Recently I had been talking to a lovely person who at one point said to me: " I like your quilted things very much, but it seems to be so difficult, even if I could muster the time and patience - I could never make anything like that!!" But NO!!! EVERYONE who is able to use his or her hands freely and who feels attracted to quilting and patchwork and is willing to invest some time and patience is able to produce a quilt or a smaller patchwork object!!
So this is for her (and everyone else who is interested):
All you need is simple everyday- material: fabrics, yarn, pins, an iron, a needle and (triangle) ruler and scissors, and for tracing templates: a pen (a dark one, and a white pencil for dark fabrics, also: the pen should not leave nasty stains on the top of the fabrics, especially when it comes to washing) , and off we go!! Everything else is optional!! Things can be so simple and therefore they often possess a very special charm!!
Here is the picture of a template for a simple square. The loveliest things can be produced with a pattern of assembled squares!! For the template you can use a simple piece of cardboard. However, when I know I will use the template often I use laminated paper, it's more durable.
The template is traced on the wrong sides of the pieces of fabric I wish to use (some seam allowance is necessary), I secure the ends of every line I need to sew with pins, and now I just go along the marked lines, using a simple needle, strong enough yarn and a straight-forward stitch, or the machine, then I iron the seams ...
... and a lovely piece of patchwork is produced!!
For example now: make a lovely down-to earth-cushion! There is not even any quilting required! Just assemble as many patches as you need, fold the piece, sew together along the edges - right side turned inwards -, leave a gap, then turn it, iron it, fill the form with anything you have at hand, I often use scraps or a woolen blanket which is no longer needed, close the gap: and here is a sweet little pillow! Or even a larger one!!
If you used the machine and narrow stitches you can cut freely through the assembled patches and probably you wish to form a cat-pillow like this one below. Tip: cut into the seam allowance along the curved parts of the seam several times (not too close to the seam itself), so that the fabric lies more smoothly when the form is turned to the right side.
I also love such simple placemats or wallhangings. For them you can go like this: you back the patchwork-piece with another piece of fabric, you sew them together along the sidelines - again: wrong side up -, leave a gap, turn the form, iron it, fill it with a made-to-measure thin piece of fabric, close the gap, and apply some simple quilting stitches to put the three layers of fabric firmly together.
This is important, too, I think: Do not worry overmuch about accuracy! It's lovely when all the corners meet, but you will see that although you worked carefully, they sometimes just don't, and they don't always HAVE to! Again: I think a lot of charm lies in the individually crafted things, sometimes even more so when they are not perfectly manufactured.
"Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
http://www. brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/simplicity.html
