Silly question,lol
 

I was asked today, who is a quilter, the person who sews all the little pieces together or when a quilt is sent out to be quilted, the person that sews all the layers together. I say both! Your opinion????

the long arm quilter is the professional. me, I'm a quilter.

Yes, Both. The quilt is then a collaboration, a 2 person quilt. Each person should get credit for their individual part.

both are considered quilters

Both, someone is trying to pull your chain. Of course it is both.

Definitely both. I do some quilting on small items, but no patience to do the quilting on my DSM.

My opinion is this question is a lot like whacking a hornets nest. You'll get opinions on at least 8 sides of this question and some of them will likely be pretty adamant.

I agree-both are "quilters". I don't send mine out (yet-I'm tempted to every time. lol)

A friend of mine says she's not really a quilter, she's a top maker. I say it doesn't matter. Semantics change over time. Sometimes we refer to quilting as the process of sewing the layers together, other times as the more general process of making a quilt. Is a tied quilt still a quilt since it's not quilted? (Notice that I called it a tied QUILT.)

My DH pieces quilt tops but sends them out to be quilted.

We are all quilters with different areas of expertise.

The long armer wouldn't have anything to quilt if we didn't piece the top together. I am a quilter. I hand quilted a wall hanging and a table top quilt. I have machine quilted two baby quilts - very primitive. I send my quilts to my LAQ, but I am a quilter. She finishes them for me. I pay her. But if it wasn't for me and people like me, she would be out of a job.

I say both!

You should try it at least once. I was real hesitant to send mine out, too, but as it got harder to wrangle the fabric under the needle with larger quilts, I did. I hated to give up part of the process in making my quilt, but I'm here to tell you, not having to baste it and getting it back all quilted and ready for binding was like Christmas morning!

Sew together - Piecer (top maker)
Piece, layer & quilt by hand - Hand Quilter
Piece, layer & quilt by machine - Machine Quilter
Piece & send out to others - Professionally Quilted by someone else (they get credit for quilting) & you for piecing.

I agree with jbj137.

I would have to mail it. No one around here does any quilting that I know of. Or if they do, they keep it a pretty good secret. lol. It would help if we had a local shop but the only one that was nearby closed.

Nope, I am the quilter because I put all those hundreds of little pieces together and make a beautiful quilt and all the credit goes to me, period! The LAQ, is just that and is not a quilter, I pay her and it ends there. Having said all that, I am also a LAQ and I will take no credit for putting the three pieces together, I am paid for that. No one should take a credit on a quilt you pieced together. The credit could never be equal.

Now if I painted a beautiful canvas and took it to the framers to frame, is he entitled to credit on my masterpiece? Of course not. IMHO

I agree - both are quilters.

But wait. LAQ=Long Arm Quilter so she is a quilter, right? I'm officially confused. The way I see it, you made a beautiful quilt top and you both worked together to make a beautiful quilt. A top alone does not a quilt make. Or something like that.

I made my first quilt at the age of 16. It was tied. But I still felt like a quilter! I pieced it on a treadle machine. I wonder what my Aunt and Grandmother would say if they new I bought new fabric just to cut up to make a quilt. We were suppose to make them out of leftover fabrics and usable fabric cut from worn clothes. And we used wool blankets bought from the Salvation Army instead of batting.

Remember how people used to turn their noses up if some one had the audacity to machine quilt rather than tie or hand quilt?

I used to decorate cakes. I was told by some that my cakes were not homemade because I used cake mixes. I used them as an ingredient - I hardly ever made a cake by the directions on the box. So what is the definition of homemade?

Times are a changing!

I say every aspect of quilting denotes a quilter.

Every one who helps in the creation of the quilt is a quilter. It also doesn't matter the size. When you stitch 1 or more pieces of material together to become one, it is considered a quilt.

AlienQuilter, homemade means it was made at home not on an assembly like they do in most bakeries. The box is the main ingredient and everything else is an additional ingredient. I'm happy you can bake. Any cake I have ever made has always fallen. I can bake a pie (homemade dough) but can't bake a cake to save my soul.

A woman we paid to come to present a program for one of the quilt guilds to which I belong crushed one of our members by telling her that people who make quilt tops and have some else sew the sandwich together are not quilters, but ONLY "toppers!" Her supercilious snobbery made me wish we had not paid her.

