to bj
My two sisters have polyester lap quilts my grandma made, yes they are heavy. She didn't put any batting in them. She just backed them, then tied in the corners. Quick. Easy. Done!!!

Your quilt is beautiful! Is the interfacing for helping it be easier to sew or quilt on?

Thank you both. If you take a t-shirt or other knit you can "stretch" it. That means if you cut 100 squares and sew them together, they will get all "caty-whomp-ous" and out of shape. So the interfacing (spray adhesive, iron-in, or stickers causes the fabric to hold it's shape and not streach. The first batch of interfacing dh brought home for me wasn't strong enough for some of the knits and they would still manage to stretch, so I had to be very careful as I sewed.

I much perferred a thicker interfacing that held everything just right. Yes, Tigerbaby1981 you're exactly right. The next trouble with not using interfacing is that when you go to quilt it, the more dense your quilting is the more and more crazy stretch you see in your quilting.

I have a perinatal quilt from when I was first starting to work with knits and the center of the heart sort of swirls. It's a nice effect, but not what I was going for (the other reason they tell you to quilt from the CENTER out. :D )

I've added a photo of it, and if you look closely at the center you can see the "swirl".

The other thing I've noticed about working with these types of fabrics is that they are thicker than standard quilting cotton. Seriously, they are even thicker that fabric store cottong. This isn't really a problem it just takes a little getting used to (in my case I worked it the other way around and had to get used to how "thin" calico cotton is! :D )

Nothing wrong with that at all. Go ahead and use your old clothing and bedding. I believe this is where the phrase scrap quilt came from, but wouldn't be sure. Perhaps someone out there knows better than me.

Spray interfacing? Where do you find that? Im looking for an inexpensive way to "learn" to quilt with material around the house. Inferfacing isnt easy for me to get since I would have to travel to get it.

Jennifer

There are some quilt shows on TV featuring the use of "old clothing", and of course "recycling" jeans into purses, vests, skirts and even quilts has been popular for a good while. I have saved all of my silk blouses and have been working on crazy patch blocks with them. (Had I not gained weight I would still be wearing them) I have considered going to the resale shops and shopping for silk items just for this purpose. We are only limited by our creative ideas and to me there should be no limit.

It is not often that I remember my age and that I am many times older than the people around me, but there are times when I am reminded that I have experienced "earlier times" when our country was not as affluent as now. Using fabric from out grown or out dated clothing for quilts is a very responsible way to make good use of our resources. Today I believe we call it recycling or "green". As a child I wore dresses made from feed sacks and when they were outgrown they were passed down to a sibbling or a cousin. If they were worn they were torn into pieces to be used for cleaning rags or a rag mop. Sometimes they ended up in a braided rug. Every scrap of fabric left from making clothing was saved for a quilt. Of course all buttons, trims, zippers, etc. were removed and saved for future use. On rare occassions my mother or grandmother would order fabric from Sears. I still have a "button jar" for buttons that are removed from old clothing or buttons that come off in the washer, and I am making a crazy patch from silk blouses that I have out grown. (Perhaps too much time sitting at the sewing machine or computer) We should never feel bad about being thrifty. Some very beautiful quilts have been made by combining different textures of fabrics. "Scrappy quilts" can be "pulled together" by using matching sashing and borders. My granddaughter has a quilt made from scraps (mostly bright colors) with very dark green shashing which I thought added continuity to the quilt as a whole giving it a nice over all appearance. In my opinion, there is more enjoyment in seeing someone's creativity using items on hand other than the "store bought" look of all the latest and greatest new release fabrics; but don't get me wrong, there are BEAUTIFUL fabrics that come on the market all of the time. Sometimes some of those keep calling my name until I am at the counter getting a couple of yards or so. It is great that there are quilters on this site who are creative and want to work "outside" the box.

by all means, use what you have around the home...I'm using an old poly/cotton blend sheet set for my current project because it had a tear at one end of the flat sheet and the elastic was worn out on the fitted (and my toddler wrote on a section in permanant marker). It's MUCH less expensive to purchase older sheet sets from a rummage sale or re-sell it shop than to buy yards and yards of white fabric for a big project. I have also used sheets for backings because they are solid and I don't have to piece it.
Your idea to use scraps for practice is fantastic! When we start out, a little group of ladies donate fabric to the new girl so she can get a head start, but without that help, I'm sure I would have been digging in the hand me downs. I also save my buttons on worn out clothes that can't be passed down, remove trimmings, and keep favorite pieces before recycling the rest to a mom with 2 kids younger than mine.

:thumbup: Denim rag quilts (made from old jeans) are very popular right now. Use flannel for the back and you have a very warm, soft quilt! Here are a couple links to get you started:

http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/bluejeans.html

http://quilting.about.com/b/2007/09/26/how-to-make-a-denim-quilt.htm

http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/denim_quilt.asp

Have fun!

It is good to see someone from Alaska!! My daughter lived in Soldotna for a while and I was able to visit with her several times. Alaska is a beautiful place and I know how few shopping places exist. However I did visit a couple of very good quilt shops and I did get to go to a quilt show while visiting there. Warm quilts are a must for some f the cold winter nights when one might want to stay in and watch a good movie.