Quality of Tools
01-18-2013, 06:40 AM
#41
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Quilting, crocheting, sewing and crafting in my Sewing Room...Peaceful and wonderful !!
Posts: 5,317
WOW ... A quilter is a quilter; a passionate person who enjoys makes quilts. They spend what they can, they make what they can, they rip apart what they can. I have a Pfaff, but my back up machine is a Brother and a very old Riccar. I have a very old serger(bought it at Cloth World before they went out of business in Denver and its Pink) for when I do serging. YES I also sew, craft, garden,and enjoy what I do.
Ladies:whether hobby, passion or for business: Do what you do with a passion out of this world and enjoy it.
Ladies:whether hobby, passion or for business: Do what you do with a passion out of this world and enjoy it.
Last edited by Caswews; 01-18-2013 at 06:48 AM.
01-18-2013, 06:46 AM
#42
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Quilting, crocheting, sewing and crafting in my Sewing Room...Peaceful and wonderful !!
Posts: 5,317
OOps I forgot ..
Ladies /Gentlemen: Tools are an extension of our imagination, whether you consider quilting your passion, hobby or art, do what you do with great gusto.
Ladies /Gentlemen: Tools are an extension of our imagination, whether you consider quilting your passion, hobby or art, do what you do with great gusto.
01-18-2013, 07:15 AM
#44
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 727
Originally Posted by LyndaOH
I agree with Jackie wholeheartedly. I'm not a hobbyist quilter; instead quilting is so ingrained in me that I see most other things in my life through that lens. I've been quilting for about five years and it's become a part of my very being.
As for student tools and fabrics, I think they do exist. You can buy a starter quilter's collection with a rotary cutter, ruler, marking pencil, pins, etc., for less than $15. It also comes with a few patterns and a beginner's book. You can also buy less expensive fabrics. It's how I started and I'm sure others started that way too.
That being said, after a year or so I did upgrade my tools, including purchasing a nice sewing machine. I traded my way up to it by buying several used machines and determining exactly what I wanted. I don't think anyone, whether beginner, hobbyist or master quilter, needs to apologize for the tools they use. We each buy what we like and can afford.
On the subject of fabric, I do generally use LQS fabrics but I'm really careful what I pay for them. I rarely buy something at full price and generally buy at around $5/yard. I prefer to shop at area LQSs because I want them to be there in the future. I've taken wonderful classes, gotten great advice and made my best friends at classes, retreats and shows sponsored by my LQSs.
I've worked with many beginners and hobbyist quilters and I would never question their use of less expensive materials or tools. Similarly, I've never had anyone look at one of my more challenging quilts and ask what ruler I used or what brand of fabric or what sewing machine. This weekend I'll be going to an area quilt retreat and I will see sewing machines ranging from $99 Brothers to top of the line Berninas to the popular Janome Gems to Singer Featherweights. I'll see fabric from WalMart, Joann, Goodwill and the LQS that sponsors the retreat. Everybody will be having fun and creating beautiful quilts. Nobody turns their nose up at anyone else (and there are about 100 of us) because we're all quilters loving what we're doing.
I don't feel addicted; I feel passionate and there's a big difference.
As for student tools and fabrics, I think they do exist. You can buy a starter quilter's collection with a rotary cutter, ruler, marking pencil, pins, etc., for less than $15. It also comes with a few patterns and a beginner's book. You can also buy less expensive fabrics. It's how I started and I'm sure others started that way too.
That being said, after a year or so I did upgrade my tools, including purchasing a nice sewing machine. I traded my way up to it by buying several used machines and determining exactly what I wanted. I don't think anyone, whether beginner, hobbyist or master quilter, needs to apologize for the tools they use. We each buy what we like and can afford.
On the subject of fabric, I do generally use LQS fabrics but I'm really careful what I pay for them. I rarely buy something at full price and generally buy at around $5/yard. I prefer to shop at area LQSs because I want them to be there in the future. I've taken wonderful classes, gotten great advice and made my best friends at classes, retreats and shows sponsored by my LQSs.
I've worked with many beginners and hobbyist quilters and I would never question their use of less expensive materials or tools. Similarly, I've never had anyone look at one of my more challenging quilts and ask what ruler I used or what brand of fabric or what sewing machine. This weekend I'll be going to an area quilt retreat and I will see sewing machines ranging from $99 Brothers to top of the line Berninas to the popular Janome Gems to Singer Featherweights. I'll see fabric from WalMart, Joann, Goodwill and the LQS that sponsors the retreat. Everybody will be having fun and creating beautiful quilts. Nobody turns their nose up at anyone else (and there are about 100 of us) because we're all quilters loving what we're doing.
I don't feel addicted; I feel passionate and there's a big difference.
01-18-2013, 07:40 AM
#45
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: PA
Posts: 2,879
Here's my question, Tanya. You imply that we should use lesser quality supplies and equipment until we reach a certain level. By whose standards? The teacher? The art community? Magazines? I'm guessing this would be why so many of us don't consider ourselves "art quilters" because your implication is there's a hierarchy in the art world, where you would be very pretentious to use "professional" equipment as a beginner. Not so in the quilt world. We can use whatever we want, and if we can afford better equipment and supplies we get them, not when we feel we've graduated from' student" to 'professional', and we all try to be supportive of the work we produce. Just read all the positive comments quilters have received when they show us a photo and say "This is my first quilt"...I can't imagine us saying. "Well, she's just starting, she shouldn't be using a Bernina". I've been to lots of art galleries and lots of quilt shows. Give me a quilt show any day of the week!
