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The Crafts Used To Patch A Quilt

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Patch work quilts are timeless, are they not? Patch work quilts have been manufactured for hundreds of years, because in essence a patch work quilt is made from off-cuts of cloth. A housewife would make a set of curtains and store the off-cuts. Then she would make some clothes and store the off-cuts. And so on and so on until she had enough off-cuts to make a quilt, if she required one for her household.

This old-style of constructing bedspreads or quilts always manages to look traditional and contemporary at the same time. A specialist variety of this old-style is the American tradition of women embroidering off-cuts of fabric in order to create a quilt as an excuse for a social life. Nowadays there is more money floating about in society and the patches on the quilt can be more personal and more elaborate.

There is also a great deal more choice of cloth about than there ever was, so it is not always necessary to embellish a swatch of cloth to make it one’s own. Someone might always use blue and white stripes as a signature or green and black squares for example. Most individuals create a patch work quilt of identical squares, but others will use squares with curved corners and even rectangles, rhombuses, circles and triangles.

Some patch work quilters like to select a theme whilst others are happy to let numerous participants sew in any patch that they like. There are also patch block patterns. The four patch scheme is almost certainly the most common, but the nine patch scheme is also fairly common.

A four patch scheme is achieved by dividing the quilt into equal squares and then bisecting each square across the top and down the sides. Every block of four squares can then have a theme. The same goes for a nine patch scheme, but divide every large block on the quilt with two vertical and two horizontal lines constructing nine small squares in every large square.

You can design your quilt pattern on graph paper if you like. To do this, first work out how large you would like your quilt to be. Then draw that on graph paper and divide your graph into the number of that you want. Novices may be better off using larger squares in the beginning and then boosting the number of squares by decreasing their size.

Begin with a four block scheme and move up to a nine and then twelve block scheme. You can repeat the swatches of cloth at regular or irregular intervals and you can change the orientation of the swatch in your patch work quilt too. A patch work quilt can be well planned or completely random. Well planned quilts can be fairly dazzling, but even random quilts look fantastic.

Owen Jones, the author of that piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with the chenille throw blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Baby Cribs, Cots And Blankets: A Consideration

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

It is important for everyone, even babies, to have somewhere safe and secure to sleep. I say ‘even babies’ because it is simple to think that babies are not quite conscious, but closer contact makes the observer soon realize that babies have a sense of security. For instance, they might cry if one stranger comes near and smile if a different one comes near. A bit like animals, they have instincts.

Well, they are animals and so are we adults, so that should not come as much of a surprise either. Babies require warmth and softness and something akin to a nest. Naturally, parents have realized this for thousands of generations and the way we have dealt with that need for thousands of years is by wrapping babies up and putting them in cribs or cots.

In other words somewhere safe and secure. Even though they do not know it, they have a feeling that they are in a walled enclosure where animals cannot see them without difficulty and they cannot drop out of either. a crib or cot permits a baby to sleep comfortably as if it is hidden from peril.

However, as they get older, they become more adventurous, which is precisely why they require ‘walls’ around them, which make them feel safe and frustrated at the same time. This is obviously the time when toddlers are at their most vulnerable, because they want to explore but are not very aware of the dangers of the world. Every parent worries about their children wandering off.

Once a child can walk and climb is the time when it has to be removed from a crib that is off the floor to a safer bed, from which they cannot clamber out and fall.

These beds are often called toddlers’ beds, but now the sides have to be high enough for them not to be able to break out of – a type of pen.

Some cribs can be converted and although they might seem more expensive at first, they can be cheaper in the long run.

It is one of the most hazardous times for babies and one of the most worrying times for recent parents too. Putting the toddler’s pen in the parents’ room is an easy trap to fall into, because it can make the eventual necessary break moving the child from the parents’ room to the nursery all the more a problem when the time ultimately comes.

However, that time will come when the child has to sleep in a room of its own either with other brothers and sisters or not, but the fact of the matter is that parents have to have their sleep as well so that they are alert enough to both earn money to support their family and be awake enough to watch over their brood.

Owen Jones, the writer of that piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with the satin baby blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Sewing Beautiful Traditional Quilts

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

One of the excellent things about making quilts is the tradition behind quilt making and the usefulness of the final product. It is certainly nice to have a hobby that can enhance your life by either being functional or by being saleable.

One of the other good things about quilt sewing is that it is so flexible. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, there are thousands of ways of making a quilt.

Patch work quilts are one of the most gorgeous and traditional quilts to use to keep you snug at night. They are also one of the cheapest ways of sewing a quilt, but they are not the easiest of quilts to begin with. Matching all the squares in a patch work quilt is not quite as easy as it looks. The easiest way to begin is to buy two large squares of fabric that you like.

However, there is a great tradition in Europe and America of sewing patch work quilts. The craft of doing this has even become a social gathering in the United States. If you would like to get going making patch work quilts, you could join a group if you live in America or you could join an Internet group that specializes in constructing quilts. Do a search on line and you will find what you are looking for.

