Do you consider a panel to be a "cheater quilt"?

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06-29-2018, 02:42 PM

#41

JakesMama

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Join Date: Jun 2018

Location: Da UP

Posts: 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by emcay

I always thought a cheater quilt was a piece of fabric printed to look like a pieced quilt as opposed to a panel that is obviously a printed design. Someone recently referred to one of my projects as a cheater quilt after I'd added intricate borders to a panel. I wasn't trying to pass it off as if I'd created the center. And this person Is are quilter. Do I need to rethink my thinking?

I agree with you 100%. I get Christmas panels and make them into wall hangings to raffle at the local animal shelter. They can be a blast to make up - sometimes I trapunto them, sometimes I and a hint of glitter to the snow. You can do a lot to a wall hanging that you would never do to a quilt that will be on a bed or used as a throw. I have one of a Christmas tree that I am going to add colored hot fix crystals to for the lights. So the person who said that to you probably needs more fiber in her diet.

06-29-2018, 05:08 PM

#42

mac

Super Member

Join Date: Sep 2010

Location: California, USA

Posts: 1,318

Personally, I think that the only 'cheater' quilts are the ones you buy already made from another country that uses sweat shop labor. That is just my opinion.

As for panels, whole cloth, or any other printed fabric that you have to cut and sew together with another piece of fabric, whether it be a humongous panel or a small piece of fabric, you still have to sew it together, use batting, and somehow sew that together. As far as I am concerned, you have just made yourself a bonafide quilt. Some quilts are complicated and some quilts are simplified.

06-29-2018, 06:53 PM

#43

SillySusan

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Join Date: Feb 2018

Location: North Carolina

Posts: 2,414

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genden

I suspect the term cheater quilt is viewed by you as pejorative. Why should it be? I have helped quilt several quilts for friends that were printed quilt patterns. The four friends I helped hand quilt their printed tops were not interested in piecing. The finished quilts were lovely and served their purposes. I don’t know if the person who referred to your panel as a cheater quilt meant it in a negative way. Perhaps it was the only way she knew to refer to fabric with a printed design that was meant to be used whole rather than cut and pieced. I guess how we interpret words matters. If she had asked if it was a printed panel, would you have been offended? Maybe you should have said, It is a printed panel, isn’t it a lovely design? It is probably time to retire the term cheater quilt or cheater fabric.

This is absolutely correct. I don't think that 'cheater' is used to be a put down. I made several really cute baby quilts that were cheater quilt fabric and was not ashamed to call them 'cheaters.' Maybe your friend didn't mean anything critical at all... even though she was mistakenly called a panel by an incorrect term. Don't let it bother you. She just needs a little more understanding of these quilting terms.

06-30-2018, 02:39 AM

#44

Tudey

Senior Member

Join Date: Jul 2010

Location: Chehalis, WA

Posts: 806

To me, a "cheater" quilt is the already quilted fabric you can buy. I have made many wall hangings using panels, but I have quilted them myself! In fact, I just finished 3 quilts for my niece's kids for Christmas and I used a panel for the back of each one (I added borders to "flesh" them out to the right size) You do you!

06-30-2018, 03:54 AM

#45

rryder

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2015

Location: Va.

Posts: 5,752

Hey ya’ll, the term “cheater fabric” was what we always called the fabric that is printed to look like patchwork, some of the shops used to sell it for folks who wanted to learn/practice their quilting. I’ve seen a number of them that were quite beautiful by the time the quilter was done with them. It was a term/name for a specific type of print and not a reference to the character of person who bought it.

I think maybe your friend was not meaning to be pejorative, just confusing what I think of as a specific term for a specifit kind of print (one thta looks like pieced patchworkk rather than pictorial) with a panel.

Rob

06-30-2018, 11:07 AM

#46

llong0233

Super Member

Join Date: Jul 2010

Location: Desert Southwest

Posts: 1,314

Oohhhh I get very angry when I hear things like this. By definition, your work is a quilt:
noun 1.a warm bed covering made of padding enclosed between layers of fabric and kept in place by lines of stitching typically applied in a decorative design. Your panel must be beautiful. Why else would someone criticize it other than jealousy? Down with quilt snobs!!!

06-30-2018, 11:17 AM

#47

donac

Senior Member

Join Date: Aug 2010

Location: Jersey Shore

Posts: 536

I don't consider it cheating. I had a panel in my stash for a while. It was marching bands with sheet music. I thought I would do it for my sons' band director but I never did. A few years later I found it. The main panel had 76Trombones sheet music. I just happened to be costuming The Music Man at the local high school. I cut up the panel and made a lap quilt that was raffled off. It was a big hit.

06-30-2018, 01:49 PM

#48

marjben

Junior Member

Join Date: Jun 2017

Location: Sunny Florida!

Posts: 101

I would consider any statements with the word cheater in it, that was made toward me, to be of ill intent as I see nothing positive in the word cheater.
Having said that, I also wouldn’t let it bother me since I’ve come to realize that most non-positive statements are really more about the person making them than about the recipient.

06-30-2018, 05:17 PM

#49

csharp

Senior Member

Join Date: Jun 2010

Location: Happily @ Southwest Florida

Posts: 999

Some of the cutest baby quilts I have gifted have started with a panel. I could never have made them as cute as they turned out if it wasn't for the panels. Nothing cheating about them, just creative I think.

06-30-2018, 06:53 PM

#50

1screech

Super Member

Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Florida

Posts: 1,811

I believe they both are "convenience" quilts. My friend would never let me refer to a fabric like it was pieced as a cheater quilt...she thought it sounded negative. I like convenience because it does sound nicer. I guess a panel could be a convenience too since your center was conveniently alread done for you.