How quilts are made


History of Quilting an Introduction to Quilting for the Beginner

While the history of quilting is fraughtfor quilting for the beginner to advance
with many examples of possible originsfrom the crude patchwork designs to the
dating back as far as biblical timesmore unique quilting block styles, such
with the story of Josephs 'Coat of Manyas this nine patch quilt called a shoo
Colors', it is generally agreed that thefly. While there are many hundreds of
more traditional American/European hadvariations of the nine patch quilt, the
it's start with the patchwork quilts inshoo fly is great quilting for the
the 1780's. Patchwork quilts in essencebeginner to start out with. As for the
were quilting for the beginner, in thathistory of quilting the shoo fly nine
scraps of cloth were sewn together topatch quilt, it appears first around the
provide clothing and blankets as a1870's. You will notice that there are
matter of scarcity and necessity.two basic shapes, a square and a
The very first patchwork quilts used fortriangle which will both be important
blankets were layers of cloth sewnpermanent rotary cutter templates that
together with a few strong runningwill be used in quilting other nine
stitches. These primitive patchworkpatch quilts for beginner to expert. The
quilts according to the history ofshoo fly is named after a child's rocker
quilting resembled the thick andhaving the seat built between two flat
cumbersome pallets which were sleptsides cut in the shape of an animal.
upon. Due to the difficulty in stitchingNever before in the history of quilting,
the many layers together the quiltinghave the techniques used for this
frame was invented.pattern been used for quilting with the
Progress in technology deeply affectedbeginner in mind. Most experienced
the number and styles of patchworkquilters will tell you when they did
quilts made during the middle years oftheir first nine patch quilt like the
the 1800s. The industrial revolution,shoo fly, they learned how to cut a
the turning point in the history ofsquare in half diagonally once or twice
quilting brought about the most dramaticin order to get their half-square
change as textiles came to betriangles. However, this method is not
manufactured on a broad scale. Thisaccurate mathematically and with one
meant women no longer had to spend timewrong move, you could wind up with two
spinning and weaving to provide fabric(2) or four (4) different sizes. It is
for their family's needs. By the 1840sdifficult to place the ruler diagonally
the textile industry had grown to thein the exact center of each corner while
point that commercial fabrics werepreventing the material from moving or
affordable to almost every family. As asplitting apart, when having to cut
result quilting for beginners becametwice on the diagonal.
widespread.Every quilter knows that cutting strips
Another major shift in the history ofare not always an exact science.
quilting was in the style of patchworkSometimes it is hard to read the same
quilts made. Although a few earliermeasurement time after time, and to
quilts were made in the block style,continually have to re-align the edges
quilts made up of blocks were uncommonas the material starts getting off the
until around the 1840s. With so manymark after so many cuts. When I did my
fabrics being manufactured quilting forown first nine patch quilt, I would
beginners created their blocks with aoften open up the strip only to discover
delightful variety of fabrics.that I had a "wave" in the middle of the
During this period the invention andstrip from inaccurate folding. It was
availability of the sewing machineafter many years of trial and error that
contributed to the history of quilting.I came up with these exclusive
In 1856 The Singer Company started thetechniques and quilting secrets that
installment plan so that more familieswill have you quilting your own award
could afford a sewing machine. Manywinning nine patch quilt in no time.
patterns were created with the beginningThere will be no guessing games when it
quilter in mind. By the 1870s a goodcomes to setting shapes together, as you
many households owned a sewing machine.will cut all the points with the
This affected patchwork quilt making inpermanent rotary cutter template
two ways. First of all women could makematerial for easy piecing, which
clothing for their family in much lesseliminates the "dog ears" and makes the
time, leaving more time for patchworkmargin of error practically
quilt making. Secondly they could usenon-existent. You will also be able to
their sewing machines to make all orslash your preparation time in half so
part of their patchwork quilts. Moreyou can have more time and greater
often the sewing machine was used tosatisfaction to create more beautiful
piece nine patch quilts but occasionallyquilts.
the patchwork quilting was done with the©Copyright 2007 Unique Quilter a
sewing machine. This made it possiblesubsidiary of Neo Fortunes, Inc.



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