Daniel's quilt is all finished. I haven't learned whether or not Daniel has arrived. I have to call his grandpa and find out.
My first lessons in quilting came from my mama. There were precious few publications at the time that taught quilting. Mama quilted the old-fashioned way. She never bought fabric to make her quilts but used scraps left over from the clothes she made for us. She did all her piecing by hand as well as her quilting. For quilting, she used a large cotton thread and took big stitches--at least big compared with the ten-stitches-per-inch that we're now told is proper (a feat I have yet to master). She also hemmed her quilts. Instead of making a separate binding and sewing it to the quilt, she trimmed the backing to a couple of inches and turned it to the front of the quilt and stitched it down. That's how I finished my first quilts too.
Then the "Quilting Revival" came along around the turn of the 70s/80s decade, and I discovered that hemming a quilt is blasphemous. Quilts must be bound using bias binding. So I started purchasing ready-made binding for my quilts. This, I learned, was also quilting sacrilege. One must make her own bias binding, preferable continuous bias binding, which I didn't learn to make until the 90s.
I hate bias binding and have learned that it's completely unnecessary and that straight-grain binding works just as well, or better, unless one is dealing with curves. So for the past couple of decades, I have bound all my quilts with straight-grain binding that I make myself--except for one wedding quilt with scalloped edges that I made for a friend.
Binding is by far my most unfavorite part of quilting. I don't mind cutting and making it so much. It's sewing it to the quilt and making those ends meet neatly that I hate. I have Liz Porter's technique committed to memory. I even have the little tool she and Marianne developed to help make those ends meet. But although I've used their technique at least since the late 90s, I still have to sew those ends at least two or three times before I get them to turn out right.
So the other day, I saw a blog post or an article or something online showing how to hem a quilt. Maybe it's not so blasphemous anymore to hem, thought I, and decided I'd hem Daniel's quilt instead of wrestling with binding. I didn't think his parents or grandparents would know the difference. After all, his mom and grandmama call it a "blanket." I don't think they'll know anything about hemming vs. binding.
So I did. I hemmed the quilt. Now that it's all done, I feel a little guilty, like I cheated. Like sweeping dirt under the carpet or serving canned biscuits. The knowledge now that Daniel and his family will probably never know that I didn't take the purist's approach is little comfort. I'm a slut in a world of quilting Madonnas. Please don't tell anybody.
NOTE: Here's a great blog post that I just found on hemming a quilt. Photos are very good.
This post was migrated from the old blog. To see the comments on the original post, CLICK HERE. To add a new comment, click "Post a Comment", below.
On 09/07/2013, Jan said ...
Your finished quilt is so inviting for a new baby!! He's going to love it!! There are no quilt police! Wouldn't it be a dull world if we all did everything exactly alike?
On 09/07/2013, Sandy said ...
Your quilt reminds me of a brand new box of watercolor paints just waiting for a wet brushed to be dipped into. Daniel is one lucky little fellow in my opinion. Choosing to bind his quilt the way your mama taught you makes it even more special and keeps her legacy going on into the 21st century. I'm not sure who came up with all the "quilting rules" but I say go with your heart and you'll never be wrong. Here's to mama and baby Daniel!! It's beautiful.
On 09/07/2013, Nancy in Utah said ...
