A to Z of crafts.
P is for Patchwork
Do you recognise any of the following names? Bear’s Paw, Monkey Wrench, Jacob’s
Ladder, Log Cabin, Flying Geese, Sunshine and Shadow, Drunkard’s Path ….. If you
do, then you could well be a patchworker and have probably stitched bed quilts, wall
hangings and bags.
Growing numbers of people have taken up this fascinating hobby. Perhaps they were
dressmakers in the past, but no longer welcome the technical challenges of making
a two dimensional piece of cloth fit around the many lumps and bumps of a three dimensional
body.
Patchwork tells us much about social history. In England our patchwork heritage is
associated with hand-sewn hexagon fabric shapes, sewn over papers, before stitching
together to form interlocking large rosettes shapes and then infilling the edges
with half rosettes, to make a whole cloth. Another image we see in books is of crazy
patchwork, often worked by wealthy Victorian ladies, where sumptuous fabric scraps
were stitched to a backing fabric and then elaborately embroidered to make various
home furnishings. Some people continue to hand sew patchwork items today, and very
therapeutic it is too, but for busier folk, the block styles are worked more quickly
by machine. The blocks used today originated mostly in America and reflect the every
day images in the often harsh life of the early settlers, giving rise to many names,
a few being listed in the first paragraph. Patchworking in America wove itself into
social life to the extent that once the blocks were stitched together to form a whole
cloth, then the finishing of the bed quilt (adding a backing, interlining and quilt
stitching it all together) would be completed, often in a day, with the help of neighbours
at a “Quilting Bee”. This organised way of completing quilts did happen In England
but is generally less well known.
Q is for Quilting
It is appropriate that Q follows P in the alphabet, as Q for Quilting is the natural
follow on to last month's P is for Patchwork.
Quilting began centuries ago as a means of adding warmth to bedding (or clothing).
In early patchwork quilts, old worn-out clothes were cut up and formed the "sandwich"
layer between the decorative top and the backing, so quilting was the only means
of stopping the middle layer shifting around. Nowadays we use lengths of wadding,
polyester or cotton, which stay put reliably. Manmade wadding gives a quilt more
depth, whereas cotton wadding results in a flatter, almost antique looking quilt.
Durham Quilts are non-patchwork quilts of one colour, usually white, hand stitched
in intricate and exquisite patterns, using thread of a matching colour - they really
are the ultimate in quilting and have to be seen to be appreciated.
Patchwork quilts, once the pieced top is put together, offer lots of options for
quilt stitch pattern selection. An all over design may be chosen or just a few patterns
can be placed in strategic positions. As with patchwork blocks, quilt stitch patterns
do have names to describe them. Here are a few, In the Ditch, Motif, Accent, Channel,
Meandering, Sashiko.