There is such a lot of choice if you want to create a quilt. For example, you could make the top of the quilt either totally smooth or completely fluffy or completely smooth or a mixture of all or some of them. Then you can have the underside as a extraordinary cloth as well or you could simply use a sheet or preferably something a bit more robust.

If you are really intimidated by the thought of sewing a full-size quilt, you could attempt making a quilt for a baby. Okay, you might not have a baby and you might definitely not be planning having one, but you could create one for the practice and keep it to give to a special person in your life who is having a baby or just sell it through a local shop or even eBay.

Once you are confident about constructing and selling quilts for babies’ cots or toddlers’ beds, you could upgrade them a bit and offer to embroider your name and the baby’s name on the quilt. Later still, you could accept orders for custom quilts, manufactured to the requirements of the orderer.

Constructing quilts, particularly babies’ quilts is a decent way of making money from home for people who cannot leave home a lot. People such as work at home mothers and fathers, the elderly and the infirm.

Owen Jones, the writer of that piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the chenille throw blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Ideas For Baby Showers

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Baby showers are popular events, particularly in America. A baby shower is usually given or hosted by a friend of the expectant mother, mostly before the birth but occasionally after it too. The point of the baby shower is to collect presents for the child and its parents, which is why family of the mother find it awkward to host the baby shower themselves – it seems too much like begging.

If you can get a friend to arrange a baby shower for you or if someone offers to do it, the invitations should be sent out a month or two before the birth day, so that the mother is not in too much discomfort and is not likely to drop the baby during the party.

It is nice to have handmade baby shower invitations. There are two ways that you can do this: either design the invitation card yourself and have it printed out or select a template at the printers. Both ideas give satisfactory results.

If you have the invitations printed to a standard size, you can purchase cheap envelopes at a budget stationery office, but if you go for some weird size, ask the printer to provide the envelopes too.

Standard details like the date, the time, the venue, your name and the baby’s name can all be printed but you will have to write or type the recipient’s name in personally. Add your phone number too so that people can ask questions if they have any. If you would like the party (and the presents) to have a theme, you ought to state that on the invitation. Perhaps the card could be in the same theme too.

In fact, if you want to go down that route, you could download a suitable image off the Internet, say, a scene from Peter Rabbit, and give that to the printer so that they can print that onto your card.

People are very busy these days, so make sure you give your friends at least a month to book you in and get a fitting present for the shower. If you would like to be fairly sure how many people are coming, enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard in with the invitation, so that they can let you know easily.

If you are looking for items to do during the party, you could get the guests to suggest names for your baby and guess the sex or weight of it too. You could use a cross on a chain as a pendant to see if it the movement predicts a boy or girl and how many individuals get the same movement. You could also discuss themes for the child’s bedroom after it is born, one for if it is a boy and one for if it is a boy.

Owen Jones, the author of that article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with the satin baby blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Knitted Baby Blankets

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

What can you give the parents of a new-born baby who have everything? Parents who have already had a baby or two will already have objects like a crib, baby’s clothes, a pram and most other items, but the one gift that is always appreciated is a personalized or handmade knitted blanket. Home knitted baby blankets are much better than shop-purchased baby blankets and can either be passed down or kept to give to the baby twenty years later as an heirloom.

Up until fifty years ago, many people, such as aunts and grandmothers knitted and it was fairly common to see hand-knitted baby blankets. This all but died out in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, but handcrafts have seen a resurgence in the new millennium. This has to be a positive sign. Coupled with this is the fact that contemporary wools, yarns and other fibres are more sturdy and safer than ever before.

This means that a hand-knitted baby blanket is a better gift than ever before. There are dozens of colours and textures which makes it easy for the knitter to match any theme that the parents might have decided on for the baby’s nursery.

A hand-knitted quilt or blanket is a very special gift which can either be passed down to the next baby or can be put away to be a present for the ‘baby’ at a later date, in the same way that a bride might put away her bridal gown for her daughter if she ever has one.

Whilst you are deciding on a design for your baby blanket, you ought to make safety your prime consideration. That ought to include thought for the size or the blanket. The blanket has to fit the cot exactly so that there are no dangerous folds or gaps. The weave should also be tight enough so that small fingers and toes cannot get caught up in them.

It is not a good idea to have beads sewn into the blanket either. This is because babies soon begin teething and you do not want your baby to bite off a couple of beads and choke on them. Traditionally, people used blue colours for a boy baby and pink for a girl and although this distinction blurred for a few decades it is being respected again so you will have to find out the sex of the baby – subtly if the knitted blanket is going to be a surprise present.

There is no parent in the world that would not treasure a hand-knitted blanket or quilt for their new baby. It is a very extraordinary present that really will be considered as an heirloom to be passed down through the family or kept as a very extraordinary twenty-first birthday present. Embroider your name in a corner so that the person you gifted it to will always remember you as well.

Owen Jones, the author of that article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the Handmade Baby Blanket. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Crocheted Babies Blankets – The Perfect Gift For Babies

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Whether your friends, the parents-to-be, are going to be parents for the first time or the n-th time, it is difficult to know that what you are buying for the child is not going to be a duplicate. An added complication is that not all parents-to-be would like to know the sex of their new baby, so it is pretty hard to get a gift for the baby shower or Christening (or whatever) and still feel sure that it will be appreciated.

