Quilting for Lazy Non-Quilters
July 31, 2009 4:44 PM Subscribe
Are there services to assemble your quilt squares for you? In other words, can I pay someone to make a quilt out of a bunch of decorated squares of fabric that I provide?
I'm thinking about a group crafting project for a baby shower. I know how to sew but don't think I can get my act together to learn how to quilt before the event. What I was thinking of doing is having a bunch of pre-cut squares available for guests to decorate/paint/draw on and then I'd gather up all the squares and drop them off/send them somewhere and then they'd magically be transformed into a blanket. In my ideal version, there would be a kit that I could buy (this is how lazy I am) with all the squares of fabric pre-cut and color coordinated for a specific pattern and size of quilt and all we'd have to do is rip open the kit, go to town on the squares and then there'd be a postage paid envelope in the kit that we'd throw the squares into and send off to a lovely old woman in Vermont who would assemble to quilt in her farmhouse by the fire on a brisk autumn weekend. Failing that, I can certainly get my ass to a fabric store and cut out the squares myself if I know what size they should be.
So does this type of service exist? I know it's lame to not do the assembly yourself but this baby is arriving in September and I know there's no way I'll get to it before then. I'm in San Francisco, if it matters.
I'm thinking about a group crafting project for a baby shower. I know how to sew but don't think I can get my act together to learn how to quilt before the event. What I was thinking of doing is having a bunch of pre-cut squares available for guests to decorate/paint/draw on and then I'd gather up all the squares and drop them off/send them somewhere and then they'd magically be transformed into a blanket. In my ideal version, there would be a kit that I could buy (this is how lazy I am) with all the squares of fabric pre-cut and color coordinated for a specific pattern and size of quilt and all we'd have to do is rip open the kit, go to town on the squares and then there'd be a postage paid envelope in the kit that we'd throw the squares into and send off to a lovely old woman in Vermont who would assemble to quilt in her farmhouse by the fire on a brisk autumn weekend. Failing that, I can certainly get my ass to a fabric store and cut out the squares myself if I know what size they should be.
So does this type of service exist? I know it's lame to not do the assembly yourself but this baby is arriving in September and I know there's no way I'll get to it before then. I'm in San Francisco, if it matters.
I would suggest looking for quilting/crafting stores in your area (smaller ones, not Michael's or anything), and going in there to ask; I guarantee there are many quilters who would jump at this opportunity (particularly if they were paid!). Plus, then you're supporting your local arts community, etc etc.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 4:58 PM on July 31, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by sarahsynonymous at 4:58 PM on July 31, 2009 [4 favorites]
Lots of church, community groups have quilting circles. My mother in law's quilting group has put several quilts together for me for school fund raisers. If the craft store idea doesn't pan out (and I'm sure it will) check with some larger churches or community centers in the area. Should be easy to find a group.
posted by pearlybob at 5:07 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by pearlybob at 5:07 PM on July 31, 2009
sarahsynonymous has it. There are plenty of people who would do this. I have some elderly relatives that have a quilting circle at their local senior center. They do paid jobs all the time... including hand quilting an already sown top that my mom had. So maybe check senior centers too?
posted by kimdog at 5:07 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by kimdog at 5:07 PM on July 31, 2009
Check local quilt shops -- they probably know someone who could put it together for you.
Also take a look at Connecting Threads -- they have a bunch of quilt kits here.
posted by pised at 6:11 PM on July 31, 2009
Also take a look at Connecting Threads -- they have a bunch of quilt kits here.
posted by pised at 6:11 PM on July 31, 2009
My local quilting shop will quilt for you, if you've put together the quilt top. They have one of those big fancy stand-up sewing machines where the quilt goes on a roll and the sewing part moves freely over it, and they can do it quickly and when I casually asked about it once, it wasn't very expensive.
A friend was telling me that there are also on-line places that you can send it to to have it quilted. I googled "quilting service" and several came up.
posted by not that girl at 6:23 PM on July 31, 2009
A friend was telling me that there are also on-line places that you can send it to to have it quilted. I googled "quilting service" and several came up.
posted by not that girl at 6:23 PM on July 31, 2009
Any quilt shop will do this for you in an afternoon. Call around town and find which ever shop has a "long arm" machine.
It's not cheap.
posted by wfrgms at 6:35 PM on July 31, 2009
It's not cheap.
posted by wfrgms at 6:35 PM on July 31, 2009
New Pieces in Berkeley provides these services. I don't have any personally experience with them though.
posted by ljesse at 6:57 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by ljesse at 6:57 PM on July 31, 2009
To help you in talking to the people who might do this for you, you are talking about a couple of separate steps: piecing (sewing the fabric together to make the quilt top) is different from quilting (where you sew pretty patterns that go through all three layers of top, batting, and back to make a quilted blanket). There is also the tast of assembling the top, batting, and quilt back, and binding the edges. Turning quilt tops into quilts is a more common for-hire job than turning a stack of cut pieces into a quilt.
posted by redfoxtail at 8:37 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by redfoxtail at 8:37 PM on July 31, 2009
oh, yeah. I gave pictures (jpeg images) to a quilter who took those and transposed them onto fabric and added her own fabric based on my color/style suggestions and made a quilt for me for my mom. There are tons of businesses (mostly individual seamstresses) that do this. I'd search your locale and quilters or seamstress and you will come up with something. Asking around at small fabric stores (especially the ones who provide classes as their teachers are often in the business) will probably get you some leads, too.
posted by Bueller at 8:46 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by Bueller at 8:46 PM on July 31, 2009
I used Etsy for something similar. You'd have to register then post an Alchemy request for someone to do this.
posted by paduasoy at 2:00 AM on August 1, 2009
posted by paduasoy at 2:00 AM on August 1, 2009
This is exactly what my husband and I were talking about me doing. I've organized lots of baby and wedding quilts and I love to choose fabrics and put together packages for people to collaborate on these gifts. I have some pictures up on my Flickr group. This is the last one I finished
And I'm working on one right now.
I've never missed a deadline. Let me know if you want help. I'm in CA.
posted by krikany at 6:52 PM on August 2, 2009
And I'm working on one right now.
I've never missed a deadline. Let me know if you want help. I'm in CA.
posted by krikany at 6:52 PM on August 2, 2009
Response by poster: Huh. I guess I'm sort of surprised that my ideal version (minus the New England grandmother) doesn't exist. For you quilters out there, I believe that this could be a really popular item. I mean, there are lots of quilt kits out there, but none of them seem to be geared toward personalization and aren't linked to a service to assemble it for you. It seems like I could pretty easily piece all those steps together out from a variety of sources but I was really hoping for a one-stop-shopping option!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:32 PM on August 4, 2009
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:32 PM on August 4, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:47 PM on July 31, 2009