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I read in Margaret Rowe’s book, “The Maria Challenge Quilt”, a tale about how female convicts sent out to Australia in the early 19th century were given a small hessian bag by Elizabeth Fry.

The bags contained sufficient materials to make a patchwork quilt on their long voyage, so that upon their arrival they would be able to sell it to get money for other necessities, or keep it for their own use. The were the following items were inside:

– A tape measure
– One ounce of pins
– One hundred needles
– 4 reels of white cotton and one each of red, blue and black
– 24 hanks of colored thread for embroidery
– A thimble a pair of scissors; glasses if needed
– 2 pounds of patchwork pieces, and;
– A few other oddments which could have been helpful for mending corsets, stockings for example.

And this started me pondering how tough it’d be to make a quilt without a straight edge to rule against, no markers, no templates, and not one of the cute little tools that we’re privileged to have available today.

I also thought about what our top 5 most mandatory modern tools would be for an amateur, So here they are:

One. Rotary Cutter: This has completely revolutionised quilt making. It is fantastic to be well placed to cut 2, 4, even 8 layers of fabric all at the same time and completely straight. I’m of the opinion a 45mm one is the most useful size, and they come in a selection of styles with automatic retracting guards, safety catches and so on. Select one that you feel comfortable with.

2. Quilting Ruler: Positively important to measure all those perfect small strips and squares without needing to use a marking pencil at all. The most flexible one to buy for one thing would probably be a long twenty-four” x six half” or something similar.

Three. Cutting Mat: Mandatory so we don’t cut up our table tops with our amazing rotary cutters. Mind you it is also excellent for cutting paper on for scrapbooking, paper tole etc and has many other uses. Mine stays out on the table all of the time. My suggestion would be to buy one as big as you have room for; and I find an A2 size is usually large enough for a home sewer.

4. Fabric Scissors: There is nothing more exasperating than making an attempt to cut fabric with blunt scissors, so choose a quality pair of massive (although not huge) fabric scissors, and sometimes if you're lucky they may come in a set with pointed pointed small embroidery scissors which you would also find many uses for. My guidance is to Keep them away from Men and Kids they don't understand the term “For Fabric Only”.

5. sewing machine: Our fore-mothers did all their piecing and quilting by hand and made a beautiful and noteworthy job of it. While I still like to do some hand applique and piecing (I find it quite relaxing and relaxing), I could not manage without my stitching machine.

It enables me to do the big roles fast and oh so nicely! It isn’t necessary to have the latest whizz-bang machine; when I started quilting I found it was possible to purchase a” foot, a walking foot, and a freestyle covering foot for my 35 years old Elna which permitted me to do just about everything I need to do. Nonetheless if you are looking for a new machine, do look for one with a longer throat space which allows more room to move your quilt around.

Naturally, it goes without saying we continue to need pins, needles, tape measure, and thread etc. But don’t let the magnificent array of quilting tools and stuff daunt you you do not want much to start, and you can always add to your collection as you make more quilts along the way i.e. When you’re prepared to start making a hexagon quilt, that’s the time to buy hexagon templates; when you’re learning how to do needle turn appliqu, that is when you buy some freezer paper.

To read lots more great ideas for how to make a patchwork quilt, go to Jane Green’s patchwork quilt web site right now!

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