Quilt for beginners: beautiful and easy

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:35

Patchwork has been used by people since ancient times. At first, the remnants of the fabric were sewn together in order to save money, then it was understood that applications, beautiful patterns, could be made from scraps. In English, this technique is pronounced patchwork.

In our time, patchwork has become an art. Blankets, napkins are made in this way, bed linen, sofa and chair covers are sewn. Material sewn from various scraps of fabric can cover the seats of chairs. Crafts look great as rugs, both wall and floor. In the article we will describe in detail how such products are created, what beginners need to know.

Patchwork is a laborious job, it requires accuracy and perseverance, accuracy in calculations. For beginners, it is better to start with simple schemes for connecting identical segments. They can have a different shape, for example, stripes or equal squares. The material is selected of the same quality, it is advisable to buy cotton fabric. It's easier with herwork, especially for beginners. Patchwork has a lot of stitches, so you need to have a sewing machine. You will also need an iron, a flat surface for putting the parts together, a thread with a needle, straight long scissors, graph paper for marking.

Types of techniques

It is more convenient for novice masters to perform patchwork from even geometric shapes. Traditional patchwork can be made up of squares, stripes, triangles, or even hexagons. For convenience, blocks of several elements can be sewn together, for example, separate large squares are first prepared, consisting of 25 small parts. And then sew them together. This makes it easier to act.

More experienced craftsmen make arbitrary patterns from pieces of fabric of various shapes. This style is called crazy patchwork. The patches are sewn together in a chaotic manner, which is why the technique is called the "crazy patch". Sewing involves the flight of the master's imagination, the sudden emergence of creative ideas.

Another type of patchwork is appliqué on fabric. A solid canvas is taken as a basis, and a cut-out figure is sewn onto it, sometimes they use the quilting method.

Preparation for work

When choosing the right cotton or linen to be used in creating crafts, you need to think about the combination of colors and patterns on the fabric. Poorly chosen materials can spoil the whole work, the product will turn out flashy and tasteless.

The selected fabric must be soaked in water, dried and ironed thoroughlyhot iron. This preliminary work is called decatification.

The template is drawn on thick cardboard with sticking to the surface of graph paper. Seam allowances must be taken into account. For beginners, patchwork is best done using one pattern. All parts will be the same, and it will be more convenient for beginners to work with them.

It is advisable to draw a patchwork pattern on a separate sheet of drawing paper. It is most convenient if you immediately draw one block. The rest are repeated according to the same drawing.

Patchwork Patterns

Beginners are advised to draw a block diagram and even paint them with fabric colors. In the options below, when sewing, triangular-shaped flaps are brought together. The drawing is made by combining colors and shades.

As you can see, the blocks consist of 32 triangles. Each is square in shape. When many blocks have been created, all that remains is to sew them along straight lines to get the canvas of the desired size.

Getting Started

Let's consider the technique of patchwork for beginners in more detail using the example of creating a canvas from squares.

After preparing the fabric according to the pattern, squares of the same size are cut out from all types of matter. Then the segments are laid out on a flat surface for subsequent stitching of the parts into blocks.

All elements are fastened on the back side. For beginners, it is better to draw a line of seams with chalk so that there are no irregularities. All allowances must be the same. You need to work carefully, do not rush, but first calculate the distance well. When the block is assembled, it should be carefully ironed.

Working with an iron

When working with flaps, the iron should always be at hand. It is used quite often, starting with the preliminary ironing of the stretched fabric. After sewing, each block needs to be ironed from the back, gently leveling the strips with your fingers. The iron is first moved in one direction, then the perpendicular allowances are ironed.

The final touch will be leveling the surface on the front side. After stitching the blocks together, the remaining allowances are ironed. The fabric is ready for further sewing of an already solid product.