Susan, Well, if your a slut in the quilting world, you and I are walking the same street!!! I generally hem, rather that bid almost all of my table toppers and smaller quilts and when I don't, I sew my entire binding on the machine. There is some hand stitching I can do and some I can't. Hand stitching bindings is one of those that I can't do. I have to tell you though, that even if I could, I would still do my bindings by machine. I was looking closely at store display quilts in one of the nicer quilt shops in an area about 60 miles from my home and decided to check how they did their bindings...guess what??? Every one of the 22 sample quilts, both large and small that I checked, (and there were lots more I didn't look at) were sewn on with the machine, and most of the smaller ones were hemmed. Now here's the real kicker to my story...all of the samples but one that I looked at, were for sale. The prices were, I thought, pretty darned high. Example, $349 for a 24" X 36" baby quilt. One of the larger ones, queen size comforter (big difference from bedspread size like I make) was over $1200.00. When my head stopped spinning I purchased the thimbles I had dropped in for and headed home. Now I know how much love and work goes into our quilts and I give the ladies as the quilt shop who make these quilts all the credit due them, but $1200.00 ... Seriously? I did ask if they ever sale them and they told me only to tourists who do NOT quilt. To date this year they had only sold 2 quilts, one of them was a crib size and they had to drop the price from $425, to $250. The crib size quilt I'm talking about was a one piece panel and the quilter had only to put the batting and backing on, then outlined the Precious Moments picture in the middle of the panel and used a hemmed finish. So take a look at your design wall Susan!!! There is a fortune there, no matter what shortcuts you use. And I use shortcuts every chance I get, if I didn't, I wouldn't finish anything!!! Big Hugs...
On 09/07/2013, Jackie said ...
Well Susan, as your label says, it was stitched with love, so I don't think the quilt police have a warrant out for you! I've been saving lots of fun fabrics to make an eye spy quilt someday, too. Your rainbow version is really great!
On 09/07/2013, Jackie said ...
Well Susan, your label says the quilt was stitched with love and I don't think the quilt police have a warrant out for you! I've been saving novelty prints to make an eye spy quilt some day. Your rainbow version looks great!
On 09/07/2013, Barbara Anne said ...
Daniel's quilt is utterly adorable and wonderful!! Applause, applause!!!
I have always cut straight-of-grain bindings for my quilt and still occasionally hem my little quilts with the backing fabric brought forward. There are no quilt police so be kinder to yourself, dear friend!!
Several years ago I found a great tutorial on-line for joining binding ends and, in fact, joined the bindings on 5 little quilts today. First time, easy pleasy.
How wonderful that you learned to quilt from your mother. You have such a heartwarming link to her as you continue making quilts. Sweet.
Hugs!
On 09/08/2013, Helen in Switzerland said ...
I really, really don't think you are a slut Susan - don't think you could be if you tried!!!
On 09/08/2013, Stephani in N. TX said ...
Daniel's quilt is lovely. I'm sure my family thought quilts were just blankets too until I turned out quilts that bedazzled them and I kept a fortune in fabric in my sewing room, and they realized quilting was so much more. I have always done straight grain binding and love it for the chance to add a matching, contrasting or just interesting color to a quilt. My last binding I created out of the scraps from the quilt so it contrasted a bit but with the same colors from the quilt - first time I had nerve enough to do that. I am commenting because I am hoping you will share how you do labels. The teddy bear label on Daniel's quilt is darling. I would like to get proficient in labeling. I keep a book of my finished quilt details but there is nothing on my quilts for future generations to look at. If I give a quilt to my kiddos, I label it but it's probably the weakest feature of my quilting activities. Would love mine to look as good as yours.
On 09/08/2013, Sue, the Florida Farm Girl said ...
Susan, I love Daniel's quilt!! The rainbow effect just makes it sparkle.
I've just learned how to totally machine stitch a binding. I won't do it on all my quilts, but it will certainly be on some of them. My mother finished all her quilts by hemming, too. As far as I'm concerned, its just another method of finishing off a quilt, so do whatever you want with yours.
On 09/08/2013, mariesews said ...
It's a beautiful quilt! Isn't it amazing how different "quilting" is today than it was for our mothers and grandmothers. While their quilts were beautiful, they were also practical in that they used what they had on hand to create something that could be used everyday. And they didn't have any quilt police to tell them what the "proper" method was.
Daniel is one lucky kid. He has a gorgeous blanket to play on and snuggle with for years to come.
And I'm with you on the bias binding - never could figure out those instructions! Straight grain works for me!
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