I thought of saying "homemade," but I keep seeing people post advertisements with obvious machine quilting as handmade, isn't that misleading? I was just wondering, what do you think?

Did you (or whoever) use their hands to make something? Was it cut by you, did you put the pieces together and guide them into the sewing machine? Did you take out the wrong stitches? Did you press the item each step of the way? Did you pick out the different fabrics and materials that went into the project? Did you guide it through your machine for the quilting stitches? Was is constructed in your home? If there were individually premade pieces, did you assemble it all together? It was hand made.

Now if you bought the finished quilt at Walmart and added a bow, NO!

No more misleading than saying homemade cake when you use a mixer.

i would consider a quilt that you made with a sewing machine as handmade but i can tell you i've run into people at quilt shows that have caused a scene over this subject.

uh, don't you use your hands while "quilting" - cutting fabric, aligning to sew, guiding to sew, pinning, etc etc... sounds handmade to me

the sewing machine is a TOOL - granted a power tool - But still a tool, just like a needle, a pair of scissors - are you wanting to tear all pieces so you don't use any tools at all? in which case, do you for-go the needle?

if a carpenter uses a power saw, hammer, etc are you going to tell him he did not make something 'by hand'???

Never thought about it like that. :oops:

I was thinking about how many on here have talked about hand quilting and how it is much more time consuming than machine quilting. I wouldn't want someone to think I was implying my machine quilting was hand quilting.

That is the scene I am trying to avoid.

machine quilting is obviously different from hand quilting - which people generally mean the process of putting the top/batting/backing together -

if a quilt is all 'hand' done, it is pieced 'by hand' (needle and thread) and quilted by hand - needle and thread...

if a quilt is hand made it is machine OR hand pieced

if a quilt is machine quilted it is sandwiched then sewn by machine....

a distinction, yes, but don't let anybody tell you that something you labored over but sewed on a machine is anything less than 'hand made'.....

(there's really no other way to do it, if you stop and think about it)

Interesting, because every quilt show I have ever been to has specified on the program for the show whether the quilt is hand or machine pieced and hand or machine quilted. Why would anyone create a scene when it is so clearly designated at a show? Heck even our little podunk county fair designates between hand peiced, machine peiced, hand quilted, machine quilted. All handmade just different levels of hand-work IMHO

To me 'homemade' looks shotty. Handmade means made with pride. I haven't seen many 'homemade' quilts, they all look so nice.

Anything I use my hands to construct is hand-made and that includes if I open a box of mac & cheese, cook it, and serve it--that's hand made. Every quilt show I've attended has categorized every entry by hand-pieced, machine-pieced, hand-quilted, machine-quilted or any combination of the above. There is no doubt how an item was created and there shouldn't be derision about what ever one chooses to do. It's all about creating beautiful objects and as long as the method is distinguished there should be no problems.

Personally, I think it should be fully disclosed machine or hand stitched. Better to avoid confrontation. You could always say "Hand made by machine." Or Hand made with machine stitching.

When I hear hand made I do think it was all done by hand, needle and thread instead of machine.

But I put this in the same catagory as Hand Guided or Computerized Quilting. I think it should be fully disclosed as to which was done.

As I said, that is my opinion, I don't like being mis-led in any way so I try not to do it to others.

Maybe the distinction between handsewn and homemade is confusing to some...
If something is advertised as handsewn, I would expect the whole item to be that.
If something is advertised as homemade, I would think it could all be done by machine, or part hand sewn. There are a lot of hand made heirlooms, handed down throughout the years, that were made on the very first treadle machines....
Just my 2 cents worth :wink:

HI. I use the term homemade but my mother keeps telling everyone
my projects I give her are handmade. When I correct her she sais "well
you made it with your hands didn't ya?" Okay I guess she is right.
With people doing actual handsewn projects though I think they deserve their own term of handmade. I admire those people that do handsewn
projects because there is alot more time and effort in them. So I guess its how you look at it. I was at a quilt show one day that had handsewn
in a project sheet so when I got to looking it was machine done. So I guess its a preference of who did the quilt. I do not do any handsewing except the binding so I use the term homemade myself.
Have an awesome day. :D
Kim

Words can evoke emotions and preconceived pictures rather than being definitive. So you're aleady thinking quality of craftmanship before seeing an item. It's a marketing tool in lots of advertisements.

I never knew there was so much flack over hand and home made. When I label a quilt, I put machine pieced and hand quilted by me. Or I put hand pieced and quilted by me. If I had it quilted, I put machine pieced by me and machine quilted by ------, giving the name of my quilter and always the date!
I know we have all see lovely quilts done either way!
Dix

just when I think we might have exhausted all the different quilting topics...LOL...will we ever do that :roll: :lol:
It's funny, I have never thought about these things, just kind of accepted that all my stuff is handmade, and I use a machine.
Where i live, I think if you say something with fabric is homemade, it means it is poor quality, but if you say your cake is homemade, it means top quality...go figure! :D

I am a hand stitcher.. I used to get really frustrated about shops that sold items marked as handmade when they were stitched on machine. After much consideration I have come to appreciate that even items sewn with a machine are handmade.. HOWEVER.. when someone in a shop tries to pass off a machine stitched item as hand stitched it does get my Irish up.
I have come to differentiate items that are handmade into 2 catagories.. either hand stitched or machine stitched.

