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Comments

99151 - 99154

Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 22:53:45 -0500

From: Karen Bush <Birdsong@worldnet.att.net>

I ditto Cinda...I saw an ad once for hand quilting...20 stitches to the

inch..no way. So, i called the number and asked her, just HOW did she

get 20 to an inch. I got l2 and thought I was doing good. She counted

top and bottom, I'd never Heard of this before! That was several years

ago, and have seen it once or twice since then. I feel like it's 'false'

advertising.

I mean, if you have stitches on the top, you're BOUND to have them on

the under-side..right? ugh...Pet Peeve #2... number 1 is the

theory..."she can quilt out the puckers"....HATE it when they say that!

:( kb

-- > esulting astronomical numbers of stitches to the

> inch are silly and don't convey the sense of what the quilting is like that

> numbers like 10 or 12 to the inch do. This is a pet peeve of mine.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 04:18:44 PDT

From: Ann-Louise Beaumont <albeaumont@hotmail.com>

To: QHL@cuenet.com

Subject: QHL: Small quilting stitches

Message-ID: <19990604111844.96282.qmail@hotmail.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

To add to the discussion about small quilting stitches, the tiniest stitches

that I have seen were in a stuffed whitework toilet cover in the Amherst

(MA) museum. When Melinda LeLacheur and I examined the piece, dated first

quarter, 1800's, we found that the stitches outlining the stuffed work that

were impossibly small were done in backstitch. This would be one way to

control the stitch size.

Best wishes,

Ann-Louise Beaumont

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 06:47:08 -0500

From: Laura Hobby Syler <texas_quilt.co@mail.airmail.net>

>number 1 is the

>>theory..."she can quilt out the puckers"....HATE it when they say that!

Karen,

For those of us that hand quilt, and have been doing it for as long as you

and I have, and have seen all the hundreds of quilt tops discovered in the

attic that GM & GGM pieced, there ARE reasons why those little darlings

were never quilted.......they don't lay flat and no amount of pressing,

even with a steam roller will get those suckers to lay flat and those

puckers get quilted "IN" not "OUT". (And a right nice piece of surface

design often results! I just finished one for a HS bud whose mom passed

from cancer a couple of years ago and had the quilt 1/4 done...what a mess,

but I didn't want to remove any of her stitches, although I did have to

take the borders off and shorten them a full 6"!!) I guess that we

quilters for the public & textile historians need to do some more education

on what can & can't or should & should not be quilted, and the real

reasons for that!

You know, I was always taught that museum quality stitching was 10 or more

stitches to the inch. and I was also told to count it both ways...10 to the

inch or 21 F&B.....guess that dear soul that taught me that was using the

ole one-upsmanship rule <VBG>

Happy Quilting!

Laura

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 08:06:23 EDT

From: @aol.com

In a message dated 99-06-03 21:52:06 EDT, you write:

<< it would

be impossible to handsew 20 stitches per inch by hand. >>

Uh, no, it's not. I've seen *modern* quilts with 18 stitches (all on the

front) per inch, and I understand that Virginia Ivey's trapunto quilts have

around 20 stitches per inch. It depends on the skill of the seamstress, the

thinness of the quilted sandwich, and the sharpness of the needle. *I* can't

do it, but I'm not ruling it out for others.

Karen Evans

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 07:40:12 -0500

From: Laura Hobby Syler <texas_quilt.co@mail.airmail.net>

To: Ann-Louise Beaumont <albeaumont@hotmail.com>, QHL@cuenet.com

Subject: Re: QHL: Small quilting stitches

Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990604074012.0070f620@mail.airmail.net>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

But wait, isn't that embroidery, not quilting? <G>

Sorry, just had to play devils advocate here!!!

I'm in a pixie-ish mood.....looking forward to my new class of beginners

this morning--all over 65

Later folks!

Laura

>dated first

>quarter, 1800's, we found that the stitches outlining the stuffed work that

>were impossibly small were done in backstitch. This would be one way to

>control the stitch size.

>Best wishes,

>Ann-Louise Beaumont

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 10:41:29 -0600

From: Jocelyn <jocelynm@sw1.socwel.ukans.edu>

> When you are measuring stitches per inch on a quilt documentation,

> do you count the ones you see on top or both top and bottom? I have been

> only counting the ones on top, but have come across some museum records

> which use both top and bottom. Comment, please! Jeanne Fetzer

Jeanne,

I don't think it's as important HOW you do it, as that you tell

how you did! Personally, I don't see the point of counting top and

bottom. Everyone knows that a quilt will have stitching on both the

front and back, and the number of stitches will be roughly equal,

plus or minus 1.

Personally, it ticks me off, especially on the eBay, for people to

say a quilt has '16 stitches to the inch'...and not specify it's front

and back. I know it's durned near impossible to stitch at 16

stitches to the inch, front only-- but there's something cheesy

about it, like they're trying to trick the gullible. My preference is for

top only- but say so! I wouldn't want to pass up a quilt that really IS

16 stitches to the inch, top only, that's going extra-cheap...<G>

Jocelyn

Jocelynm@delphi.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 10:44:13 -0600

From: Jocelyn <jocelynm@sw1.socwel.ukans.edu>

> I came across a quilt today that appears now as red (eight hands around

> block) and pale yellow. I wondered if the yellow had been green, but even

> the thread of the quilting is yellow - and does not appear to be faded.

