It's tailor-made for me. And best of all, I don't have to worry about selecting several different fabrics that coordinate. I'm convinced my head would explode if I tried to do that! I can buy coordinated packs of Amy Butler fat quarters. I even downloaded free instructions from Amy Butler's website. So what's stopping me from quilting? It seems to me that garment sewers and quilters are two different species - like dog people and cat people. ( Summerset and Nancy W. are two exceptions to the rule. Their quilts are beautiful.) Most of the independent fabric shops focus on either quilting cottons or clothing fabrics - seldom both. Are garment sewing and quilting mutually exclusive? Do they require different skills – different personalities? Please share your opinions and experiences.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Do Sewers Quilt? Do Quilters Sew?
I love patronizing independent fabric stores. Whenever I'm going to a new city, I use the internet to look for fabric stores in the area. Sometimes, the stores turn out to be primarily quilting shops. I recently learned about a new store in Philadelphia, Spool, that sells quilting cottons. I don't quilt, but that didn't stop me from visiting Spool. I've often thought about making a quilt, but I haven't yet followed through and actually made one. Maybe I'm afraid I'll run out of clothes if I stop sewing to make a quilt. I bought a book (Quilter's Mix & Match Blocks) and played around with piecing using fat quarters. I was never happy with the way my corners came together, so I didn't give quilting serious consideration. Then, I found Amy Butler's Brick Path Quilt on the Spool website. It is a quilt pattern in which my corners don't have to come together in precisely the same place. It's tailor-made for me. And best of all, I don't have to worry about selecting several different fabrics that coordinate. I'm convinced my head would explode if I tried to do that! I can buy coordinated packs of Amy Butler fat quarters. I even downloaded free instructions from Amy Butler's website. So what's stopping me from quilting? It seems to me that garment sewers and quilters are two different species - like dog people and cat people. ( Summerset and Nancy W. are two exceptions to the rule. Their quilts are beautiful.) Most of the independent fabric shops focus on either quilting cottons or clothing fabrics - seldom both. Are garment sewing and quilting mutually exclusive? Do they require different skills – different personalities? Please share your opinions and experiences.
It's tailor-made for me. And best of all, I don't have to worry about selecting several different fabrics that coordinate. I'm convinced my head would explode if I tried to do that! I can buy coordinated packs of Amy Butler fat quarters. I even downloaded free instructions from Amy Butler's website. So what's stopping me from quilting? It seems to me that garment sewers and quilters are two different species - like dog people and cat people. ( Summerset and Nancy W. are two exceptions to the rule. Their quilts are beautiful.) Most of the independent fabric shops focus on either quilting cottons or clothing fabrics - seldom both. Are garment sewing and quilting mutually exclusive? Do they require different skills – different personalities? Please share your opinions and experiences.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Elray: Love your blog and your sewing projects.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are mutually exclusive - I learned to sew clothing, but started doing quilting not that long after - a seam is a seam is a seam, to coin a phrase!
They both require technical skills, the ability to combine color/pattern, and the great feeling of creativity!
I still do both. AND you can use those nice quilting cottons to make tops, skirts, etc. So be sure to go by and get some from the quilting store! Its another opportunity to become a fabric collector.
Quilting seems so repetitive to me; my attention span really dwindled whenever I attempted to make a quilt.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to sign up for Keepsake Quilting's lovely catalogs, if you haven't already. Every time I look at one I say that's it, I'm gonna make a quilt! At least maybe a t-shirt quilt for DD when she goes off to college in 2 years.
https://www.keepsakequilting.com/requestcatalog.aspx
I'm with Lindsay on this. I would never ever quilt. Its not just the repetitive nature of it, but the visually traditional aspect kind of turns me off too. I am a minimalist at heart and I like very modern design, and most quilting doesn't fall into that category.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm one of the crazy ones that does both - in the same piece of artwork - so they are not mutually exclusive! Most quilters like the simplicity (relative) of it, and are a little shy about the 3D aspect of clothing. Many garment makers (myself included!) can not stand the repetitiveness of the little pieces in quilting. Both require similar skills - accuracy and attention to detail. I think it must be the personality that is different. BTW, Keepsake Quilting that LindseyT mention is about 35-40 minutes from me. It is a large place, actually overwhelming, and I rarely go these unless I'm looking for something specific. Otherwise it is sensory overload and I come out with a headache.
ReplyDeleteSummerset, I want to know how you have the time to do both! Almost all of your work is labor intensive, whether you are sewing for everyday or making one of your art pieces and then you still quilt too!
ReplyDeleteI've done both quilting and garment construction. I find quilting sort of like eating potato chips. You can't eat just one. Seaming becomes sort of addicting. However, in the last few years, I found great fun and a real challenge in learning to fit garments. While I find garment construction a mental challenge, I find quilting sort of mindless. There is a place for both in my sewing room. I should probably do a blog entry about my quilt projects. I bet some people didn't even know I quilt since I don't do it much any more.
