Recommendations and Inspirations
A place to see crafty recommendations from other members. Ranging from inspiration and patterns to crafty media, you’re sure to find something interesting to check out!
If you want to give a recommendation or share an inspiration you can do this at the Monthly meeting or email secretary@wellingtonquilters.org.nz
Tips from QMN Magazine
1. Use a drop or two of glycerine on your fingertips when piecing or quilting. It makes the material easier to handle, and the needle and thread slip in and out of the cloth more easily.
2. Cut enough pieces at one time for your quilt tops. Put a piece of freezer tape, with the number of pieces and name of the quilt top, around each group of pieces which are alike.
3. Take quilts that are faded and frazzled at the edges and add a new brightly colored binding. It does wonders to revive an old quilt.
4. Cut diamonds for a Texas Star quilt so that two edges will be on the bias and two edges on the straight of the goods. When piecing, match the straight-grain edges. Do not piece a biased get o a straight edge.
5. Use a finger cut from a kid glove on the underneath finger that the needle pricks when hand quilting. You can still feel through the glove.
6. For quilting, use a between needle size 8 or 9. You'll never go back to sharps or crewels.
7. When threading a needle with dark thread, rub the last two or three inches of the thread with white chalk.
8. If you use new sheet blankets as lining for quilts, shrink them first.
9. Consider the wood tones of the bed on which the quilt is to be used. Rich, dark woods look better with lighter colors of compatible tones, while pale woods are complemented by darker or brighter colors.
10. When cutting quilt pieces, keep a box near you for very small scraps. These can be cut into small triangles or other very small pieces for other quilt tops.
11. If you have wallpaper in your bedroom, perhaps you can adapt its pattern for an interesting applique, patchwork, or quilting design.
Knit for Victory: The lost knitting songs of the war effort
Written to keep women’s spirits up as they knitted clothes – particularly socks – for British soldiers during the two world wars, songs about knitting were once hugely popular all over the UK and around the world. But after the second world war ended, these knitting songs – an important oral record of how hard women worked to support the war effort – were put away and forgotten.
Haptic & Hue explores the way in which cloth speaks to us and the impact it has on our lives. It looks at how fabric traditions have grown up and the innovations that underpin its creation.
Highly recommended is Season three: Episode 26 which tells the tale of Quilts made by Canadian women and children for the victims of World War Two
The recent war in Ukraine is hard to comprehend and it’s hard to know how to practically help. A fundraising pattern has been made to raise funds for the UNICEF Ukraine Emergency Appeal and also allows us to do something with our hands.