Suggestions needed Please

Today at Bag Lady Club I answered a question with a reference to miniature quilts. As a result I have been asked to try a "Miniatures Club" (Which will probably end up as "Miniatures and Small Quilts Club" ) My question is for a currently available book on miniature/small quilts. The person that has asked for this is specifically thinking, I think, of ways to use leftovers from a larger quilt. Yes I can make up patterns and such, but a good book to sell gives the store a better reason for the club. The shop also has a lot of visiting quilters stop in and prefers being able to offer all customers a chance to purchase a pattern/book/kit for any sample hanging. This is a shop policy and I will go along with them. (Yes I need to learn to use this Wacom tablet here so I can produce patterns for them to sell. One step at a time. )

The next part of this is: What do you see as the difference between a "Miniature" and a "Small" quilt?? Most of what I have seen, and the entries for some quilt shows state, that a "miniature" is scaled down larger quilt. Some have referenced a particular proportion, from quarter size to dollhouse 1 to 12 scale. Making a single, larger, block. Adding borders and such can make a small quilt, but it isn't a true miniature.

I have a feeling that the first meeting, and probably parts of each meeting, as new people sign up, will be discussing some of the differences and what the club members really want to learn/do.

Any suggestions you have will be appreciated.

Have fun, Pati, in Phx

Reply to
Pati, in Phx
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I wish I could think of one!

And I doubt that anyone would argue with the right of the shop to try to sell more stuff and stay in business.

I also think that a miniature is a quilt whose entirety is a scaled-down version of a larger piece. Unless the single block is also scaled down (and thus becomes the center of a miniature medallion quilt), I don't usually think that a single-block quilt is a mini.

One year, when I was in charge of the scribing committee and helped in determining what categories were to be included in our local show, a woman called me and berated me for one of our rules -- the one that said that a mini had to be a scaled-down version of a larger quilt with no block larger than 3". She'd made a "small quilt" and wanted to know what in the world she was going to do with it if she couldn't enter it into the mini category of our show. My reply: "Enjoy it?" ;) She didn't appreciate it at all.

Good luck with your group -- it sounds like fun. :)

Reply to
Sandy

No suggestions. Can I just be the cheerleader? I dearly love the miniatures. I have to be removed from that section at every quilt show. Anything from Amish to grandma's crazies - the precious little beauties just awe me. I still can stitch a daygown for a 2½ pound preemie ( although it takes me as long as a gown for a grownup) but the miniature quilts are beyond me - except for appreciation. They are just wonderful. Go for it! Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

My understanding has always been that a small quilt is constructed of "normal" sized blocks (6" or 12"... etc) -- but just a few blocks -- like 2 x 2.

A miniature is a full quilt (say 8 blocks by 10 blocks) -- but each block is a scaled down version of a traditional block -- for example -- 1 1/2" square Ohio Star Blocks or Log Cabin blocks.

As for a resource --- how about:

Small-Scale Quiltmaking: Precision, Proportion, and Detail by Sally Collins

Reply to
Kate in MI

Gulp. I don't think I'll ever make a miniature but I would enjoy reading about the technique. I looked over at my used book source and they want $

77.00 for a copy of Sally Collins' book. Whew. Can we hope for a better deal? Polly

"Kate in MI" >wrote, in part > As for a resource --- how about:

Reply to
Polly Esther

I definitely would suggest Sally Collins.

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I would love to take a class from her, but when she teaches, she only teaches miniature quilts. She is a member of my guild, but travels all the time, so we rarely see her. She has won at least 2 ribbons in Paducah (I only know that, because the year I went to Paducah, she won 2 ribbons). A friend of mine took a class from her & was bowled over by how precise she is. She has spoken at our Guild - she does amazing work. Pauline Northern California (No patience to make a miniature quilt.)

Reply to
Pauline

Now why didn't I think of that??? I have that book, so I have no excuses. I heard her speak once at a quilt show in Tucson, and it was amazing.

