Is McTavishing appropriate for bed quilts?
 

I just watched this Youtube video by Leah Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv6TqdwjiXo

and she mentions that this is for wall quilts. I imagine this is because Leah Day is working on a very small scale and so much thread will stiffen the quilt. I have Karen McTavish's book and DVD and am looking forward to experimenting with the technique. However, I'm into making bed quilts and child quilts, not wallhangings.

Has anyone done McTavishing on a bed quilt? How did it turn out?

I took her class. It was a lot of fun and she is an excellent instructor. The cartoon hair quilting is dense quilting. I did a small wallhanging and it was very firm when quilted all over.

I made baby quilts for my niece's twins last summer. She picked the fabrics and design--very modern. She specifically asked for straight-line quilting, and showed me a picture with 1/4" spacing. I was skeptical, but didn't want to argue with her because she was on bed rest for six months! They are great for play time and to use as coverlets, but not cuddly soft. Since babies aren't supposed to sleep with sheets or quilts anymore, it didn't matter. She uses them all the time.

After washing, they are definitely not as pliable as regularly spaced quilts, but I would use this type of quilt as a spread for display on an adult bed if I wanted the texture of dense quilting.

Sure! just make sure it is balanced with the rest of the quilting.

Since babies aren't supposed to sleep with sheets or quilts anymore, it didn't matter.

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but what are they supposed to sleep on? Not a bare mattress, I'm sure, but what?

I have used it in plenty of bed quilts. Just understand, McTavishing was developed as a back fill to make other quilting motifs pop. So use it accordingly. Sparingly to make a motif pop. Additionally the batting makes more of a difference in how stiff a quilt gets when laying down a lot of thread. Use wool batting with a very fine thread like silk or invisifil and you won't get any stiffness. In all of these below, except the calla lilly, I used double batting and polyester thread. The Calla had 80/20 batt. Here are pics of examples where and how I have used it in bed quilts.

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I love a quilt that had McTavishing , so make what you like.

OMG feline fanatic your quilting is so lovely. 0;-)

My DD, a RN, just had a baby, nine months old now. She uses bumper pads and covers for the baby because she has the monitor in the bed that sounds an alarm if no breathing was detected after 30 seconds. She has two of the monitor pads in the crib to cover the surface in case the baby scooches into a corner. If you don't use the monitor then nothing is suppose to be in the crib for baby to bury his face into. Not even a stuffed toy. Some parents don't use the breathing monitor so there is a danger of the baby suffocating so the Drs say nothing in the crib and baby sleeps face up. I can't imagine not using a breathing monitor for an infant. I wish they were available when my kids were babies. I would have slept more and worried less.

I checked the one I have in the crib at my house (I keep him during the day) : It's SafetoSleep Mobile Sleep and Baby Breathing Movement Monitor. Amazon has them: http://www.amazon.com/Safe-To-Sleep-.../dp/B00BDCNSXA [h=1][/h][h=1][/h]

I find it very interesting that now babies are only to sleep on their backs do they don't suffocate. When my bunch was little it was only sleep on their tummies so they don't choke. Hmmmm guess they're going to figure out a way for them to only sleep on their side next so they don't xxxxx????

Thanks so much for the info! I had not realized that McTavishing was used primarily as backfill to make motifs pop. The photos are showing me how that works. Wow, feline fanatic; I just hope I can achieve that level of quilting someday.

Also didn't know about the baby monitors. If I ever have any grandchildren, they are going to get those!

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and experiment with McTavishing. Aside from using it for backfill, I'm thinking I may be able to do it on a larger scale so the quilting isn't as dense.

I put my kids on their tummies, covered them with a blanket and they had a baby pillow! I am a believer in the breathing monitor though. It can save a life.

My daughter not only slept on her stomach with a blanket, but one of the cats slept in the crib with her most of the time. Forty years later, she's now a 'cat magnet'. :D

Yes, they should be on a bare mattress, babies can suffocate when unable to remove themselves from under a heavy blanket or if they roll down between the mattress and the bumper pad. This website has great info: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/SIDS/Pages/sids.aspx I was so pleased to see that SIDS deaths have dropped by half in the last 20 years, with this newer information.

