Thursday, March 10, 2011

All by Hand

After making the hexagons by hand and hand sewing them together, I decided to finish my project with hand quilting. Why not. Up until a year or two ago, I quilted all my quilts by hand. As I was drawn more and more to modern quilting, I was attracted to the options created quilting by machine. And all this made me wonder, is machine quilting more modern than hand quilting?Certainly machine quilting can be used to complete traditional quilts and to make very traditional motifs (think old fashioned feathers, etc.), but it is also used in fun, innovative ways in many modern quilts. I've even seen some really cool combinations in modern quilts of machine and hand quilting used together.So, can a completely hand quilted quilt be modern? Is it the shapes used, rather than the method of stitching that makes quilting old fashioned vs modern, or something else? I've tried to make my hand quilting more modern by using embroidery floss and larger stitches to emphasize the quilting. Hey, I took time to hand quilt this, so I want you to notice. Other modern quilters use a variety of colors of floss or outlining to do the same thing.

So what do you think. Is hand quilting more retro cool or traditional?

8 comments:

**nicke... said...

i think it is both depending on the quilt. i think hexagons should always be hand quilted regardless of if it is intended to be modern or traditional.

Jennifer said...

definitely retro cool in this quilt. i think it really depends on the overall look of the quilt and the effect the quilting has. i LOVE this look with your adorable hexies.

Lynette said...

Yep, Hexies Scream "hand quilt me!" whether they're done in a traditional style or a modern retro style. I don't think there's any definitive way to describe what makes a hexie piece one camp or the other - it's all in the personality that comes from the fact that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Hexies are awesome, and I love the piece you're working on. :)

Anonymous said...

I still hand quilt everything and I consider myself a modern quilter.

Love the hexies!

Brenda said...

I like what you're doing with the hexies. I think hand quilting is retro modern, if there's such a term.

Anonymous said...

I've just stumbled upon your blog...and I'm really enjoying looking at all of your beautiful quilts! I just finished a "flower garden" (hexagon) quilt. It was a lot of fun to make!

Question: What kind of quilt batting do you use?

teaginny said...

Thanks everyone!
I usually use a 80/20 cotton blend batting, but I also love warm and white. I hear great things about quilter's dream prefered loft.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter to me, I like it all!