01-18-2013, 07:51 AM
#46
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,165
I've seen that - the Bernette line from Bernina are Janomes. Nothing wrong with them. Berninas come in all types. Pfaff has lower end machines with the IDT that sew straight just as well as the TOL. A lot of TOL are also embroidery - some don't want it. More advanced machines have more stitches. Some don't need those, either. A lot would give all for a Featherweight - a lot here seem to like older mechanical machines.
I buy fabric by color. If I have a certain color scheme in mind, I mix and match from wherever.
Better is not always the most expensive, either. You want accurate, and if a lesser priced accurate tool is just that, then why bother with the most expensive? Just for the name?
I buy fabric by color. If I have a certain color scheme in mind, I mix and match from wherever.
Better is not always the most expensive, either. You want accurate, and if a lesser priced accurate tool is just that, then why bother with the most expensive? Just for the name?
01-18-2013, 08:02 AM
#47
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
Posts: 1,329
I am not offended, TanyaL, and I do consider myself a fabric artist. That said, quilting is only one of many fabric arts. Clothing, furnishings, haberdasherie are a few others. All the fabric arts require the same skills as painting - color coordination. Some of the fabric arts use the same tools, such as rotary cutters or scissors and measuring tools. I happen to also do woodwork. I would not buy a cheap table saw that the blade wobbles as it spins. I also would not buy a cheap rotary cutter that the blade wobbles. Either would be a waste of my hard earned, and limited, money. Either would drive me crazy and make me quit before I got far. My DDiL just started quilting. I helped her pick the best tools she could afford - certainly not top of the line, but not low quality; good enough not to turn her away from quilting, but cheap enough that she could let go of them (trash) if she decided she didn't like quilting. I would never recommend a beginner buy more tools than needed, just good enough tools to enjoy using them. I still use the rotary cutter (the mat wore out and the ruler broke) that I started with. I have added many more tools to my collection over the years. I don't know any painters who are still using the brushes they bought 20+ years ago.
These are just my humble thoughts and are not meant to offend you, just to explain my thinking on the subject. I am certainly not the quilt police, and will not question anyone's methods of quilting. - except to learn from them.
These are just my humble thoughts and are not meant to offend you, just to explain my thinking on the subject. I am certainly not the quilt police, and will not question anyone's methods of quilting. - except to learn from them.
01-18-2013, 08:04 AM
#48
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: East Coast
Posts: 243
A most interesting discussion. I started out making due, but as my skills increased I found the value of buying better tools. Now, as a professional, I invest in better hand tools and am lusting for a new sit down Sweet Sixteen to have the large throat. Years ago, what first convinced me to "buy better" was inferior rulers that were inaccurate. And the purchase doesn't have to cost hundreds. I just told my students to invest in Clover Fine pins. They may be $10 per box, but rather than stabbing through fabric, they glide between the fibers--no distortion caused by pinning. They are worth their weight in gold.
SandyQuilter (NOT sandyquilts)
SandyQuilter (NOT sandyquilts)
01-18-2013, 08:06 AM
#49
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: WI
Posts: 80
I actually don't think it matters if you are a hobbiest or a professional or something in between. I do many different crafts and have learned that nothing discourages a beginner more than struggling with poor quality equipment. No matter how skillful I am, it would be very difficult to make a quality piece of furniture on a tablesaw with a warped table or a wobbly fence, to make an accurate cut with a poor quality ruler or paint a fine line with a poor quality brush. I often loan my tools to new craftsmen so they can learn if they really like the craft before making a huge investment in equipment. I recommend they take a class where equipment is provided. Sometimes equipment can be rented for those first attempts at a new craft. Often you can find good quality used equipment. However, don't hand a beginner poor quality equipment and then wonder why they don't enjoy the new craft! It is hard enough to learn new skills without the extra handicap of poor quality equipment.
01-18-2013, 08:18 AM
#50
Super Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Emmitsburg, MD
Posts: 1,599
Originally Posted by TanyaL
Most quilters classify quilting as a fabric art not a hobby. But other arts have a very decided difference between student tools and professional tools.
Writing is also an art, but anyone with words can write. You don't even have to "write" the words down to create the story, which is the real artistry. A fancy computer or a pencil and notepad only facilitate the process; they don't define it.
Vocabulary, like fabric and paint, is part of the message but is not the WHOLE message. I've read some amazing works comprised entirely of words we learned in primary school.
So I guess I would challenge you to think outside what you were taught in school and instead, focus on what artistry actually IS.
Incidentally I sew on a 1990s low-end Singer because I like it. I also drive a Jaguar and I like that, too. I don't NEED either one of these things -- I could sew everything by hand and carpool to work. It would change how I sew, but wouldn't make me any more or less of an artist (or a software analyst).
On the other hand, find me a sewing machine with a heated leather seat and I'll think about upgrading...
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