Originally Posted by
Gramie bj
My Mom an grandmothers taught me to sew and quilt from a very young age. I still use all they taught me. The only real change for me has been the rotary cutter, quilting rulers, and plastic templates. I shudder to think of going back to scissors, a yard stick and old newspaper. LOL
I am basically a self taught quilter and for the most part sewer. I did my first sewing on doll clothes. Ironically my mother was a Home Economics major in the college she never completed. She let me have scraps of fabric that I used to make my doll clothes. I got my "formal" training in sewing in Home Eco in what was then junior high. I taught myself to sew and quilt. I am mostly a "hand quilter". I didn't even try machine quilting until I started making Linus quilts and other charity stuff. All of the quilting I have done for my personal use and items for those I know who will appreciate "hand" work is done by hand. I make a lot of use of my rotary cutter and use stencils to mark my items for quilting when necessary. I don't piece any more than I absolutely have to. My favorite is whole cloth quilting. I like to use pre marked fabrics or quilt around designs or images already printed on fabric. I am so good at it that I have several finished projects using preprinted designs that many assume are appliqued. I have an opposition to cutting up perfectly good fabric into little pieces and then sewing it back together before quilting it. I get twice as much done by not cutting up fabric only to sew it back together again.