010

Basically the definition of a quilt is a blanket made of a top (front) and back with a layer of batting sandwiched in between and held together by some kind of stitching through all three layers. Today we are going to discuss choosing batting and backs. There is a wide variety of quilt battings available [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Sewing on Borders

by Amy October 12, 2010

Today we are going to talk about sewing borders onto a quilt. It’s important to have borders that help keep your quilt square – otherwise your pieced top will be more difficult to ‘quilt’ and it will not lie flat – instead it will have little ripples in the edges of the quilt. For this [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Piecing Cut Fabric Squares

by Amy October 5, 2010

Piecing is the part of the quilt-making process where you sew the pieces of the patchwork together. With a pattern of simple squares we are mainly playing with the fabric design to get the look that we want. There are lots of options here: alternating lights and darks, diagonal rows by colors, etc. There’s no right [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Cutting Fabric

by Amy September 28, 2010

Cutting fabric. Does it scare the heck out of you? Hopefully from this day on you will wield a rotary-cutter with confidence. Rotary cutters have made cutting fabric much more accurate and efficient. I love my rotary cutter. Be careful though – those blades are sharp. Make it a habit to keep the safety cover [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Working With Quilt Patterns

by Amy September 21, 2010

When looking for a quilt design, there are a myriad of quilt pattern options to choose from. That can be a little overwhelming. Here are a few basics that might help. Most quilting patterns have some things in common: A list of fabric requirements and directions for cutting the fabric, assembling the pieces, and laying [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Choosing Fabric

by Amy September 14, 2010

Probably one of the most intimidating parts of beginning a quilting project is choosing just the right fabric. Here are a few simple tips to help in that process. There are two main factors to consider when picking fabrics for a project: color and scale. Color: Above is a collection I used for a recent [...]

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Quilt Along Series: Basic Quilting Supplies

by Amy September 7, 2010

Hi, I’m Amy Smart from Diary of a Quilter, and I am excited to share some very beginner-level steps to making a quilt. We’re going to move slow and simply through the quilt-making process from beginning to end. There will be a 10 week series, dissecting how to make a simple patchwork quilt. We’ll start [...]

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