Newbie from California, needs a bit of starting point help
11-23-2013, 04:25 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 3
Newbie from California, needs a bit of starting point help
Hello,
I'm from southern California as as you may have guessed I am a newbie...not just new to the sight but new to quilting!
I have a Singer 401 workhorse that I bought in part for quilting. The other part is that my mom has the one handed down to her from my grandmother and has been said will be passed down to me once my mother passes. That's another 20-30 years away and quite frankly I didn't want to wait for this miraculous machine. On the bright side my mom now has a complete set of cams that she didn't have before since I ordered lots of cams from eBay to insure a full set for both of our machines. Also I have two daughters so there won't be any arguments as to who gets the machines, and the sewing tables they are installed in.
I have yet to quilt anything outside of my jr high school home economics class back in the early 80's and the project I have in mind is a bit ambitious. I desire to create a quilt for my son (14yrs) who suffered a brain injury 3 years ago, based on his absolute favorite things in the world....namely Godzilla...the real Japanese TOHO Studios Godzilla that became King of the Monster's in 1954. I would like to include blocks of not just the various looks of the G-Man, but those of all the monsters he's ever fought. Before diving into this project I plan on doing some smaller pillows first to get a hang of things.
I do not know the first thing about designing a quilt, and I am really hoping there is a software out there than can turn a photo or drawing of one of these monsters into a pattern...I guess something similar to the programs that turn pictures in to cross-stitch patterns.
Does anyone know of a good resource that can help me with this? My son's 15th birthday is in May and although I would like to give it to him as a gift, I want to wait to see if Godzilla 2014 (which we'll take him to see for his bday) is worth incorporating into the design...he loves all things Godzilla including Blue Oyster Cult's song Godzilla which I also plan to incorporate into the quilt.
Thank you one and all for welcoming me into your community and for any help/suggestions you can provide.
Sincerely,
Maiden
I'm from southern California as as you may have guessed I am a newbie...not just new to the sight but new to quilting!
I have a Singer 401 workhorse that I bought in part for quilting. The other part is that my mom has the one handed down to her from my grandmother and has been said will be passed down to me once my mother passes. That's another 20-30 years away and quite frankly I didn't want to wait for this miraculous machine. On the bright side my mom now has a complete set of cams that she didn't have before since I ordered lots of cams from eBay to insure a full set for both of our machines. Also I have two daughters so there won't be any arguments as to who gets the machines, and the sewing tables they are installed in.
I have yet to quilt anything outside of my jr high school home economics class back in the early 80's and the project I have in mind is a bit ambitious. I desire to create a quilt for my son (14yrs) who suffered a brain injury 3 years ago, based on his absolute favorite things in the world....namely Godzilla...the real Japanese TOHO Studios Godzilla that became King of the Monster's in 1954. I would like to include blocks of not just the various looks of the G-Man, but those of all the monsters he's ever fought. Before diving into this project I plan on doing some smaller pillows first to get a hang of things.
I do not know the first thing about designing a quilt, and I am really hoping there is a software out there than can turn a photo or drawing of one of these monsters into a pattern...I guess something similar to the programs that turn pictures in to cross-stitch patterns.
Does anyone know of a good resource that can help me with this? My son's 15th birthday is in May and although I would like to give it to him as a gift, I want to wait to see if Godzilla 2014 (which we'll take him to see for his bday) is worth incorporating into the design...he loves all things Godzilla including Blue Oyster Cult's song Godzilla which I also plan to incorporate into the quilt.
Thank you one and all for welcoming me into your community and for any help/suggestions you can provide.
Sincerely,
Maiden
11-23-2013, 04:47 PM
#3
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Anchorage, AK
Posts: 1,397
one of the easiest is to transfer photos to fabric then sew the fabric into the quilt. There are books and videos about how to do this if it's something you want to pursue. Here's a link to one godzilla quilt that has been made (to give you an idea of what you can do): http://makezine.com/craft/rad_godzilla_quilt/
Depending on your son's interest, you could have black and white outlines of godzilla and related shapes transferred to fabric then have your son color them. When fabric colors and pens are used and properly heat set, these blocks work very well.
There are patterns for quilts which would allow you to show off these blocks - BQ quilt by Maple Island Quilts is one of my favorite simple quilts and it would let these blocks show well.
Lots more ideas out there. good luck.
Depending on your son's interest, you could have black and white outlines of godzilla and related shapes transferred to fabric then have your son color them. When fabric colors and pens are used and properly heat set, these blocks work very well.
There are patterns for quilts which would allow you to show off these blocks - BQ quilt by Maple Island Quilts is one of my favorite simple quilts and it would let these blocks show well.
Lots more ideas out there. good luck.
11-23-2013, 04:54 PM
#4
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Roseburg, OR
Posts: 2,976
Maiden: Sounds like a great idea. There are probably a lot of people on the board that are familiar with transferring photos or drawings onto fabric but there are also tutorials on line that give instructions to do the same. Since you are new to quilting I hesitate to suggest applique, however comic book pictures would lend themselves really well to this method. I wonder if those T-shirt places that transfer images could come up with some ideas to help you. Hope others can be of more assistance. When it comes to the actual making of the quilt just ask, we love to help.
Welcome to the Board from Oregon.
Welcome to the Board from Oregon.
11-23-2013, 07:05 PM
#6
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 3
Thank you all very much for your warm welcomes and suggestions.
I thought about using photo transfer but it really won't work for what I have in mind. I want to have the quilt tell a story inspired by various Godzilla movies (such as Godzilla vs King Kong, Godzilla vs Monster Zero, Godzilla 2000, etc.) and have the the story panel framed by squares containing the various monsters featured in all of the franchise.
My son has "acquired cerebral palsy" now due to the brain damage and is unable to hold anything to color. That was an awesome suggestion though.
I had hoped there was some sort of computer program that could assist me in creating patterns. I guess I'm going to have to have my mom (an artist) draw some pictures up for me and use them for patterns.
I did see a link for using Photoshop to create quilt patterns that was on the page for the Godzilla Quilt that was posted. I'll investigate that as well.
Once again, my great thanks to all of you!
My son has "acquired cerebral palsy" now due to the brain damage and is unable to hold anything to color. That was an awesome suggestion though.
I had hoped there was some sort of computer program that could assist me in creating patterns. I guess I'm going to have to have my mom (an artist) draw some pictures up for me and use them for patterns.
I did see a link for using Photoshop to create quilt patterns that was on the page for the Godzilla Quilt that was posted. I'll investigate that as well.
Once again, my great thanks to all of you!
Last edited by Maiden; 11-23-2013 at 07:23 PM.
11-24-2013, 04:54 AM
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central NJ
Posts: 5,571
Welcome from NJ. Do you have a machine that will do embroidery? Or know someone that does? Sounds like you might be looking for something to digitize various photos/pictures and machine embroider them? You could use those interspersed with other blocks. Maybe someone here on the board could help you out with that end of things. Good luck with your project.
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