When I learned to quilt years and years ago, there was no Instagram or Facebook and for the most part, quilters had not yet fully emerged onto the internet. (To their credit, it was still kinda new-ish. It was 2002.) It wasn't until I discovered social media that I discovered the wonderful world of modern quilting.
We’ve had two successful rounds of commonly asked quilting questions, but before jumping into round three, I asked on Instagram for more questions you’d like answered. I got so many good ones, I've decided to divide these posts into categories so that the information is more organized and digestible.
And we’re back with more basic beginner quilting questions straight from my inbox to your computer screens. If you missed our other installments of questions and answers, you can check it out here – Basic Quilting Questions Part I and Quilting Technique Questions Part III.
Here at SQ HQ we get a lot of wonderful emails from you filled with a wide range of basic quilting questions. After answering these one at a time, it’s finally occurred to me that I could compile these FAQs into a blog series for you to skim and use as a resource.
Do you glitter? Or do you glow? Those are the questions to ask yourself with this exciting new quilt pattern. The Glitter & Glow quilt is designed to work with any and all fabric sizes – yardage, fat quarters, scraps, it's up to you!
The basic pattern, Glow, is simple and easy to follow.
Before sharing my 5 secrets to machine quilting with 12 wt. thread – travel with me back in time to a few weeks ago (cue dreamy music)…
It was a rainy day in May and I was teaching a Sew Mojo Mini workshop (watch the video class here and get the patterns here) in Grand Rapids, Michigan (heeeeyo to my GR ladies!) My teaching style is, how to say this...mostly me giving loose instructions and then hopping around oooohing and ahhhhing over the splendid things everyone is making.
I've been talking a lot about my latest quilt pattern, Bohemian Garden, and even though I've mentioned some of my influences, I wanted to dive deeper into one of them – the paper cut-outs of Henri Mattise.
You're probably familiar with him, and even more familiar with the dramatic and captivating shapes he created through simple paper, but did you know that the work he created and was most proud to call his, was done at the very end of his life?
This light-hearted and whimsical design has been itching at my brain for over a year, and only now am I finally scratching that itch. My high school art teacher always emphasized the importance of an artist's "layering of experiences." I think about that all the time when tracing back the inception of a design.
A wise woman once said to me, “Suzy, the very first thing you should do when you get home from a fabric shop is throw all of your fabric into the washing machine. One must prewash fabric before quilting. It's essential.”
Another wise woman also said to me, “Prewashing??
