Originally Posted by Izaquilter
I know I'm reallllly gonna ruffle some feathers here with this reply but I do think modernazation (is that a word) is taking alot out of quilting. Not so much the tools & the sewing machines because that is all I have ever known but the long arms. Sure I'd love to have one but will not allow myself to go to that extent. If you go to quilt shows now, almost 90% of the quilts are all done by long arms & it really really takes the creativity out of quilting. A really good piecer can put a top together & then send it off to a really good machine quilter but let me tell you, I have been going to quilt shows since 1992 & there is NO comparason to the quilts now & the quilts back in 1992. More of them were done by one persons creativity. Now it's who pays the most to their favorite long arm quilter. I know several long arm quilters & have only had 2 quilts done by them. It's just not the same as if you had done it all yourself. I feel like I'm cheating. I now see how my aunt felt going to the quilt shows. She hated it when machine pieced quilts were first allowed! So the old is the best for me!
Quilting in the long arm is no different in creativity than quilting with a domestic machine unless you are talking about the computarized ones that do it for you. I don't see creativity there either. They argue that is hard to load, etc but the machine does the rest.
I think that modern tools don't really speed up the process because many quilters still take months/years to get their quilts done. It will always be dependent on how much time you put into it. I am sure if our grandmothers had the technology we now have, they would have used it. Using a treadle machine was high technology back then.
Like everything, as technology advances, so it the way we do things. Quilts will last for years depending on how well constructed they are no matter if they were made in a treadle, a modern machine, or by hand. It will also depend on the quality of the materials used and the abuse it receives, again, no matter which way it was constructed.
Everything changes. I wouldn't want my Dr to go back to the way they did things 100 years ago; we enjoy having medications that solve our health problems, televisions for entertainment, etc. Society always embrace the new technology, the only difference is that back then it was simpler, but nevertheless, it was the most modern they had at the time.