Yesterday Chalicat came to visit and brought me a birthday gift: a notebook filled with blank pages and page protectors and folders to jot and store my quilt ideas AND a book called, "365 Foundation Quilt Blocks" by Linda Causee. What, you might ask, is foundation quilting? Darned if I know. But I've got a book to learn about it!!! Actually I did look through the book briefly and foundation quilting is done by tracing a pattern onto paper or fabric (the foundation) and sewing pieces to it in a specific order to create a block. It is so cool.
AND...
The machine quilting book I ordered from eBay arrived. I am about to fall over with excitement. It is called "The Complete Book of Machine Quilting" by Robbie and Tony Fanning. It is an older book (1980) but I think it should serve it's purpose well.
So. I got to thinking. What a windfall! I can use the foundation piecing book, which mostly has 7x7 inch patterns, to create little quilts (maybe doll quilts for The Girl and The Nieces?) and practice machine quilting on them without worrying about ruining a quilt top that I spent months creating! How awesome is that? I am so jazzed.
I was thinking I would machine stitch part of The Girl's flower quilt. Now I am wondering if that is such a good idea. Would that diminish it's value? Vote in the comment!
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I think any diminishing in value by machine stitching, would depend on what the value IS in this case. Is the value monetary? Were you thinking of getting cash for the quilt? If this is the case, hand-sewn quilts would probably command a higher price than machine-sewn quilts.
ReplyDeleteNow, let's look at the other possibility. If the value isn't monetary, what is it? Is the value measured in the love, time, and energy you placed in the quilt, while creating it for someone you care about? (In this case, The Girl.) In that case, machine quilting would not lower the value. You would still be putting in a tremendous amount of time, energy, and love into creating this work of art for your child. The fact that you sewed some of it with a machine, would only be a problem if every time you looked at the quilt, you were thinking something like "Ah, I used machine stitching to finish it."
My vote is...finish the quilt in the way that makes you the happiest. If you will be happier getting it finished sooner by doing some machine stitching, then go for it! The quilt will be just as beautiful and full of love as if you labored over it by hand. The type of stitching won't matter when The Girl is wrapped up in the quilt studying for her Political Science finals in Graduate School (while on track to becoming the first woman President.)
True. I was hoping she'd avoid politics, though.
ReplyDeleteOk then...she'll be wrapped up in her quilt reviewing her notes as she discovers the cure for Cancer. :)
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