However, there are some presents that are unlikely to be duplicated and without having to spend an total fortune, a crocheted baby’s blanket is one of them. If you have already acquired the skills to make a crocheted baby’s blanket, then all well and good, otherwise you have two options: you can either learn and thus increase your number of skills or you can pay for one.

Forty years ago and before, most women could knit and crochet and knew about yarns and threads and knitting needles. Regrettably, the parents of the Seventies either did not learn these skills or did not pass them on in general, but knitting and crocheting are making quite a comeback now in the early Twenty-First Century. People are proud to own hand-made items like crocheted baby’s blankets.

One of the benefits of using modern yarns and materials is that the dyes are likely to be less dangerous than before, but you will still have to purchase them from reputable suppliers to be absolutely sure.

Another advantage of a handmade item like a crocheted baby’s blanket is that is likely to become a family heirloom. A handmade crocheted baby’s blanket is certain to be treasured because it was handmade and not shop-bought. It is even better if the maker’s name and the baby’s name are embroidered on it as well.

If you are a greenhorn to crocheting a baby’s blanket, there are a few items that you need to keep in mind with regard to the baby’s safety.

Firstly, select a tightly-knit pattern so that the baby’s fingers and toes cannot get snarled up in the blanket. Secondly, the cloth or yarn ought to be soft, colour-fast, non-toxic and machine washable. Babies’ blankets get dirty fairly often, so it certainly is a boon to have a baby’s blanket that is machine washable.

Thirdly, take the time to enquire of the parents-to-be if they have a colour scheme or theme in mind for the nursery. Fourthly, the blanket must be the right size. If your crocheted baby’s blanket is to be used in a cot, then it should be the exact same size of the cot for safety reasons. If it is to be a general blanket, then you can make it larger so that it can be used for longer.

Lastly, but not least crucial is to take into account that babies teethe, so do not integrate anything into your handmade crocheted baby’s blanket if there is a opportunity of the baby choking on it, beads are a definite no-no.

Owen Jones, the writer of that article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with the chenille throw blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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Ideas For A Baby Gift Basket

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Are you going to give a baby shower soon? Or have you recently been invited to one and you are not certain what to do? If so, you will be expected to give a gift to the baby to help welcome him or her into the world. This is fine, but a great deal of people, especially single men, ask themselves what it is precisely that a baby so urgently needs.

If you fall into that category or if you would like to take a scatter-gun approach to giving a present in the hope that something will be of use, then you could think about procuring the baby a baby gift basket. You see, a baby gift basket contains a great deal of small objects or big objects or a mixture of the two. Whatever you can come up with or afford really.

There are two ways of procuring a baby gift basket. You can either purchase one ready-made or you can buy a basket and pick-and-mix the contents yourself. So, let us suppose that you are going to avoid duplication and fill your own basket.

First the basket. A traditional wicker basket like the ones they show on toffee tins, in which a maid is carrying eggs is pretty, but also pretty costly. You could get a plastic version, but maybe the box that the gifts are in is not as important as the gifts themselves. You could make your own by lining and wrapping a suitably-sized box and finishing it with a bow.

The contents. What do babies require? Or are you going to put some things in there for the parents too? If you are going to add a few items for the parents too, I will leave that up to you as you know them better than I do, I should imagine.

What can you get for the baby then? Something instructive is a must; something to occupy the baby’s attention, perhaps like a mobile or a decorative abacus to string across the pram. How about music? Brahm’s Lullaby is fantastic, with or without voices, in German or in English, but get it sung by a choir or a solo, but professionally-trained singer – not Lady Gaga.

When selecting music remember that by the time the baby can understand the words, the CD will have been lost, scratched or worn out. Go for peaceful music, classical is best in this instance.

Other objects that always come in useful are bibs, teething rings, special beakers and a small plate or dish. I do not think it is a good idea to do to get shampoos and soaps, it is better to let mum buy them or you may be blamed for allergic reactions and dandruff. However, talcum powder is a fairly safe bet, but do not purchase anything strongly perfumed.

Personalized bedding is a good notion. If you buy a cot blanket, try to get one the same size as the cot for safety reasons. A lovely touch is to have the baby’s monogram or initials embroidered on it. That does not work well for clothing, because kids grow out of them, but it is great for quilts and pillow cases.

Buy the bedding and ask (or pay) someone to do the embroidery for you. The child will grow out of the cot, but the blanket can then be used as a comforter. Embroidered pillow cases have a similarly long life.

Some individuals give sweets and biscuits, but personally I am not in favour of helping someone to rot their teeth, encouraging a sweet tooth or overweight babies. A decent bottle of wine though is another matter, but you will need to take advice on whether it will be at its peak in twenty years time. Good Port is a safe bet. Spirits do not mature in a bottle.

Owen Jones, the writer of that piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the satin baby blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.

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