Felin Fanatic your quilting is gorgeous. I think that type of quilting would look good on a baby quilt. My DD had twins (girl & boy) last November and they have to be next to each other to sleep. No matter how far apart DD puts them they wiggle until they are touching. She was told to let them sleep on their backs and no blankets, quilts, covering of any kind and absolutely no bumper pads. I am a retired CCU nurse and when my DD was a baby I was told to put her on her stomach and I was told to make sure I had bumper pads on the crib to prevent her from sticking her arms/legs through the rails. That was 27 years ago so that is how much things have changed over my nursing career. Strange how things change and some do not seem to be for the better.

Yes, according to today's information, I am totally amazed that any of us survived way back when.

Because of all the restrictions of what can be put in a baby's crib, I now make "Tummy Time" quilts for new moms. I started calling them "throw the baby on the floor" quilts. But I guess that sounded too harsh for first time moms, lol. Now I can quilt and not worry if it is soft and pliable. I made them in the new bright colors and they work great.

They do sleep on a bare mattress. Mommies use something called a "sleep sack" which is like a blanket that fits on the baby to keep them warm. It's a wonder my kid survived with a quilt in his crib.

I usually use very dense quilting and the thinnest cotton batting from warm and natural, my family calls them ankle killers! I really prefer dense quilting, but I am learning it doesn't take that much!

News to me but why can't babies sleep with sheets or quilts, anymore?

I believe on something small it would be more stiff because of not so much weight but the larger the quilt, I don't see where it would be so stiff. Couldn't be any different than the stippling or meandering.IMHO.

Mom-6, I hear you!! I said the same thing to my kids when my grandkids were born...they spit up so much it made sense they should be on their tummys but I guess times change and thank goodness for the baby monitors!!!

Beautiful quilting, I agree the thread and batting makes the difference!

I bought a sandwich type thing for my last child (18yrs ago) that kept him on his side. I thought that was a great idea if he threw up he was on his side so it rolled out & onto the sheets. Seems everyday something changes, like the deal with eggs don't eat to many bad for cholesterol then it wasn't so bad. These days you just never know.

Great I'm in the middle of making a quilt for an as yet unborn baby, hope the Mommy will use it somehow.

I do wonder today, both my kids slept on stomach and if they spit up they wouldn't choke on it. Just like we have so many bratty kids today because parents have been told a swat on the butt when they will not listen is going to ruin them for life. Educated idiots some of these people. And as the world is such a mess, I do feel many of the old ways were better.

I just want everyone to know I am exercising admirable restraint! About McTavishing, the topic of this thread, of course.

What in the world is "McTavishing?" I've never heard that expresson before.

I've done some really large-scale Mctavishing on bed quilts and LOVE the way it looks. The great thing about Mctavishing is that you can make it ANY size you want and it still looks fantastic and is fun to stitch too.

McTavishing is a style of FMQ named for Karen McTavish. Here's a link to her site:

http://www.daystyledesigns.com/mctavishing.htm

So true. I hail from Euroep but my babies were born in the USA. I always had my babies on their side.
But yes it went from sleeping on tummy only to sleeping on the back only.

I don't really have anything to add about McTavishing, but do about babies and sleeping
When I had my first, and really with most things, I tend to use what seems to work best, common sense-wise. I was taught at the hospital to put my son on his tummy. Seemed to me, when he spit up, if he wasn't watched like a hawk, there was a danger of inhaling it. I listened to what they said at the hospital, on the back was bad, and it just seemed to me, he was more comfortable on his side. So that's what I did, bunched a blanket up, or something, and propped him on his side. Oh my goodness, what would the expects now say about that!

But, my Dad was notorius for rubbing whiskey on a baby's gums when they were teething too, and giving them a pickle, and all his kids got a glass of pop (in Ohio, soda in other places) before they went to bed.
Point? It's in my dna, a rule breaker!