ptquilts

I was going to title it "The way it used to be" but I can only speak from my experience.

I started making quilts in 1979 or so, almost all self taught, never joined a guild. Except for looking at a few QNL mags in the library I have been "out of the loop" as far as quilting developments.

When I started quilting, there were very few fabric lines - Concord Fabrics was one of the big ones. The first few years we used dressmaking scraps from factories in Chinatown (Boston).

The most sophisticated cutting system was a pair of Fiskars. Almost all the quilters I knew either tied quilts (most of them) or hand quilted. All the fabrics were made in the USA. I'm not sure if electronic sewing machines were out yet.

I was able to sell almost all the quilts I made, this was before the imports started coming in. Colonial blue and dusty rose were the big colors.

My set of tools consisted of (still consists of) a ruler, scissors, thimbles, needles and thread. Chalk pencil for marking. Cardboard templates.

Well when I joined the QB my eyes were opened!! I had to look up all these cutting machines to see what they do - I had never heard of them. And so many people have quilting machines - I remember the first time I saw a demonstration of machine quilting on TV - a man was doing it.

I would love to hear more reminiscences from other old-timers like me. I still am doing everything the old way. DH does most of the cutting and he prefers scissors, so we don't even have a rotary cutter (prob. a good thing as I am very accident prone!)