Services
Edge to Edge Quilting
Edge to edge quilting is a repetition of one or more designs that covers the whole quilt, including the border(s). Designs can range from simple to moderate to dense. We offer hand-guided free motion, simple ruler work (usually a very simple pattern such as a gridded design), and pantographs. Pantographs are similar to a stencil design that is followed via the hand guided method. There are many patterns to choose from.
Custom Quilting
The sky's the limit to what can be done with custom quilting. Between your imagination and ours, we can dream up all kinds of things. It can range from stitch in the ditch, large designs, small designs and even micro designs. You can choose hand-guided free motion, ruler work, stencils, couching, trapunto, and more. This is the preferred method when quilting on a top that has been embroidered, cross stitched or appliqued.
The quilt you see here is an original pattern and quilting design by Sandy Richard of Village Stitchery. It was quilted using free motion and ruler work.
Quilt Upcycling
Sometimes a quilt is just not salvageable, but is attached to the memory of a loved one or some other special remembrance. In that case, we look for other options to keep its memory alive. This is what's considered upcycling.
The pillows here were made from one such quilt. It was missing a large portion of it. After weighing the options, the customer decided to have them made into pillows that could be given to family members for Christmas. How cool is that? Now one family heirloom becomes many so that others can share in the memory as well. This can also be done with other items such as clothing, vintage hankies, photos, etc. And, they can be made into other items, such as Christmas stockings, potholders, trivets, and more. It could also be transformed from a large quilt to a baby quilt. I'm sure you can come up with even more ideas.
Memory Quilts
Memory quilts can originate from many different places and things. It may be ties, children's clothing or pictures of family members printed on fabric or even T-shirts collected over the years like this one. This person was on her way to college and wanted her gymnastics t-shirts from over the years to be made into a quilt that she could bring to school with her.
Notice that the quilting design on it is quite simple. That is what I have personally found to work well on a t-shirt quilt due to the different types of screen printing and painting on the shirts. Some can be sticky and rubbery while others can be thickly painted. The back of this one is minky, sometimes called cuddle, fabric which also lends itself to working well with simple patterns due to the nap.
Commission Quilts
Do you want a quilt, but are not interested in learning how to make it yourself? You just want someone else to do it for you? It's possible to hire someone to do just that.
This quilt was requested by a customer as a Christmas gift for his wife. He wanted a wilderness design. We agreed on a panel and took pieces parts of it and framed each one, added four patch blocks in some of the corners, added a wide border and voila! Each block, along with the border are all quilted differently using free motion, stencils, and ruler work. The backing on this is soft and warm minky.
Quilt Repairs and Restoration
Do you have a quilt that is in need of repair? Perhaps your pet has loved on it more than you would have hoped. Is your vintage quilt wearing down and in need of refreshment? Has that family heirloom seen better days? Let's take a look at it and see what the options are in order that it remains in your family for more years to come.
This quilt's binding was frayed, most of the outer blocks were worn beyond repair. There were only three straight lines of quilting, which were removed and new batting and backing were added. The first row of blocks was removed and the salvageable centers were used to replace worn ones in the rest of the blocks. They were stabilized and re-quilted. Muslin fabric, which is timeless, was added on to where the first row of blocks, the border and the binding were. The whole quilt was ditch stitched in the center and the border was quilted with cross hatching. The wool batting was lofty enough to hide wavy areas.
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Binding
Binding the quilt, which is the finishing touch, seems to be the least favorite part of the quilting process for some people. Typically, when the quilting is finished by Village Stitchery, the customer takes the quilt home and binds it . However, like I said, some owuld rather someone else do it for them.
There are many different ways to bind a quilt. Here at Village Stitchery, most customers prefer the method in this picture because it is the most cost effective. It is first stitched to the back and then turned and top stitched to the front. Others choose to have us stitch to the front only and they take it home and hand stitch to the back. That leaves a very clean finish. For many more ways to bind a quilt, you might want to check out the book, "The Quilt Binding Bible".
Basting
Do you quilt your own quilts on a domestic machine or sit-down longarm machine? Basting, whether by pinning or glue basting is time consuming and tedious. There is an easier way. Longarm basting! Your quilt can be loaded on our longarm and basted for you with long basting stitches that you can remove as you quilt.
The sample here has 1/2 inch basting stiches and the rows are approximately 4 inches apart. That can all be adjusted to your preferences.