Big stitches

Here at InStitches we love nothing better than quilts with lots of quilting on them. We enjoy traditional hand quilting and all types of machine quilting, but our favourite thing is to use interesting threads and a variety of stitches to add texture and interest to the quilt surface. And better still to mix it up a bit and combine large hand stitches with machine quilting.

In Hazel's quilt Does Anyone Fancy a G&T? she used seeding in various colours and thicknesses of thread to great effect for shadows to ground the items on the table. If you look closely ou'll see it is also used for texture in the lower sections. Can you spot her favourite french knots? Look for the bubbles!

I use various stitches to get the texture I need for my coastal pieces - invariably straight stitches and couched threads, and a curious kind or 'reverse quilting' with rows of tiny stitches on the front and bigger ones on the back, giving an effect akin to Kantha, which is great for the ripples in the sand. Simple running stitch in a variety of threads combines with machine quilting to add interest to the sea.

And of course these stitches can be used purely for their decorative effect - the only limit is your imagination! This is truly where the boundaries between quilting and embroidery (were there any?) blur.

So with this in mind we have devised a workshop to introduce you to the stitches we use and how you could incorporate them into your own work. It's a lovely relaxed day trying out a bit of this and a bit of that, with the bonus of producing a small panel suitable for a cushion or book cover.

A couple of weeks ago we visited Chiltern Quilters and spent the day exploring the potential of hand quilting - but with a difference. As you can see they all made a great start on their panels and went away full of enthusiasm with lots of ideas for completing them.

If you would like to have a go at hand quilting with a difference, we have two workshops coming up. For those who live in the Hampton Court area, we are teaming up with Izzy from Creative Quilting at the end of November (details here), and then we have our own workshop at the cricket club in January. 
Maybe we'll see you soon . . . 

​Thanks for reading!

Terry
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