Intro to Quilting

The scope of this blog is not to teach you how to make a quilt from start to finish, but to show you easier ways of doing things and guide you in making the right product choices for what you want to do. I'll share my knowledge, ideas, and what I've learned from experience. I'll show you the best books, even if they're out of print. I'll show you my successes and failures so you'll know what works and what doesn't. I'll teach you how to make your own furniture and tools, and point you in the right direction so you aren't drowning in debt while pursuing a hobby that can easily turn into a business. Above all, I want to expand your imagination. Almost anything can be done with a quilt and it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Every quilt I've made contains mistakes, and I'm still proud of my accomplishments.

The Quilting Bible is the only book you need for learning how to make quilts.

Craftsy has a class app where you can learn anything you want to know about sewing and quilting.

  

Don't buy stubby screwdrivers or the Stitcher's Hardware Kit for $30. It's a rip off. The problem with both the stubby and compact screwdrivers is that your hands are still in the way and there's no handle. Get a low profile screwdriver set instead. It's $13.87 on Amazon. If you do any kind of sewing, you're going to need one.

How to Prevent Fraying

Use an Overcasting foot with an overcast stitch (06 on my Brother machine), a stitch length of 1.2 and a stitch width of 5.0. Back stitch straight at the beginning and end.

Do this on all raw edges before washing fabric and it won't fray. You'll cut it off when you square the fabric.

Wash Your Fabric!

The one thing I can't stress enough is the importance of washing your fabric before you do anything with it. It's the first thing you should do. The reason for doing this is to pre-shrink, remove sizing, oil, additives, dirt, and excess dye that may bleed. Some Stonehenge fabrics are over dyed to achieve a deep mottled effect. I know it was done with the red and blue in the patriotic series. It was also done with the eagle panel. 

I learned this the hard way after I made this patriotic quilt. When I removed the water erasable quilt marks with only a moist cotton ball, the red and blue dye bled. The quilt couldn't even be washed! I learned my lesson and haven't made a quilt without pre-washing the fabric since.

I prefer to do this on the stove top or in a 5 gallon bucket because it requires less water than a machine and the water has to be at least 140 degrees Farenheit.

It's also best to start with fresh water for each fabric, especially for dark colors and red. This is the water from washing the above Stonehenge fabric.

Synthrapol or textile detergent is a simple foaming surfactant (sodium lauryl sulfate or SLS, the very thing you don't want in shampoo). Dyers use it as a pre-wash to remove sizing, oils, fingerprints and other impurities that would interfere with an even dyeing of fabric — and then, they wash the dyed fabric to remove any remaining unattached dye. It suspends the dye particles so they do not re-attach to fabric.

Pure liquid coconut castile soap is a good all purpose non-detergent soap. The ingredients are: coconut oil, water and lye (potassium hydroxide). Get it from Making Cosmetics.

Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonate or the Sodium Salt of Carbonic Acid, aka soda ash or lye. It is a water softener that easily dissolves in water and raises the pH. A water softener competes with the magnesium and calcium ions in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used.

Methyl alcohol is a dye fixative used to improve wash fastness. Add 1 oz per pound of dry fabric. For solid colors, add to hot water before washing and soak for 30 minutes. For tie dye and batiks, add to a cool final rinse for 15 minutes after washing. For best results, water should have a pH of 7. You'll have to order this from Dharma Trading.

Fabric Wash

For a fat quarter or less:

1 tsp. Textile detergent

2 Tbsp. Washing Soda

1 Gallon hot water

For 1/2 yard of fabric:

1/2 Tbsp. Textile detergent
1/4 cup Washing Soda
1-1/2 Gallons hot water

For 1 yard of fabric:

1 Tbsp Textile detergent

1/2 cup Washing Soda

3 Gallons of hot water

Wash your fabric from lightest to darkest. Start with white and move to the lightest colors. Wash brights next followed by darks. Wash reds next and blacks last.

Add borax and textile detergent to hot water and stir. Add fabric and swish fabric around for 5 minutes. Wait until the fabric floats. Rinse with cool water and squeeze out excess. For dark fabrics or reds, follow with a cool soak in dye fixative. Rinse with cool water again. Hang fabric to dry. Once dry, it's ready for use.