Yes, there's a difference between 'hand quilted' and 'machine quilted.' But MOST of us know that 'machine' quilting is neither EASIER nor FASTER, because it takes practice, preparation and time - much like hand quilting does - to be mastered.

Many people send their quilts out to be machine quilted by someone else. It's time that we stop being prickly about one being 'better' than the other. They're different skills.

I used to (and still wish I could) hand quilt. Arthritis in my dang thumbs put an end to that. I haven't mastered machine quilting, but I'm learning. And as for Free Motion - I am in awe of the women who do it! True artists!

Since I am a hand quilter, I always label my quilts as Machine pieced and Hand quilted.

"Made with love by..." solves the problem for me.

I love the way you said that one an it covers all.no puns to it.lol :wink: :wink: :wink:

I do appreciate ppl's needs to put it on their labels if they feel that way, but never thought about my recipient wanting more info, than
what you said Martina.
Just figured in the future, if someone thought my old quilt was awesome, they could look at stitches and tell, which way I did it.
Truly, see the love,
but maybe the 'expert stitching?' - not so much :wink:

I think all the quilts that we deal with here on the board (of course excluding the Wally world made in China) are handmade. On quilts that I think are my more interesting, I might label machine pieced, machine quilted...or hand pieced, etc....I might even add how many pieces are in the quilt. I do consider it handmade even if I use the machine to piece or quilt...now when we get to pantograms....that is getting close to the edge...and raises a whole 'nother set of questions.

I do think a quilt with machine piecing and or quilting in can be called 'handmade' for all the reasons given above.

And I'd like to agree with Joanne that machine quilting is in no way easier or less artistic than hand quilting - that's from someone who always hand quilted til recently and is now giving machine quilting a bash on some projects; you only have to look at some of the machine quilting done by some of our members to appreciate the artistry involved (Patti and Jaquemoe for example :D )

If you're entering a quilt in a show, then I think you should specify - hand pieced, machine pieced etc - all the shows I've ever been to, large and local have done that. :D

On personal gifts, I'd go with Martina's 'Made with Love'! :wink:

i think that since most quilts are now stitched entirely by machine, they are considered handmade. that has become the new definition. as a result the term hand quilted implies a greater quality because it is rarer and fewer people can do it well. that's why they cost so much more money.

There is nothing wrong with something being "homemade" or "handmade". I personally like to use the term "hand-crafted". It's a better marketing term so it works better if you are someplace trying to sell the items that you have made, especially at some of the higher end craft shows where (and I don't want to offend anyone) some of the more snobbish buyers tend to spend their money. I am not talking about a quilt show where most the the people attending know what kind of materials and work goes into creating the beautiful quilts on display.

I like to use the term "hand crafted", but that's just me. But YES, you can definitly say handmade, if you made it !

I prefer the word "handmade" to "homemade", since it has a nicer connotation in my mind. And when I've done a few hours of machine quilting, my hands usually are feeling rather achy, and the skin is usually a little dry from handling the fabric, and I've often got a bandaid on my hand from pricking my finger with a pin, and.......well, you've got the idea.....I have no trouble using the word "handmade" when referring to my machine crafted items. I definitely am using my hands to craft them!!!!

Sure it IS handmade... it is NOT hand quilted. I find that to be the distinction. If you've done all the cutting, piecing, and then sewing it on your sewing machine it is handmade.

don't sweat the small stuff, just enjoy the journey

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

being home made means you made it, it was not created by mass production in some factory...doesn't matter if you hand stitch, machine stitch, paint with markers or paints, it just means you made something yourself ... not store bought.... descriptions should state machine or hand quilted but being machine quilted does not negate the home made quality of the item...

I have seen quilting machines that are programmed with the design and the "quilter" programs the computer and then pushes "go" and walks away from the machine as it quilts merrily along. I do have a problem with that being called hand made, but if you guide the design then I consider that hand made. Machine quilting is not easy. If it were there would not be classes to learn how.

................or cake mix. It's still made by you with your own hands, at home. Handmade, homemade.

Please don't misunderstand :oops: , I am not trying to minimize the work involved in machine quilting. As I try to learn how to use my new Bailey Quilter and fmq (heck, I am still having trouble just learning how to load the Pinnacle frame), I know it is not an easy skill. I just wanted to know if it was acceptable to call it handmade. As Klue noted, there have been scenes over this subject and I just wanted to be prepared if I was incorrect in calling my work handmade. I have had several people ask me about my totes, bag, and photo pillows, and some always seem so surprised at how much I charge (usually 3x supplies). My prices come out to about $5 an hour simply because I am new and still learning and still pretty slow at completing a project.

Thanks for letting me know I can still call it handmade. Take Care, Maribeth

- - - - them!

:thumbup:

there you go Martina, that works for me too.

Yes me to, as a matter of fact, my tag is Made with love (and my name, or Mom or relationship applies). As to the difference in handmade and homemade--didn't know there was a difference. To me and those in my community where I grew up, both simply meant they were made at home not in a factory.

I believe the problem is semantics when it comes to quilting. If you actually made it and didn't buy it, it IS handmade. It may not, however, be hand-pieced, hand-stitched or hand-quilted. THAT is where people get confused and sometimes upset.

Here in South Louisiana, homemade is using a machine and handmaid is using your hands. Pretty simple, isn't it.