crankygran

Not always better, David, but worth trying to see if it fits your style. Do you chop ice from the pond and bury it in sawdust to save to cool your food in the warm months, or do you use todays refrigeration? I once asked my Grandmother(born ib 1887) if the ladies used sewing machines for piecing in her younger days. She said that if they had a machine and any brains they did.

grandma Janice

There are reasons why I keep with the old ways. First, I make scrappy quilts so I still use scissors and templates. I use to hand piece but since the old hands are getting stiff, I use my machine. I think my hand piecing is more accurate. I hand quilt because it's relaxing and it's not expensive. LAs are two expensive and too complicated for me. I would be a basket case trying to use the new technology. I can't afford to send my quilts out to be quilted so I just stay with what I know best, and can afford. It's just a hobby for me. Now having said that, I'm sure our grandmothers would be having the same discussion about using the new inventions like electric sewing machines etc. Some would love it and some would not. Every age has it's own new technology. My grandkids laugh at my inability to master computers and all these new gadgets that are second nature to them. I agree with the one who said it's as modernized as you want to make it.

OHSue

I have thought about this, too. But if the folks before us did these quilts as a way to show their creativity, they would have used whatever tools they had. My grandmother didn't have a rotary cutter, but I am sure if she had a way to cut quicker and in an exacting way, she would have used whatever was available to her.
And for that matter it is possible lots of folks would never have discovered quilting if not for the modern updates that have made more patterns available, computers for info, new dyes that make the colors more stable, and plenty more.

rob529

That sounds like a fun challenge. I already have a king size top done that way. I traced all the diamonds on the fabric with pencil and sewed all the pieces my hand. My DH traveled with his job and it was my traveling quilt. I would love to do a entire quilt even with hand quilting. We would need a large chunk of time though. I'm game.

Annz

David, I think it is like anything else in our daily lives. Things improve, things become more advanced and sometimes along with this we find that somethings aren't made as well as in the good old days, but with quilting we get to chose to mix the old with the new.

dmackey

I would never have become a quilter without today's tools. I found it much too tedious to trace and cut out templates, sew tons of individual pieces, and lost interest early in the process when I was younger. When I discovered rotary cutting and strip piecing, that is when I knew I would enjoy the craft.

Jinny Beyer facinates me. She is a hand piecer and uses templates, scissors, needle and thread, all the time. I saw her on Simply Quilts showing people her techniques, and she commented that it took her the same amount of time to make a quilt all by hand as it did using machines, because she spent all her free time on road trips, working on quilts (hubby drove), keeping all pieces in plastic bags, hand sewing patches, etc. Her quilt "Windows" is a testimony to her amazing talent, as is everything she does. She has the talent, creativity, and patience, that I am severely lacking.

Diane

cctx.

I think that the market has a lot to do with tempting quilters into buying more and more gadgets that are frivolous in my opinion or luxuries that are really not necessary.

When I first started out with making quilt blocks, I used a plastic cover casing for compact discs and traced that onto fabric using a pen and cutting out with scissors to make a simple nine patch. From there I wanted to expand my skills and I spent many hours at the local library doing research on primary blocks and patterns. When I felt confident to expand, I then graduated to tracing patterns by hand onto cardboard or stock paper. Applique was the easiest for me, from there I gradually got a rotary cutter, rotary mats, a few simple 4.5" rulers.
For sewing machines, I have owned at least 14 different machines and my favorites have been Singer. Just my opinion.

glenda5253

Very well said!!!

postal packin' mama

Wonder if Great grandma thought Grandma's new-fangled treadle machine wasn't necessary -- doing it all with needle and thread by hand had served just fine for generations....

KSue

I think we live in such a fast paced world that we want that instant gratification. I don't believe they had more time on their hands to do all of the sewing they did - it was probably out of necessity for some. I learned to sew on a treadle sewing machine in high school and I just loved it. I still have my first project that I made. An apron! We were graded on everything we had to do to finish it. My apron had appliqued tulips on it and we also had to embroider our name on it. Sorry.....I sort of got off of the subject.....got carried away.