Sewhappytoquilt

Has anyone read this book: Quilting in Sections by Marti Michell. It says it shows 6 methods to quilt in sections. I know the Quilt-As-You-Go method, where the larger backing is brought around to the front and makes sashing between the blocks. Any one familiar with this book and what the other 5 methods might be?

Quiltlove

Yes, I have this book and it is wonderful. Right now I am making an ovesized king quilt in 4 full width sections. I will quilt each section and then put the sections together. I plan on putting on the border after that. The backing fabric and the batting on sections already have enough extra for the border piece to be added. Try this method on a smaller quilt first to see how it goes. Marty shows you how to divide most quilt style into sections that make it easy to control the quilting.

grocifer

It sounds like you have done this successfully in the past so I'll be anxious to see your quilt and read anymore of your comments-- I am thinking of trying this on my next full size quilt. I'm just trying to finish the piecing now and then will put it away until after Christmas. I don't need anymore challenges at the moment.................

GemState

It is a great book! She explains things very clearly.

deemail

sounds like georgia bonesteel's lapquilting process...she would make her big quilts in several sections and then put together after quilting each one...she started with a square at a time but moved up as the size of her quilts moved up...

Butterflyblue

I have the book and have tried a couple of the methods out - I like it, and the methods that are in it are different than the one you describe. I consider the money it cost well spent - which I can't say about every quilting book I've bought.

One method involves quilting the center first and attaching outer borders later. One involves using "covering strips" on the back, but not the front - that is, you can tell from the back that the piece is quilted in sections, but not the front (I think that is similar to Bonesteel's method, but there is less hand work involved). I'm using a variation of that to quilt a bed quilt for myself, but haven't worked on it in a few months.

Can't off the top of my head remember the others specifically.

Butterflyblue

This is a quilt I did using a variation of the covering strips on the back method - first pic is the front, second is the back. If you use a busy, small scale print on the back and for the covering strips, it's very hard to tell at a glance that it is quilted in sections, unlike this one, where the covering strips are a design element of the back.

She calls them covering strips because they cover the raw edges of the fabrics and batting.

I tested out a couple of the different methods on small quilts so that I could find the best one for what I wanted.

Butterflyblue

This baby quilt was done using the method in which you quilt the center panel first and then attach and quilt the borders - the inner narrow borders were attached by stitch and flip (you have to leave extra batting and backing around the center panel to accomodate that) and then the wide borders had their own section of backing and batting, and somehow you sew all the layers together. It's been awhile since i did this one. It worked well with poly batting, and the bulk of all the layers sort of squished down, but with cotton batting I'm not sure how it would be. I forget what the back looks like, and I gave it as a gift.

Butterflyblue

I realize my description of the techniques themselves is sadly lacking since it's been awhile since I used them (the baby the quilt went to is nearly two now), but I thought you might like seeing the actual quilts made with her methods.

Butterflyblue

Okay, found the other quilt I did - it is a miniature sampler, 4" blocks. Obviously there is no reason to quilt something so small in sections except I wanted to test the technique out. Done in basically the same method as the first sampler quilt I showed, only straight out of the book, no variation (I made this one first). As I recall, my variation was to ensure that the layers of batting aren't sewn together, thus leaving less bulk. I cut half an inch off of one edge of the batting so that they butt together instead of needing to be sewn into the seam. But to hold the edge of the batting down, I sew it to the backing. I don't trust it not to curl up and get lumpy during washing. So some people might not like the extra line of stitching on the back. Anyway, this was done without that variation, and with cotton batting, and I did not care for the feel of the bulk and was afraid it would wear out the fabric faster with washing. Not an issue in a miniature, but definitely an issue with a bed quilt. You can see how with a busier print, the covering strips don't show much.

The covering strips are very similar to a quilt as you go technique that Sharon Pederson shows in the book "Reversible Quilts", except Sharon Pederson uses strips on front and back, and the batting is not layered, so there is no bulk. But her technique limits the width of the sashing that can be used, because it isn't true sashing but a cover strip. My quilts use fairly narrow sashing, because that is what I prefer, and no cornerstones, also because that is what I prefer, but it is not a limitation of the technique. I do recommend Sharon Pederson's book too, though. You might see if a library near you has it. I like to check out quilt books from the library before I spend the money on them, if I can.