Quilting

Asian woman making a quilt Quilting is a tradition in many cultures, and is used as a way of telling stories and offering comfort. Women have used this craft for generations as a way of avoiding any waste, using up scraps of leftover fabric. Over the years, it has evolved into an art of great beauty and skill. In some cultures, this craft is an activity that brings women together as they share their stories and their lives, while patiently piecing them together in those scraps of coloured fabric. Not surprisingly, this is now an art in its own right, as contemporary artists rediscover its charms.

To see some examples of Quilting work click here.

Description of the techniquess studied by the Aman Group.

Quilting is a sandwich of three layers of fabric – the quilt top, the thick wadding and the quilt back, which is usually muslin. The three layers are held together by quilting stitches (basic running stitch).

Now try it out!

For beginners it is recommended that you use a medium weight plain cotton fabric as it is easy to handle. Once your confidence and expertise in quilting develops, you can use fabrics like silks and velvet – which are more difficult to handle. Your main fabric needs to be 1cm bigger than the wadding and backing all the way round.

	Select and gather your fabrics. You will need: your main fabric (this can be any fabric, plain or printed) wadding material lightweight backing fabric, such as muslin.
	Place the wadding under your main fabric which should be right side facing upwards.
	Take your muslin and place it under your wadding. The wadding will now be sandwiched between the main fabric and muslin.
	Pin the three layers of fabric together starting from the centre.
	Continue pinning the fabric, working your way from the centre outwards in a star shape. Working from the centre outwards ensures that the fabric is all even and flat. When you have pinned outwards in a star shape, pin around the end of your piece.
	Once you have pinned your fabrics together, check the back of your piece to make sure that the muslin and wadding is even and flat. If it is not, take the pins out and do it again.
	Start to tack ( large running stitches) on the pinned line from the centre outwards. Use white cotton thread for the tacking.
	Once you have tacked along the pins, take the pins out.
	When tacking the edge, make sure to turn the extra 1cm over to the back side, to give the piece a nice neat edge.
	Once the tacking is complete, take out all the pins. You are now ready to start quilting your piece.
	Stitch around the motif that is on the fabric (if you are using a plain fabric, you can draw on your own motif/shape and stitch around it using the basic running stitch), by stitching around motifs you highlight them.
	You can stitch your piece in any way you want – diagonally, in straight lines, in curves or even in waves. Try to be adventurous and creative. The primary purpose of the stitching is to hold the three layers together. The way you apply the stitches is for decorative purposes.
	Once you have finished stitching take out the tacking. You have completed your quilt piece. Sample pieces can be sewn together to make a larger quilt, or the smaller pieces could be used to make cards.
	Close up of the stitching.