Quilting - Beginners and Fabric Collecting

With an estimated 130 completed quilts to her creditand what doesn't. There are plenty of books out there
(and counting), Trudy Schwader at age 75 has had athat tell you how much material, say for instance for a
rich lifetime of quilting experience. Conversations withlog cabin. Simple ones like that will give you a good
Trudy to make a record of these experiencesplace to start. Those simple ones are the ones that I
resulted in a series of articles. What follows here ismake now to use up my scraps.[Q: Speaking of
article Number II.[Question: You have a legendary fabricbooks, do you have a big collection or library, or how
collection - enough inventory for a small store! How diddid you get your patterns that you use for your
you collect so much fabric?]Trudy: I had 8 kids and Iquilts?]Trudy: No. Not a big library. Just a few books
sewed for them all the time - cotton dresses, shirts,that really have a lot of patterns in them. And then, like
whatever. When I sewed I always saved the materialthe log cabin - it's so easy now for me to put one
that was left, and I still have lots of those scrapstogether or to make variations. The way I make the
(laughs). In fact, I know I have a few scraps fromlog cabin, I learned from talking to another quilter. I had
material that my mother used when she made clothesgone to a mall to one of the fabric stores, and they
for us back when I was young. Unreal, but I really dohave classes. They have people come in and tell
have some of those fabrics from the 30s and 40s.Soabout quilts and other types of sewing projects.[Q: So
when I started sewing a quilt, I would usually haveyou learned an easy way, a short-cut way to put
scraps to begin with. And then I would go into stores -together a classic like a log-cabin, by taking a
fabric places you know - and if I needed somethingclass?]Trudy: It's a good idea for beginners to take a
special to go with the quilt I was making, then I wouldclass, but this one wasn't a class actually. The speaker
buy it. Of course, while I was there I would see otherwas just showing us some quilts and talking about
materials, and as I say, some of these bolts of materialhow to do a few things. It was part of her
would jump out and say, "Buy me," and so I'd buydemonstration with some other items she was selling.
some of that cloth, too![Q: What happened to thoseIt's like with any craft, knowing a few little tricks can
pieces that you bought on impulse? I mean, sometimes,save you a lot of time.[Q: Can you give an example of
you'd have fabrics for a long time that you'd never usea time-saving trick?]Trudy: Well. Most people might
and then all of the sudden it'd be just the right thing foralready know about a tool called a rotary cutter, but it
a quilt? Or did it end up that those that jumped out andis probably the biggest single thing that made quilting so
said, "Buy me," never quite fit for any quilt you mademuch easier for me than using scissors. It's a cutter
later?]Trudy: Some. I do use a lot of them, but there'skind of like a pizza-cutting wheel. I can stack up fabric,
still a few that I've never used. I think this is not unusualline it up along the edge of a special ruler that belongs
for quilters. It takes some time and some 'mistakes' towith the rotary cutter, and get a perfectly straight cut
acquire a really good on-hand quilting fabric collection.every time without the effort of squeezing a scissors
You need lots of variety and color.[Q: What adviceover and over to cut out all the little pieces of a
would you give a beginner? What are some thingspattern.It's the best, and anyone today quilting without
that you know now that you wish you had knownthis tool is really making it hard on themselves. Go get
earlier in your quilting experience?]Trudy: For aa rotary cutter right now if you don't have one
beginner, the thing to do is to go to a book, find aalready.Theresa Modine's studies of American folk art
simple pattern that you might like and the instructionsand women's history includes an emphasis on quilting.
will tell you about how much material to get. And if youShe is contributing author of The Quilt Box, your
ask them about it, most of the people in fabric storesresource for a world of quilting information. Addtional
will give you a lot of advice about what goes togetherarticles by Theresa are found at First Class Fabric.