Hand quilting - Only for the passionate ones

The history of handquilting was written by all women who have dedicated their time, passion andskills in creating true masterpieces from simple pieces of fabric and thread.Those women were building something marvelous and timeless every time they stitchedone piece of textile to another, one memory along all the others. This is thetrue meaning of hand quilting: the more work you put in it, the more valuableyour quilt will be.

If we make a short tripback in time, in the 18th or 19th century, we will find out how different thewomen of those times were living. Practically, a woman had to know how to makeherself lots of necessary things for daily house activities, such as clothes,bed linens, cooked food, quilts and even soap. They did not have the facilitiesthat modern women have today, like linen stores, restaurants and supermarkets.The modern technology made possible for today's women to spare their alreadybusy schedule for things like hand quilting.

Hand quilting was atradition in the 18th and 19th century, not just a hobby as many of you mightthink. All mothers were teaching their daughters the secrets and thecomplicated techniques of hand quilting. Generation after generation, thispassion was transmitted and taught, keeping it alive and improving with time. The material proof of hand quilting were the quilts, every one unique in itsown way, and truly representing the spirit of one's family for generations,passed from grandmothers to mothers, and from mothers to daughters, in a strongand continuous line of dedicated women.

Quilts represented a great way to imprint and keep alive the ancient traditions, the family's spiritualheritage. Every quilt had a story; it was not made just to keep warm in coldwinter nights. The hard work of hand quilting had a higher purpose: to enchantthe eye with exquisite patterns, to be functional for the entire family and tosay the story to the following generations. If you decide though to follow theoriginal technique of hand quilting instead of using the modern technology, youwill need a lot of practice. You will see that in time, your technique willgradually improve and you can obtain a unique hand made quilt.

Usually, the quilts aremade from cotton, but you can use any kind of fabric you have or anycombinations. Cotton is recommended because it does not stretch and can beeasily ironed. After you decide what kind of textures you will use, you must prepare them. Wash them in luke warm water with a light detergent to remove the color excess andto avoid the shrinking. If the colors bleed, use for the quilt only fabricswith similar colors. You can combine successfully the colors in a quilt if youuse fabrics with different nuances, dark colors and accents of another colorused in the quilt.

The quilt is like asandwich formed by three lairs: the front lair, the middle lair and the backlair. The front lair is the decorative one and it is realized from pieces offabric sawed in an artistic and creative manner in blocks, than the blocks areassembled together. The middle lair gives the warmth and the thickness of thequilt and can be made from cotton, polyester or wool. The backside of the quiltis usually made from a single textile piece or it can be assembled from manydecorative blocks, such as the front.

Hand quilting requiressome additional tools: a pair of scissors, number 8 or 9 needles, thimble anddark colored thread that can help you see the stitches better. (Cotton orpoly-covered cotton). When you begin to work, find a comfortable place to sit,with a good light, because you will need plenty of it if you want to do thestitches right. You can practice your stitches slower in the beginning andincrease the speed when you will feel surer of your hand.

If you enjoy handquilting, you will find it easy and fascinating and you will have thesatisfaction of something you have done yourself, even if it doesn't comeperfect from the first time.

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