I really thought about thread the way a non-knitter would think about yarn – doesn’t one type basically take care of everything? What’s the difference?

Then I read the quilting blogs, and was quickly influenced by the brand debates and the cotton vs. polyester debates. Armed with a sales flyer for 40% off at local chain craft store, I quickly built my thread stash.

The whites and neutrals. The top layer. The go-tos.

I haven’t used them all yet, but I figure better safe than sorry. Plus, thread is small and a moderate stash doesn’t take up much room.

Underneath the neutrals, it starts to get colorful.

Sew Mama Sew! has been posting about thread recently, and had a few questions I thought I’d answer:

How did you select colors for your personal thread collection? I bought lots of whites and neutrals, figuring I’d use them most. Then, a few colors that struck me as pretty.

Do you always match the color perfectly to your project? Do you ever use contrasting thread? I haven’t been too adventurous with my color choices, and tend to stick with the neutrals. I probably need to branch out more!

Do you use the same color in the bobbin as the upper thread? Yes. I never really thought about doing otherwise!

What if a fabric has big areas of very different colors? I’d probably stick with the most subtle match, rather than contrasting too much.

Do you have any tips or suggestions about choosing thread? Only after I bought a lot of polyester thread did I read a comment somewhere that polyester is stronger than cotton. So if you’re machine quilting with polyester, it might wear down the cotton fabric over time, and cotton would be a better choice. I guess I need to look for another 40% off sale!

Do you ever buy thread because you fall in love with the color (without a particular project in mind)? That pretty much sums up most of the colors in my stash!

Do you “invest” in thread? If that means seeking out and buying rare, expensive or vintage threads, that would be no. But then again, a stash of any kind counts as an investment, right?

What types of thread do you have? (elastic, quilting, all-purpose, wool, etc.) I have almost exclusively Gutermann threads, mostly 100% polyester with a few 100% cotton neutrals. I do have two small spools of elastic thread that I bought with a specific project in mind. More about that project when I work up the courage to do it!

That’s my thread, something I probably wouldn’t have given a second thought last year. But then again, a few years ago, I would have thought you could use the same yarn for a pair of socks as you would for a dishcloth. The more you know!

The quilt itself dates back to the 1930s or 40s. According to Dad, Grandma C. (his mom) most likely pieced the squares and top together herself, and then the neighborhood women all helped with the hand-quilting.

The fans were all made from scraps leftover from dressmaking.  I can’t tell you how much would I love to see some of the dresses made from these gorgeous fabrics!

My mom also remembers that her grandmother, my Great-Grandma H, always had a quilting frame set up in her living room. If anyone needed their quilts quilted together, they would bring them to her, and the ladies from church would stop by and hand-quilt whatever was set up in the frame. This is how the ladies raised funds for the church. I love the idea of these women all working together and raising money with their crafty skills.

The quilting talents in my family don’t stop with my grandmother and great-grandmother. Later this week, I’ll share a gorgeous quilt that my sister made me when I was a kid. Stay tuned!

Namely, this vintage quilt:

I have always loved this quilt, but am a wee bit embarrassed that I don’t know more about it. It was handmade by my grandmother? Great-aunt? way back in the… 40s? Maybe? OK, I really have no idea. Mom, Dad, if you’re reading this, can you shed some light on the subject?

I do know that it is old and well-loved. And was a wee bit wrinkled, as it had been in storage since we moved from Chicago over a year and a half ago.

I’m not sure exactly what to call this motif – it looks like fans to me. It could have been machine pieced, but I’m not too sure. I do know that it was hand quilted, and the stitching is beautiful. The white space between the fans is a simple crossed lines, and each fan has it’s own detail. There’s also a scroll detail on the sashing that I didn’t get a shot of.

The fabrics are a crazy array of prints and colors, but they work beautifully as a whole. And my absolute most favorite detail is the one fan that has two tiny strips of quilting missing. I’m convinced that it was done on purpose, to make sure the recipient paid attention to how well made it was.

Now that I’m working on my own quilting projects, I have a new found appreciation for all of the work that went into this. It’s truly amazing, and I’m so lucky that I was able to steal it from my mom gifted this family treasure.

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Then I remembered some of the not-so-great items I made when I first started knitting, and realized – you have to start somewhere, right?

So I plucked up my courage, and made a baby doll quilt. I had most of it done in one afternoon. I followed the instructions in the Doll Quilt Sew-Along on the Sew Mama Sew site, and took it one step at a time.

Note: I dug through my fabric scraps to find a few that kinda sorta went together. These fabrics were purchased online a few years ago on a complete whim, and I’ve been holding on to them because I had no idea what to do with them. They are, shall we say, BOLD fabrics.

Step one: Cut the fabric. With the rotary cutter. Which was not as scary as I thought it would be.
Step two: Piece the fabric together. I used the Singer Featherweight for this step, and it went fairly smoothly. Some of the points could have lined up a little better, but I figure that comes with practice:

Step Three: Make a quilt sandwich. Basically, lay the backing fabric down, then a layer of batting, then the quilt top. Pin together.

Step Four: Quilt the layers together. Here’s where my sewing got a little wonky, since I don’t have a walking foot. I stitched into the ditch (meaning, I stitched along the piecing seams) but I let the machine get away from me a few times, so they aren’t the perfect lines I was hoping for.

After the quilting, trim the extra batting and backing away:

That’s as far as I got on Sunday.

Step Five: On Monday, I machine sewed the binding on the right side (using the tutorial at Oh! Fransson) and then hand sewed the binding down on the back side (using the tutorial from Splityarn).

Done!

Here’s what I noticed: There was no one step that really had me stuck. Each required careful attention and precision and accuracy, but none of them were completely over my head. I figure with practice, I’ll learn the mechanics better, and over time I’ll get better and better at each aspect of the process.

As a confidence builder, this project was a success. I still have a lot to learn, but as Mr. Martini said when I showed him this mini-quilt (after complimenting it and calling it beautiful – he’s a good nut):

Mr. M: So basically, you did everything you need to do for a big quilt, right?

Me: Yup.

Mr. M: You’d just have to do more squares, and do everything on a larger scale.

Me: Right.

Mr. M: So you could make a big quilt now.

Me: Yup.

He didn’t come right out and ask for a new quilt, but when I told him I wanted to make a couple of lap quilts for the living room so we can get rid of our linty, sheddy, hard to wash chenille afghans, he was pretty excited.

I am, too. Now to work on the hardest part for me: Picking out fabrics. Wish me luck!

I finally came to a decision about fabric for the new living room pillows.

I know! It only took 3 weeks. I think this explains why I buy multiples of all of my clothing – decisions are not my strong point. It’s easier to get dressed in the morning if all of my clothes look alike.

Sunday afternoon I sat down at the Singer and got sewing.

Can I just say again how much I love this machine? Once I got it threaded, I just took off sewing without any incidents.  I think it might feel so second-nature because it’s the machine I learned to sew on when I was a kid. Does that make sense?

Anyway, a couple of hours later, I had two pillows!

I love them. I tried my hardest to center the fabric, and I think it worked all right. The more I see them, the more I like them.

Two down, two more to go! Hopefully I get the other two made before winter arrives. I make no promises.