quiltingcandy

If you make it then it is made by your hand. If you use a machine to help get it done it is still made by your hand. A rose by any other name.....

I have a friend that is 85 years of age that insists her applesauce must be done by using the old hand crank food mill. Years ago I made mine that way and I had to wait until my husband could help with it. (I am 57 years old now.) When I learned that Kitchen Aid had an attachment to the mixer which does the same thing, I can make 18 quarts of applesauce in 3 hours instead of 6, not to mention I can do it by myself in that time, it was a no brainer.

We have these machines for a reason. I love hand sewing. In fact I do both, I hand quilt and machine quilt. It depends what I am making and how soon I need it.

MsEithne

No need to cut down any oak trees!

A handspinner experienced with a supported spindle can beat a spinning wheel when spinning cotton. All you need for a supported spindle is a piece of wire and a bead to help store rotational energy. A little ceramic or glass dish can help support the spindle but many handspinners working with cotton sit on the ground and just use the ground to support the spindle.

I'm not that skilled with a takli (supported spindle), so I resort to a charkha. Those are the little book to briefcase sized spinning wheels that Ghandi popularised. Again, no need to make one out of an oak tree, a perfectly serviceable one can be made of a cardboard cigar box, a few wheels made of laminated cardboard, wire and string.

Really, though, a charkha is just a crutch for those who don't spin enough cotton to gain true fluency in the skills involved. The takli (wire with a bead) is fastest.

Leave your oak tree to provide a pleasant place to sit while you spin the cotton, mind the children, supervise the teenagers and gossip with your friends.

The cotton thread needs no big loom to be woven. A backtrap loom requires a couple pieces of wood that can be carved down from sticks and a place to tie the end of the warp. The other end of the warp is tied to or around your own waist. It's very portable and can produce intricately woven pieces up to about 15 inches wide.

If the backstrap loom isn't producing wide enough yardage, then a warp weighted loom will do the trick. A warp weighted loom can be made of sticks and stones (I'm not joking) and produce yardage about 36 inches wide with one weaver or 60 inches wide with two or 96 inches wide with three.

Needles need not be forged of steel, they can also be made from bone (careful not to inhale any bone dust while making it, though).

ckcowl

singer started making machines in something like 1851---
people who could afford them made quilts with them- they were a time saver-
there are always going to be (traditionalists-however miss informed) who like to spout their beliefs/feelings about everything-and believe their way should be the only way--
the quilt shows have catagories for hand work- and for machine work- it is all appreciated and accepted-

if it is not manufactured/production line produced in quantity-- it is hand made

Alexandra

The only place I see where machine quilted quilts and hand quilted quilts should have different emphasis put on them is for best in show at any quilt show. Hand-quilted quilts should be a completely separate category. Some of the major shows have recognized this and have separated the two, but not all. The time alone in handquilting deserves special recognition.

k3n

I have been questioned about this from time to time, particularly with regard to FMQ. I compare it to writing a novel with pen and paper or on a computer - does one have less worth than the other? Of course not! I can hand quilt and greatly admire the work of those who do but much prefer to machine quilt these days. FMQ either on DSM or LA (I mean freehand, not panto) has just as much artistic merit. Piecing by hand, I have done EPP, in fact that's how I started quilting and can hand embroider etc. But I don't see the point of hand piecing for the sake of it when my machine does it more quickly and efficiently! Anymore than I sweep my carpets rather than using the Hoover! Our craft is wide and varied and that's partly why I love it so much.

TanyaL

Why do non-quilters put themselves in a position of quilt-judge? To be a true purist of the old-fashioned, do-it-all- by-hand, have-no-machine-tool-help-at-all they should not be driving a new-fangled horseless carriage, i.e. automobile. If they use an automobile, they should insist on cranking it by hand to start, not using an automatic starter. Their windshield wiper should work by a knob on the dashboard which they turn back and forth,etc . Why is a sewing machine tool not acceptable but their modern tools are? We should tell them that all quilts are made by hand! Hurray for the variety of modern tools at our command.

christina d

In todays world most people are to busy to be able to hand quilt it takes a long time to quilt a quilt sewing machines give us the power to actually complete our works of art in less time so we can actually enjoy it.I love to mix my quilts up most have hand work and machine work and as long as I enjoy doing it I will keep on quilting my way

deedum

Each to their own, however, if we went on their logic, then we all should be sewing by hand by an oil lamp only.

I would probably never get a quilt made if I had to do it by hand and work fulltime.

fabric_fancy

exactly!!!!

its a slippery slope that the purist live on that can very easily be pointed out that technology has always been involved in quilt making.


from the day of the cave man we have been forging tools to make coverings for the human form.

emerald46

My only quilting relative was a great-aunt. Who says the best day was when she got her treadle. Auntie did beautiful quilts. I can only imagine how many more she would have gotten done with our machines and tools. Not too mention how much more time she would have had for creativity.