Quilting Designs: A Wide Variety
July 27, 2008 Quilting Designs
Quilting designs are a little like snowflakes, in that there are hardly any two alike. This is a craft where you can take a design that has been created by someone else, and yet make it totally and distinctly your own. These designs and patterns range from the simples patchwork to the most intricate freehand designs. Some look for the design to be presented in the fabric itself, and more design patterns can be introduced in the actual quilting stitching. And if the design of the quilt is repeated on both sides – reversible – the work is even more intensive. Quilting designs are the delight of every quilter, and they enjoy discovering fresh new ones.
Quilting Designs – Just What You Want Them to Be
Have you ever wondered where all those beautiful quilting designs came from on a quilt? Many were designed by freehand. Others, however, come about as the result of using a pattern. Before the days of patterns, all quilting designs began in someone’s imagination as they visualized what they wanted the final project to look like. With many designs crisscrossing through several different squares it is easy to see that it takes real creativity to design a quilt.
The standard patchwork quilts are possibly the simplest designs to create as they basically consist of a patchwork of different color materials, cut into squares and sewn together in a hodgepodge fashion. Those patches that have quilting designs on them must be stitched together in order for the fabric’s patterns to match. Whether moving from left to right or from top to bottom, matching the pattern on each square with an adjacent square takes great care and patience.
The size of your quilt and the size of the squares which will make up the quilt are what determine how intricate the quilting design will be. While many quilters prefer to keep it simple with their designs, still others seek out a more intricate look. Using fabric with designs already on it can make a quilter’s work easier, but you will still have to cut each piece the same size to ensure that they fit together correctly to form the perfect size.
Reversible Quilts Call for Twice the Work
If you have decided to have your quilting designs reversible, plan on spending an inordinate amount of time creating it. Both sides will have to be finished, with regards to the knots. And depending on your concept of reversible, it may require the front and back to be made exactly alike before you stitch all three layers together.
A sewing machine that boasts a computerized guide will make quilting designs much easier to accomplish. With many of these machines you simply enter your design and turn the machine on. It will then automatically duplicate the pattern on whatever fabric you put in the machine. For edge to edge quilting in which repeated quilting designs are needed, this method can cut the time of work drastically.
Failing to have a computerized machine, you can find patterns with which to mark your cloth and then stitch either with your standard machine or by hand. Either way, realize that making enough squares for a good-sized quilt is going to take some time and work on your part.