Quilting the First Block

The framing pieces are joined to the block and then the sashing strips and little corner squares are added.  A worksheet explaining how to do all this has been circulated.

Next the backing is placed face down, with wadding on top and the front placed on top of the other layers face up.

This is now ready for quilting.  Do not quilt the sashing as this will be turned back before joining when the quilt is finally being assembled.

Quilting can be done in a variety of ways and it can be machine quilted or hand quilted.

A hand quilting stitch is a small even running stitch through the three layers. 

Work with one hand on top and the other underneath to guide the needle back and to ensure that the stitch has gone through all three layers.  You will need a thimble on both the top stitching finger and the bottom guiding finger.

Types of quilting: 

Contour quilting is where lines of stitching are done about 1/4" from the seams following the outline of the patchwork shapes.

Echo quilting follows the lines of appliqued shapes and multiple rows radiate outwards to emphasise and echo the shapes.

In-the-ditch quilting: the stitches are worked directly on to the seam lines and this is useful if you don't want the quilting stitches to show.

There are many other types of quilting which are described in detail in the specialist books.

Machine quilting can be free motion or controlled in a measured way.  A walking foot can be used to ensure all the layers stay together if you have one.  Also most machines are provided with a guide which can help to keep the lines of quilting evenly distanced.

Quilting cotton is available for hand and machine in a huge range of colours both plain and variegated.  Using a quilting needle for either hand or machine may make the job easier.

Here you see that I have used the guide supplied with my machine and I am machine quilting lines of one of the fancy built in stitches.  The tape shown in the photo is removable tape and I was using it to extend the line from the edges of the quilt blocks so that I could keep to the same angle..

First of all I stitched in the ditch along the vertical lines of the little blocks both the inner lines and then down the straight edges. Then I did some other quilting across the background.  See the back of the work below to explain what I mean.


 Use threads that match on back and front.

The last picture isn't very clear but shows part of the finished quilted block.

 Note the sashing not shown here as the picture has been cropped and edited.

A worksheet on quilting will be circulated.

Next post on the blog will be further development of our cloth books.