I used to be a newspaper reporter, which is to say I went out and interviewed people, observed events and wrote stories that the editors edited and then sent to the press room, where the men who ran the presses loaded the paper into the presses, adjusted the ink flow and printed the paper. Before any of that could happen, the people who worked in advertising had to sell enough ads to pay for the paper (subscriptions don't begin to pay expenses). And after all that, other men and women delivered the paper everywhere there were subscribers.

Now, which ones of us were "newspaper men/women?"

Same difference with people who make quilt tops and with people who sew them to border and back. Can't have one without the other! froggyintexas

I believe that both are quilters.

That is crazy. Your cakes are homemade. They just aren't completely "made from scratch". Big difference. I have a friend that owns a bakery and she uses mixes for the cakes.

I thought that the person who put the quilt together was a patchworker... and the person who quilted it was a quilter...

I'm just the opposite - can't make a decent pie crust even when using a mix!

Goodness, what have I started! LOL!
No matter what we a called, all love the process and (usually) the outcome! And the process can be so relaxing at times!

I started quilting a few years ago. Before I started, I decided I wanted to continue the tradition of my grandmother and great-grandmother by hand piecing and hand quilting the entire quilt. It makes me feel like I'm paying tribute to these women who worked so hard but yet felt the need to make something that had meaning to them. It seems that the hand piecing/hand quilting method is almost a lost art and I wanted to keep that tradition alive. Every quilter has the choice to hand piece or machine piece the quilt top and then either hand quilt or have the top machine quilted either by themselves or send it out to a long armer. Quilting should be an enjoyable choice for everyone. There should never be any competition on how many quilts someone can make in a year. I'm working on a Vintage Churn Dash that is 80 x 104. I'm still piecing but I know when I start quilting, it will take me 8 or 9 months to finish. BUT THAT'S OKAY.

If I were a LAQ and did it professionally (think Charisma) and then someone told me that I wasn't a "quilter", I'd be really surprised. and maybe offended/hurt. If a "professional quilter" isn't a quilter, then who is?

It seems like it is like saying that a runner who earns money by running (in prizes/sponsorships) isn't a runner. You have to be an amateur to be a real "runner". To me, your logic doesn't make sense.

Of course, a LAQ is a quilter--they are probably the "ultimate" quilters, at least by definition. If "quilting" is actually putting three layers of fabric together to make a sort of blanket/coverlet/wall hanging, etc., then the person who does that must be the "quilter". At least that is how I look at it.

We had a discussion a while back about "what is a quilt?" Many were very adamant that it had to be THREE layers--a back, middle and top to make a quilt.

But, saying all that, I'd call pretty much anyone involved in the designing, sewing the top and the layers together a quilter. But to me, TECHNICALLY, only those who sew all the layers together is the quilter (by definition). I'd call those of us who love to sew the tops, either specialists in tops or designers or lovers of patchwork--technically. Practically speaking, however, all of us are involved and thus get the title "quilter".

You are definitely correct. I didn't say that just right did I? of course the LAQ are quilters, but in a different way. It's like the designer and the sewer. I guess I feel that the two are totally different in the work that is involved. A quilt top can take anywhere from two weeks to months, whereas putting the three layers together, will take an hour or three but can be accomplished within a day...so there has to be a difference...well, that is the way I see it.

So if a person sets the machine up, but the computer runs the machine and does the quilting, Who is the quilter--the computer? What would you then call the person that loaded the quilt to be quilted? If you work on the creation of a quilt, you are a quilter in my opinion.

A lot of times when I use fleece it will just be two layers since fleece is thick and warm. I still call this a quilt. A lot of people will just a cotton back and top and call it a summer quilt.

I think the only time the definition is important is when you are entering a quilt show/contest then you just abide by their rules - the rest of the time, if you made it, you decide. Just my 3 cents worth - usually I only give 2 cents worth!

If you home looks like Joann fabric... you might be a quilter, If you go to the store with more than one thread on you.... You might be a quilter, If you talk about scraps and its not food.....You might be a quilter, If you have more than one machine... you might be a quilter. Oh... this could go on forever. lol

bwaahahaha!! That is so me. :o

I think I have to agree with you, Jbug

Oh, yes to all of that!! And oh...that thread part... LOLOL! Everyone I know considers it part of my wardrobe now!! ROFL!

Ok, here is another opinion lol....the Quilter who sews all the tiny pieces together is The Quilter. The LAQ who puts the layers together, already has the name of LAQ. See the difference was there all the time.