> Were yellow and red quilts common? Also, what kind of a date if it was

> yellow and red. If it was green and red, wouldn't it be easier to date.

> Thanks for your help. Jeanne Fetzer_

Jeanne,

I've seen red and yellow quilts, that were dated to 19th century

(sorry, can't remember any more precisely than that!).

But regardless...there could always have been one maverick

who didn't like the green and red quilts her neighbors were making.

<G> It took me a looonnnnnggggg time to get into those red and

green quilts, and I still don't have any particular desire to make

one. <G> Maybe I would have, if I'd lived at the that time, but I

suspect I might have made it in different colors....

Jocelyn

Jocelynm@delphi.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 10:48:39 -0600

From: Jocelyn <jocelynm@sw1.socwel.ukans.edu>

> I honestly think when they said 20 stitches per

> inch in olden days, it would be 10 stitches per inch. When you consider

> machine stitching and how small the stitches are when you sew 20 stitches

> per inch, it would be impossible to handsew 20 stitches per inch by hand.

Ann,

Awhile back I met a woman who stated that she quilted 16

stitches to the inch, front only. That would be 32 ins-and-outs per

inch.

Now, 180 percale sheets have 45 threads across...so if she

were quilting on something woven like 180 percale, she'd be

quilting over and under individual threads! That makes no sense to

me, either for modern quilters or for those of the last century.

I suspect it may have been like the 16" waist...more boasted of

it than actually had it. <G>

Jocelyn

Jocelynm@delphi.com

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 22:09:22 EDT

From: KennaleeM@aol.com

Maybe they are using the same ruler that some fishermen measure their fish

with.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 07:32:11 EDT

From: CToczek@aol.com

Dear Ann and re: the discussion on stitches-per-inch,

When I self-taught myself to quilt six years ago, I began with one generic,

sewing shop book. Decent instructions for a beginner, but nothing about hand

quilting techniques, only machine work. After ordering a "medley" from

Keepsake Quilting, (a friend had clued me in on the shop) I designed my own

wall-size pattern and dug in. It came together so nicely....and then the

quilting! Look at my tiny stitches, I thought, I really have the knack for

this! Then I ordered Ami Simms' book on perfecting the quilting stitch. <g>

Ah, no wonder my lines were thick instead of graceful. I had backstitched

half the wall hanging together! <VBG> Had to re-teach myself the quilting

stitch to finish the piece and now can manage 8-10 stitches on a REALLY good

day. I don't have the wrist strength/skill to push smaller ones through the

layers with cotton batting. I have to agree with Jocelyn and others that 20

stitches to the inch would be too tiny, almost. I'd rather see larger, even

ones in the design.

Best to all,

Carla

West Point, NY

Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1999 22:12:31 -0500

From: Russell-Hill <russhill@ctesc.net>

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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I suspect it may have been like the 16" waist...more boasted of

it than actually had it. <G>

This comment was join with the response to 16, 18, or 20 stitches to

the inch. Well I would be suspicous of those claims also but the 16"

waist or even the 18" waist was the measurement given to the corset

maker. The true waist measurement would be 3 or 4 inchs larger. There

was a 3 or 4 inch space so that the wearer could move some. There is

documentation though of a woman with a true19 inch waist but she trained

herself from an early age. No Chocolate for her. Well this is just FYI

Debbie

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 06:04:53 -0500

From: "Ann G. Hubbard" <ahubbard@usmo.com>

It is still my feeling that if you are going to handquilt 20 stitches to the

inch do it by machine. In the newest Better Homes and Garden APand Q, there

is an full page ad by Fairfield Batting. I did not count the stitches per

inch, but the quilting is lovely with a mix of stippling and background

grid. What makes quilting pretty is the space as well as the stitch.

Evenness and straightness of stitch is much more important than a discussion

of how many per inch. Machines do not always sew perfect, and neither do

humans and sometimes I think we lose sight of the overall picture. Enjoy the

day it is the first one of the rest of your life. Ann Hubbard

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 15:58:11 -0600

From: Sharon Harleman Tandy <harleman@micron.net>

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Hello all QHLers,

There *were* 16 and 18" waists. My grandmother's tea gown and wedding

gown, turn of the century [the last one!] had 18" waists. When we had a

'fashion show' including vintage clothing in the late 50s we could find

only one girl who could close either of the gowns around her waist.

As to # of quilting stitches possible: I can get 20 to the inch,

sometimes, but keep in mind that I am a 'single stitcher' (I don't like

the term 'stab stitcher') and that would be on a *really* good day with

plenty of warm-up and no tensions or disruptions. Wonder how many I

could get on Valium? (;D Might also keep in mind, I seldom have no

tension. Does anyone in this decade? Keep laughin' and stitchin',

Sharon.

[ 99155 ]