Flying_V_Goddess

I don't know why, but this one made me bust out laughing. Then I imagined prospecting the metal to make the needle. Which I found even more hilarious.


On that note I am impressed with anyone who does have the skill and patience to hand quilt even a halfway decent looking quilt. A year or so ago I was at the LQS for a couple hours. During my visit the owner was hand sewing some nine patches and insisted on teaching me to hand sew. I said, "Sure. Why not?" I did make a pretty decent block, but the whole time I was frustrated with it and it took me like half an hour to do. My stitches weren't even, I couldn't keep the stitches a short length, and I had trouble pushing the needle through. I thanked her for teaching me, but had to politely tell her this frustrated me too much.

Eri

I think any quilt that is made by a human who *cares* about the quilt and where it is going to end up should be considered hand-made.

When one of my sons was in third grade his class had a unit that somehow related to quilts... maybe a unit about the frontier or something, and the teacher sent home a request asking that if anyone had made a quilt that they come in for a show-and-tell. I brought the first quilt I ever made--I found a pattern I liked in a book, decided I wanted to change it "just a bit," ended up changing it a lot (fabric colors, size, extra borders, etc.), cut the fabrics myself--sometimes several times, as I was still figuring things out, pieced it all on a machine, machine quilted it to a pieced backing, and then hand-sewed the back of the binding on. It is a masterpiece that took months to make, even though it is an extra-large lap-size. I still consider it one of my best and if I had to rescue just one of my quilts from disaster, that would be it.

One of the students asked, "did you make it by hand or is it machine made?" I was floored--it had never occurred to me that anyone, even an 8-year-old, might consider a quilt sewn at home to be anything less than hand-made. After I picked my jaw up off the floor and finished stuttering, I explained that not all, but *most* quilts made since the sewing machine became common are at least pieced on a machine, and that while I did quilt the top on a machine, it was my hands that guided it through the machine; so YES, it was hand-made.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how the quilts sold in retail stores are manufactured on a step-by-step basis, but even if it is a human guiding the fabric through a machine in a sweatshop somewhere, I don't consider them hand-made. That person doesn't care what happens to the quilt, had no part in selecting the pattern or fabrics, can't change the finished product if the urge strikes, and might as well just be a piece of machinery themselves... and probably will be replaced by one, eventually. They don't care if they are sewing quilts, or shirts, or tents--so anything made in a factory can never be hand-made.

A self-serving definition? I don't know... I must give at least some extra credibility to a completely hand-guided needle-and-thread quilt, because I have a fantasy of someday sewing an entire quilt by hand... but I seriously doubt that is ever going to happen! Even if I got started today in my 30s, I'd never finish it during this lifetime.... too many quilts to make, too little time to wield a needle for anything but binding! :)

MsEithne

The one and only quilt I've made to date was back in 1978. My father saw a quilt he really loved and asked me if I thought I could make one like it. Fortunately it was just a simple trip around the world in that old reliable combination of red (cranberrry) and blue (deep cobalt).

I cut all the patches with a template and scissors because rotary cutters had not yet come out. I hand pieced the top because that's how the Mennonite women I knew did it. I hand quilted it because, again, that is how the Mennonite women I knew did it. I did cross hatch quilting 1/2 inch apart across the entire quilt to make puffy little diamonds. My stitches weren't great, about six to the inch (I measured) but they were adequate to the job.

Took me eight months from start to finish. The top was faster because I could just stack squares in the order for strips and carry them around with me to piece whenever I had a spare moment. The quilting I did was mostly during a night shift job I had as an telephone answering service operator (with permission from my boss). It was one of those jobs where someone had to be there and ready but very little ever actually happened.

That quilt has been on my father's bed ever since. It has been machine washed and dried once a month (due to allergies). The colours have faded slighty and the edge of the ruffle has gotten a little threadbare but the quilt itself is still in good condition.

All in all, I think that quilt has been pretty durable. I'm not sure how machine piecing or quilting could prevent fading or the wearing of the edge of the ruffle (both of which are common weak links to any quilt made in any manner).

MsEithne

!

Neither! Any tomato in this country that is grown in a field, no matter how it is plawed, is of a variety where hardiness is the primary characteristic and they are picked green.

A tomato tastes best grown right outside your own door, only hardy enough to be carried by hand from garden to kitchen and picked at the peak of ripeness while warm from the sun.

Those things sold in the vast majority of grocery stores are... something else. I'm not sure what but they sure don't seem anything close to the ones from my garden.

EdieClay

Recently a woman I just met told me that she did real quilting, she quilted by hand. I told her that was wonderful and I was very sincere. However, I choose to use a machine to make my quilts. I LOVE quilting. I love picking out fabric, even though I have a hard time with it; I love picking the pattern; I love cutting out the pieces; I love the process of putting it together; and I even love putting on the binding and labeling it. Isn't that the point, doing something we love and sharing it with people we love whichever method we choose to use?

Phannie1

If I make a piece of furniture in my garage using my table saw, is it hand made or do I have to cut with a hand saw to call it hand made.

When sewing machines came in vogue, quilts were done on them. The hand made quilts my grandmother made were quilted in "bees." Our "Bees" today is better machines or Long arm machines. I have learn to value those who do machine quilting. I have been trying to learn myself.

GrannieAnnie

I heard a discussion on a talk show a while back about would Shakespeare have written more plays if he'd had a computer. (let's not discuss all his helpers and DO-ERS!).

My opinion would be yes, because the computer would have done a lot of the "paper pushing" for him. Corrections, additions, rearrangements would have been so much faster.

One of the ladies in the discussion said no, based on her belief that he had x number of plays in him and that was that.

Darn, if I had that Johnson guy ironing for me, I could work faster and turn out more stuff. (maybe)

GrannieAnnie

There you go!

GrannieAnnie

Here's what she's missing! When some one comes up with a "new" pattern, it's the original.

How far back do you have to go to find the first 20-25 or so "original" patterns? Quilting has long been part of the USofA's heritage. But surely Noah's mom set some pieces of old clothing and blankets together to make a new cover. Maybe not that soon, maybe Mary and her cousin Elizabeth!

GrannieAnnie

The Amish try to avoid electricity, not new inventions.