ReplyDeleteI do both sewing and quilting and I also do mixed media textile art, but I freely admit it's lonely out there, since most people do sewing or quilting but not both. When I was a kid learning from my grandmother, she made no distiction between them; it was all just sewing to her. For quilting purposes I like to work small, because huge quilts make me tired. I find them very meditative. Clothing is more like a puzzle, and requires more problem solving skills.
ReplyDeleteI do both - and I'm converting my quilty friends to clothes sewists as well! I find one feeds the other - skills learned in either one transfer to the other, and I love using quilting cottons for clothing.
ReplyDeleteI think there is some difference. My mom, who taught me how to sew, used to make clothes (mainly for me as I was growing up). But she's a quilter at heart, and doesn't enjoy making clothes. I love making clothes and bags, but quilts don't really excite me-- love the look of the ones with fun fabrics, but repetitive sewing of straight lines is boring to me. Not saying I'll never make a quilt, but I think I'm more primarily a sewer. Though I do love the quilt prints for clothes!
ReplyDeleteYou know you are a quilter when you sew a garment--and realize that the seams are 1/4"!
ReplyDeleteI sew both garments and quilts and have extensive fabric stashes for both. I combine the two with wearable art--that is, pieced/quilted jackets and vests.
(Another saying is: asking a quilter to sew on a button is like asking Picasso to paint your garage.)
Elaray, I do both. For some reason I got aggravated having to keep track of the different seam allowances and having to switch between my fledging attempts at machine quilting and sewing clothes. I solved the problem by keeping my Singer 301 set up for piecing and I use my 930 for clothing. I'llrent time on a long arm machine for quilting. Have fun and enjoy your new hobby! If you follow my lead, you'll soon add another addiction - vintage machines.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should ask. Quilting is one of my secret sewing guilts, i.e. something I picked up, was crazy about for 5 mins, then dropped but not till I'd also dropped a wad of cash on it (and I have a bin full of fabric to prove it). Ouch! I hand-pieced and hand-quilted a small Kaffe Fasset quilt, started another, which I haven't finished, and pieced a top via machine just to get rid of quilting fabric. It's still just a top though, & the wool batt for it is rolled up somewhere in the basement. In truth, while I appreciate the older, less regimented, hand-pieced quilts, very little modern quilting, including art quilting, interests me. I really only like the K. Fasset type quilts/colorwork. And aside from just loving all that Amy Butler quilting fabric, the only thing that made me even try it in the first place was that I realized I could make a quilt more cheaply than I could buy one and in fabrics I actually liked--well, that and I'd always wanted to know how a quilt was made. So now I know. But quilting is so far down on my list of things I do that I don't think I'll ever make another. We'll see. Clothes (especially now that I'm pattern making) are infinitely more challenging and interesting. Making them eats up all my time.
ReplyDeleteOh and thanks for posting the link to Spool. I'm kind of at a loss about where to get basic supplies like thread in Philly without having to drive out to K of P (shudder). I've been to fabric row and found some stores there, but it's pretty hit or miss. Most of the stores only seem to sell upholstery material, & some of that looks a good 30 years old and stuffy. I think I spied a quilting store in downtown Narberth, but haven't been back to check. Quilting stores can be great places to get thread. I miss the one I used to go to where I used to live.
Thanks for the heads up about Spool, I might be able to make it up on there on my lunch break to browse around. Never hurts to have another source of fabric nearby.
ReplyDeleteNot much of a quilter myself - I like the concept but when I start I get distracted and lose interest. I have an almost-finished quilt top that's been almost finished for about 10 years now.
I do both. I am a self taught quilter. HGTV had a show “simply quilts” I taped most of the shows and I learned a lot about the history and the art of quilting.
ReplyDeleteI made my first scraps quilt in 1999. I’ve made 6 quilts and 2 quilt tops (not completed) in past 9 years. I don’t make traditional quilts. I prefer crazy quilts or scrap quilts because I don't like to follow instructions and I don’t like sewing with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Quilting is relaxing and enjoyable. It provides warmth and comfort.
PS- I will never make another king size quilt again, too much work and it gets too heavy.
I only make quilts no larger than 80x80
I agree with little hunting creek, it is lonely because most people do either sewing or quilting but not both. I don’t make a distinction between quilting and sewing. In fact I have 2 sewing machines; one for sewing clothes and the other for sewing quilts and home décor projects.
I don’t have a quilting stash because I primarily make scrap quilts from clothes and left over fabrics.
I have an extensive collection of quilting tools and I have several rotary cutters. The quilting tools are not just for quilting; also they are sewing tools.
This is an interesting question. I definitely do not think that quilting and garment sewing are exclusive of one another. I mainly sew garments. I have made a couple of quilts. I do not really like quilting although I have big ideas for quilts I would like to make. For me quilting does not have the instant gratification that garment sewing has. I can have a piece of clothing done in a day or two (something simple that does not require lots of fitting) where a quilt will take me months.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is that I love knitting and that definitely is not instant gratification for me.