Making Patchwork

[thecornflake]

After reading the Self-Sufficientish Bible, i thought I might try making a patchwork quilt (or it might turn out to be a cushion if it takes too long).

I have a query for anyone who might have done this before, I'd also be interested in any handy pointers you might have.

Does it matter if the thickness of the fabric varies? I've got some thats quite thin but I also wanted to incorporate some cut off of a pair of jeans which are thicker material.

[chookwoman]

I have one I'm still making. The fabrics vary in weight a little bit but not much. It might make for a puckered finish. Which, considering the work involved would be a real shame.

[Eigon]

It depends what effect you're trying to achieve, and where you're going to use the quilt - the more publicly visible it is, the more careful you're likely to want to be.
I've made crazy patchwork with everything from jeans to old curtains to silk shirts thrown in.
I've also made carefully pieced patchwork with all cotton of one weight.

One of the designs that worked really well, and can be made with different weights of material is a strip rug. I've made and sold or given away many of these, and they are dead easy!
You cut your material into strips that run the width of the rug/knee blanket, throw, etc. They can be anything from a couple of inches wide to a foot wide, and you can use variations of width within the same rug. Machine them together - nice, simple straight lines. Then make an edging to go round them. You can also back them with hessian, or sturdy cotton, and you can put quilting in the middle too, if you want to. Whatever you decide, the edging goes on last to hold it all together.
And that's it.

A word of warning - it is very difficult to make old curtains look like anything else but old curtains.

[Wombat]

A word of warning - it is very difficult to make old curtains look like anything else but old curtains.

I can dig it!

Nev

[chookwoman]

I thought they'd be good for shopping bags. Nice and strong.

[Thomzo]

You might want to plan the thickness/texture of the fabric into the design as well as the colour. Have, say, the thickest pieces in the middle.

If you are doing it by hand and using paper inserts then you will find that thicker material will make a slightly larger patch as it folds over the paper. Compensate by shaving a small strip off the paper (we are seriously talking only a millimetre here) otherwise you will have to pucker the fabric to get it to line up.

You may also find that some fabrics stretch more than others which could cause the end product to be uneven. I suggest you make a sample patch by sewing a small piece of each type of fabric into a mini patchwork and see how well they go together.

Zoe

[thecornflake]

It sounds like it might be easier to restrict it to fabrics of similar weight to start with then.

I've got some old shirts that need to be thrown out that I was going to use fabric from, but they are a lot thinner than the other fabric bits I have.

What are paper inserts used for?

[theabsinthefairy]

If you are using materials of differing thickness and pliability, it can be better to just use the thicker stuff for edging and borders, and make your design from the thinner stuff.
If making shoppers, use the thicker stuff for the bottom of the bag and the handles and edges - denim is ideal for that.

[QuakerBear]

Hi ho Cornflake,

I've done a fair bit of patchwork and I'm generally of the opinion that it's best to use fabrics of roughly the same weight. Several reasons, the patches will be the same size when finnished, the finished piece will be of the same strenght right accross (lighter fabrics will be the weak points) and the finished piece will wear evenly making repairs easyer.

If you have allot of denim try using only denim say to make a cushion cover. To get the variance in texture you can alternate the knap of the fabric; one square it goes up and down, the next it goes left and right. I've seen this done and it works really well.

Am I right in thinking that the 'paper bits' refered to are the templates? If so, here's an explanation. When using thick fabrics like denim follow Andy and Daves instructions in the book exactly. When using thinner fabrics like cotton it's often better to hem them before doing the piecing (putting the patches together).

First decide how big you want your patches (4cm squared is a good starting size for a bed quilt).

Cut a 4cm squared square out of a cereal box. A few of these can be handy but not desperately necessary.

Place your square on your fabric and roughly cut round round it leaving a 1-2cm edge.

Fold the fabric round the square and pin each corner to hold the fabric in place.

Sew each corner into place removing the pin once it's done. This won't be seen so doesn't really need to be that neat.

Iron the square. Not necessary but does help and makes it neater.

Remove the cardboard square. Cereal box cardboard is good because it's bendy enought to remove easily and if necessary you can stick pins through it.

To make up (do the piecing), place two squares together with their right sides touching so the backs are facing out.

Sew along the edge using either running stitch (I think that's what's in the book), or for extra neatness blanket stitch.

Open your two squares out and they've been neatly pieced together.

The point of doing it this way is that it stops the edges from fraying which can quite quickly lead to the pieces coming apart. A quilt done this way should stand up to rough treatment for at least a few decades as it's an extremly strong structure. Hope that's clear and sorry if I've said what anyone already knows.