Reply to
Sandy

Quick Little Quilts by Janet Wickell. It is a great book.

Kelly

Reply to
kelly

Difference between 'Small' and 'Miniature'? I do agree with what has already been said, in that a Miniature is

*strictly* scaled, and a small quilt is simply reduced. Though, where to stop is a conundrum? What lies between what I think is 'small' (up to 24/25" square perhaps?) and cot quilts, lap and single bed size?

No-one has yet mentioned the vital ingredient for a Miniature: small scale fabric. It is colour that can be lost, with a bad choice. As a rough guide, I say (to myself or others!) that in a square of one quarter inch of the fabric you should be able to see the colour you judge as the overall colour. The best example of how difficult this can be is with Liberty tana lawn fabrics. They are wonderful for miniatures, because they are so fine. But, unless you can get plain or almost plain ones (virtually impossible), most are multi coloured - small scale, yes, but you can get one quarter inch which is blue, one which is green, one blue, one yellow - all on the same 2" square of fabric. So, if your pattern needs to be colour-based, the fussy cutting and placement is a real time-consumer.

You also need to use as fine thread as you can - Aurifil is great. And a very fine needle - max 70/10.

Use really small stitches.

For a miniature, do a facing or a one eighth inch binding.

The best way to judge the success of your piece is to take a photo, with no possible scale reference. Then put it onto your screen and see how obvious it is what size the quilt is. The usual give-aways are stitch-length and the fabric threads themselves! So, lines like Fossil Fern and other finer types are great to use. To judge the fabrics before you use, take a magnifying glass, just to see how the thread thickness compares.

'Small' quilts do have all these considerations too, but to a less extent.

I'd like to pick up what Sandy said about a medallion quilt. In my opinion that is the best style to learn first. You have plenty of tiny piecing in the pieced borders, after the centre block - plus possible corners; but you also have plain corners and borders, so there is some 'relief' from the ultra painstaking work.

Don't start with a dolls house size (1:12)!!!! A good size is 15" square or rectangle with one side 15". It is definitely a miniature (by most show rules), but isn't 'intensely' so!

Foundation paper piecing is an invaluable tool in working small, as you don't have to actually handle tiny pieces of fabric. You can cut them down after they have been sewn. Don't even consider 'waste' - sit up away from the work and just *see* how tiny an amount you are cutting off!

I hope this is not too long a screed! I can't help it when I get to talking about little quilts. But hopefully, there will be something helpful here for you.

For a 'mouth agape' reference, try George Siciliano! Oh my ... ... . In message , "Pati, in Phx" writes

Reply to
Patti

I would agree with you on this: a small quilt is a quilt whose overall dimensions fit whatever definition of "small" one is using at the moment. It could be, say, one 15" block from a "big quilt" design of 5 x 7 15" blocks.

A miniature quilt looks like a big quilt scaled down: for example (taking that 5 x 7 15" block quilt mentioned above) a 5 x 7 layout of those same blocks, with the blocks scaled down to only being 3" square, so that you end with a 15" x 21" quilt.

--pig

Reply to
Megan Zurawicz

Sure, Polly -- the library! Go to

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type in the title and your zip code, and voila, a list of nearby libraries that own it. Just pick up the phone, call the library, and ask that it be ordered for you. Even better, go to the library and request it in person. Your tax dollars have already paid for the service!

Nann (the reas> Gulp. =A0I don't think I'll ever make a miniature but I would enjoy readi= ng

Reply to
Nann

Chitra Publications had a magazine called Miniature Quilts. It's no longer published, but at least one compilation of some of the patterns is available -- go to

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(That would be if you wanted multiple copies to use with club membersor to sell in the shop.) Maybe Christiane Meunier (aka Chitra Publications) has back issues of the magazine that she'd be willing to sell you.

Nann

Reply to
Nann

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