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What is Patchwork & Quilting? A Beginner’s Guide

Beginner's Guides | Quilting James Higgs August 20th, 2024

What is Quilting?

 

Higgs and Higgs stock a fantastic range of plain and printed cotton fabric ideal for patchwork and quilting. Are you a beginner quilter? Aspiring Patchwork enthusiast? Want to start your quilting journey? Then read on for a beginner's guide to all things patchwork and quilting.

Quilting in its simplest form is stitching two or more fabrics together, with a thicker wadding sandwiched in the middle. They are normally used for bedding, throws, picnic blankets and more. The art dates back as early as the 13th century.

However, there is so much more to it than that with fabric selection, stitch designs and the quilt’s design in general being taken to whole new levels. These days, the fantastic quilts that are created can be so beautiful that they are now frequently used for wall art as well as being something to cosy up to.

 

What is patchwork?

 

Patchwork is a way to take your quilting to a whole new level. Whilst the quilting definition above mentions the use of 2 or more fabrics sandwiched between a wadding (also known as batting, more on this below) patchwork very much involves the “or more” part of the above definition.

Patchwork is the art of selecting and stitching coordinating fabrics (normally squares) to create the distinctive patchwork look. When making patchwork quilts, quilters will often use 10 plus matching fabrics, carefully chosen and stitched together to give an incredible visual.

 

Best ways to get started?

 

Quilting is a great way to start your sewing journey. You can start off with incredibly simple designs and learn your craft whilst still getting great results. These skills will then be easily transferred to other areas of sewing like dressmaking.

If you are new to quilting, we would advise starting off using quilting patterns. Here’s some great free quilting patterns to get started. They will provide excellent step by step guidance to get you on your way.

 

cotton gingham check fabric bundle rustic colours with matching threads at the front

 

What fabric to use in your first quilting project?

 

Once you have decided on a quilting pattern and size, it’s time for the fun part, to select your fabric. Higgs and Higgs have a specific quilting category, so you’ll know every fabric in there is suitable for your quilting project.

Often the quilting pattern will also tell you what fabrics are suitable for that particular quilt, which can be super helpful if you are new to the game.

However, as a rule of thumb, cotton fabrics are the most widely used for quilting. When you see “quilting cotton” this will often refer to the weight of the cotton, which for quilting is often around 120 grams per square metre (gsm). It will also refer to the weave, with quilting cottons evenly woven. This means the warp and the weft overlap at routine intervals.

Having said that quilters can use whatever fabric they like with linens, denims and lots of other fabrics often used too. Bear in mind the weight and texture of the fabric will impact how the quilt feels with denim being heavier, leading to a heavier quilt best suited for when it’s that bit colder.

 

How to choose coordinating fabric for my patchwork quilt?

 

Lots of our fabrics will come as part of a collection. This means that all fabrics within that collection will have matching designs or a consistent colour pallet. A great way to start is to use a few fabrics within the same collection and you can’t really go wrong. Retailers will often sell these collections as bundles, jelly rolls or charm packs which are small pre-cuts of each fabric in the collection. More on that towards the bottom of this help guide.

As your confidence builds, you can choose your fabric based on matching colour tones, patterns or based on a theme such as animals. And just go by look and feel.

 

What is wadding? Is it the same at batting? What wadding to use?

 

You will have seen the words “wadding” and “batting” already in this blog, but what exactly are they? Well firstly they are two words for the same thing. Wadding is more widely used in the UK with batting being more commonly used in American English.

They both refer to a thicker, fluffy material used to line and bulk out items. It looks and feels a bit like cotton wool. For quilting, it again adds the warmth and cosiness to a quilt by being the thicker layer sandwiched between the more decorative, lighter weight cottons.

 

What are the different types of quilts?

 

We have covered patchwork quilts, but what other types of quilts are there?

Applique quilts are another incredibly popular type of quilt. This is the method of stitching multiple fabrics together to make a pattern or image. For example you might sew a mixture of yellow fabrics together to create the sun or use multiple coloured material to make a rainbow. Applique quilts can be a little trickier to get a high quality finish so if you are newer to sewing, it might be best starting off with patchwork.

Memory quilts are often crafted using materials that hold a personal significance to you. Your child’s favourite clothing items that now do not fit could be repurposed to make a quilt with additional sentimental value for example.

Rag quilting is a method of quilting where you leave the seams exposed. This causes them to fray when used and when washed and adds to the cosy snuggly nature of the quilt. In conventional quilting the seams and raw edges will be stitched or finished using a binding bias to give a more polished finish.

The list goes on . . .

 

Stunning Quilt by the Crafty Lass

Stunning Quilt from The Crafty Lass using Higgs and Higgs Cottons

Stunning Quilt from The Crafty Lass using Higgs and Higgs Cottons

Fabric pre-cuts for quilting

 

Don’t know your fat quarter from your fat eighth? It can all get a bit confusing, but we have you covered, find below for the dimension and definitions on pre-cuts often used in quilting.

The exact size of the pre-cuts can vary depending on the width of the fabric they are cut from but the below will give you a good idea of what to expect.

Fat Eighth - 25 cm x 56cm or to 9 in x 22 in – longer strip of material

Fat Quarter - 50 cm x 56 cm or 19 inches x 22 inches – rectangular shape

Charm Packs – Normally 13cm x 13cm or 5 inches x 5 inches. The number of different fabrics in a charm pack can vary so check the item description before buying.

Bundles – bundles can come in various sizes and are normally made up of fabric that matches and go well together. Great for patchwork, a fat quarter bundle will comprise of a number of fat quarters (see measurements above) a half metre bundle will be made up of half metre pre-cuts etc.

Jelly Rolls – Similar to bundles in that they are a pre-cut range of coordinating fabrics ideal for quilting. Instead of being folded in to bundles, jelly rolls are rolled together and normally tied up. The standard size of a jelly roll is around 6cm x 110cm or 2.5 inches x 44 inches. Again, the sizes and number of strips in a jelly roll can vary so check the product description before you buy.

 

Spools of Sewing threads in lots of different colours stacked on top of each other

Top tips for beginner quilters?

 

  1. Don’t make things too complicated if you are starting out. Start with something smaller in size as this means less stitching and less needlework.
  2. If you are doing a patchwork quilt, again, don’t over complicate things. Just use a handful of fabrics to get started rather than trying to patch 10 plus different materials together.
  3. Use pre-cut bundles, charm packs or jelly rolls. These will be matched up already by the retailer and be cut to uniform sizes.
  4. Finish your edges with extra wide bias binding. This is less fiddly than standard bias binding and the additional width makes it easy to sandwich either side of the wadding.
  5. Use cotton fabric to start with. It will not have stretch and is easier to cut. More advanced quilters might use different materials such as a jersey which stretches and frays that bit more and is harder to work with for beginners.
  6. Baste / tack the fabrics together initially. Basting is almost a dummy stitch to ensure your fabric stays in place for your main stitch. It involves loosely stitching the fabrics together using a needle and thread. The fabrics you are joining then stay in place whilst you do your main, permanent stitch. You will then remove the initial basting stitch.
  7. Get creative and remember you will learn from your mistakes, so don’t worry if your first attempt isn’t perfect. It is all part of the learning process.

 

Happy Quilting