Beautiful and easy patchwork for beginners will turn out from stripes or squares. If the allowances have a different orientation, then ironing will take much longer, since the fabric will have to be turned many times. Experienced craftsmen advise ironing such complex seams in rows. For example, in the first row, the allowances are directed in one direction, and in the next - in the opposite direction. Long stripes are smoothed vertically. When sewing with natural fabrics, use fabric dampening or the iron's steamer.

Triangle pillowcase

You can try to make such a small craft at the beginning of your creative path. First you need to draw up a diagram and prepare the details according to the templates of right triangles cut out of cardboard. For beginners, patchwork techniques (step-by-step explanation is providedabove) from large triangles will be more accessible.

The back side of the pillowcase can be made from the main fabric, and only the front side can be decorated with patches. Triangles are smoothed alternately in each direction.

Sewing from pentagons

When using pentagons in a patchwork, you need to be prepared for long and laborious work. For each element, its own template is cut out, it is more convenient to print a large number of identical parts on the printer at once. Then all the shapes are cut out with scissors. Then the patterns are outlined on the fabric with thin lines and clearly cut out.

But that's not all. On paper templates, you need to draw the allowance lines on all sides, stepping back from the edge by 1 cm, and cut off the excess paper, leaving only the central figure.

Next, prepare a huge number of pins and a flat table surface. Paper templates are placed in the middle of the cut parts. Each side needs to be folded clearly along the edge of the paper, all folds are pinned with pins. As you can see, the work ahead is not easy, since it may take several hundred to create a large canvas of parts. Then all the elements must be laid out on the surface of the table in the order necessary to create the picture.

Polygon Stitching

For beginners, a more detailed master class on patchwork is given. It is recommended to work in rows. Two polygons are sewn together by gently pulling out the pins. Then another plane is processed. When the curly flap is sewn around the perimeter, the paper template is removed.

Sequentially add the remaining polygons. At the edges, empty corners are obtained, which are most often filled with the main fabric or cut out from the edging fabric.

Further, all seam allowances are carefully smoothed out on the back with a hot iron, movements must be made in different directions. At the end, the surface is processed on the front side.

Custom sewing pattern

Patchwork for beginners (a photo of the finished product is presented below) can also be done according to a complex pattern. You can take a ready-made scheme or show your imagination and draw figures on graph paper. It is enough to draw one block, which is then repeated several times.

The sample shows that the tailoring is made of solid flower squares and white and orange details cut from individual elements. The main work, of course, is to assemble the latter. The square is divided into 8 triangles, which are sewn together strictly according to the scheme.

When all the details are prepared, the elements are connected into blocks. For convenience, small squares are laid out on the table in the correct order. After sewing from the back, all seams are ironed. At the end of the work, the blocks are sewn together.

If a blanket is assembled with patches, then the synthetic winterizer on the first layer can be strengthened with quilting. In our case, we sewed two layers only on flower squares.

Applique technique onfabrics

One of the subspecies of patchwork is appliqué on fabric. The technique consists in sewing or gluing a pattern from pieces of fabric onto the main background. Glue pictures on those products that will not subsequently be erased, for example, a wall panel or a rug. Applique looks great on blouses, knitwear, t-shirts, dresses and even trousers. Children's clothes are often decorated in this way.

Patterns are sewn both manually (stem or tambour stitch, cross or goat), and machine stitch, using an overcast or zigzag foot. If the master's seams turn out to be even, then a straight line along the edges of the pattern will do.

A master who uses this technique must be able to draw, have a rich imagination, be a real artist in his soul. After all, with the help of the application, you can create unusually beautiful pictures, playing with both the colors of fabrics and various structures of matter.

Conclusion

The article describes the process of patchwork for beginners with a step-by-step explanation of the execution order. For beginners, it is best to start with small crafts, such as potholders for the kitchen or napkins. The easiest sewing options are made from square or rectangular patches. Then you can try to sew products from triangular segments. If the process captivates you, then you will definitely want to develop your skills further and start creating non-standard ornaments.