Originally Posted by Maureen
.... plus quilt shops will help if you need it, Mine even lets me use their big table to layout my quilt for sandwiching, etc.
We’re a little “Mom & Pop” Fabric Shop in rural Oklahoma, and have/use an old antique cutting table that once was in the local TG&Y Store here in town. It’s one of the old 6-ft square tables with scissor channels and brass yard measures on two sides, and it stands higher than normal tables. There’s no telling how many (free) “pinning parties” that we have had around that old table. My wife always helps pin, and I have even gotten in on one or two myself. Once in a while, the pinning has to stop to measure fabric for another customer, but most likely, the other customer will just join in to help get things pinned, and wait to have their fabric cut afterwards.
The cutting table will handle the larger quilts by moving it around after the center portion has been pinned. The next-best place for pinning would be at one of the Church activity hall rooms, on multiple tables pushed together, but that requires more work. Our table is always set up, and you even get free helpers!
There’s usually fabric in the quilt that didn’t come from our shop, and sometimes there may not be any part of the quilt that came from our shop, but that’s ok. We get to see and feel fabrics that we may want to include in our inventory in the future. Besides, it can bring up interesting stories about how and where they came up with some of their fabrics or blocks. It’s kind of like an impromptu quilting bee.
CD in Oklahoma