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Have Any of you Used the "Cheater Quilt Tops" For Practice??


quiltmonkey

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I don't have my longarm machine (yet)... I am patiently waiting for my heel to heal...pun intended LOL. So...until I pass that major milestone in my life, and I'm up and moving around again, DH and I have to finish building my quilting studio. In the mean time, I continue to educate myself with all sorts of information, books, CDs, Internet sites like this, etc.

Anyway, I have been thinking about the best methods to practice. I know that people draw blocks on muslin and practice stitching and improving skills, but what about using the pre-printed cheater tops to practice SID and feathers and cross hatching and stuff like that? These tops are pretty big, from the info I have gathered (I do not own one myself) Have any of you used these cheater tops to practice improving your longarm skills?

Shana

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I did buy some of the 90" pre-printed fabric that looked like a wedding ring and some that were a log cabin....but that was years ago...all I did was panto them as that was what I wanted to practice.

I too think you would be better off with a real top to practice on. The reality of quilting something real better practice than just pretending that the seam is there. You will find it amazing how different each quilt will be...I wish now that I had a better record of my improvement in quilting. All my early stuff was either given away as gifts or on early customer quilts....I wish now I had a first quilt to look at to see where I was and now where I am.

I never did a sampler either, and that is something I now wish I had done...it too would have recorded the improvement.

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I used charity quilts for my guild.

I agree that quilting on the real thing is good because it makes you really work with the actual seams and there is alot of problems solving around those seams. I found that I have learned alot by things that were not perfect as well...............I have learned how to quilt ease out of things, and all sorts of things I never would have imagined if I had just a plain top.

Then again you could just make yourself a samlper of muslin and showcase all your different types of fill designs or feathers or whatever.

To me learning is something that takes time and practice. When I look at stuff I did a year ago I realize how far I have come.

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Don't laugh, but I wanted some practice quilts so I bought some from eBay:o. Okay, stop groaning.:D

I wanted to try different patterns, seams, motifs without the time & cost of piecing it myself or the pressure of trying a new technique on a customer quilt. I have 2 at home now. Both are queen size. The piecing is excellent but the fabric , I have to admit, is awful. I usually say "They are scrappy without the "S"" :D :D :D

But they are just for practice. I think I paid $30.00 for each of them.

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I have purchased a few that quilted up very nicely. Drunken feathers is one and another remaines un-named but I did the Sherry Swirl on it and it turned out real nice! Drunken feathers is here: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/99361729AULRne

and the Sherry Swirl is here: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/206450189CdRIMC

Another source for practice quilts are the pre-printed wholecloths. Not only do you get good practice, but you end uo with some lovely quilts in the end!

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Hi, all. Thanks so much for your terrific responses and honest feedback on the cheater tops.

Linda (Ramona-quilter): Oh, I surely wouldn't laugh at you, and actually (honestly) I have seen the pieced quilt tops selling on ebay and I seriously thought about getting one of those. :) I don't know who pieces those tops, but the auctions I've been looking at state these quilts are made in India. I'm not sure of the quality in these fabrics made in India, but that's totally OK with me if it's just a practice quilt (and the ebay auction quilts made in India have the pieced seams, too). From looking at the ebay photos, the piecing isn't perfect, but it would be OK for practicing on. Plus, if I recall correctly, these pieced tops sell for around the same amount as the cheater tops do (around $20-$30) which is pretty cheap.

I've seen other completed quilt tops that are absolutely beautiful piecing and perfect applique, but these are more spendy but well worth the extra $$$ (like the ones that Sherry Rogers probably buys and quilts). I've seen some amazing unfinished quilt tops on ebay that are beautiful work, most of these, I assume, may come from estate sales and ARE NOT the cheapy ones made in India.

Sewingupastorm: I also have a bunch of quilt tops that a group of us made for a local charity that still need to be quilted. They are all made with the Turning 20 pattern.

Sherry: One of these days (and I've been dreaming for over a year) I am going to get one of those preprinted wholecloth designs from ebay. I've seen them before and they are beautiful! Then, I just wash the quilt and the lines go away. Very cool. (Now I'm off to check out your quilts!) PS: Sherry, I got my "Formal Feathers" book in the mail the other day and I've been drawing and having fun. Thanks again!!

Lots of options for us! Well, you all are just wonderful folks here. Thanks again for the feedback.

Regarding my foot, I haven't sewn anything in months, but just this week, I have been able to leave my leg and foot down for extended periods of time (all day) without it throbbing or too much pain. So, I am going to see if I can do some sewing at home this weekend. (Would you believe that I'll have to dust my sewing machine off?? I used to sew all of the time and that thing never had the chance to acquire dust on it before I broke my foot! LOL!!) :P I miss sewing so, so much!

Shana

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My friend Karen H. just did a cheater cloth quilt to practise a Baptist Fan panto on. It turned out great and knowing Karen, the guild will be getting a really nice charity quilt soon. Another local quilter recently did a great Grandmother's Flower Garden cheater quilt. It was gorgeous, and we were all fooled looking at it from across the room. Of course, once you start quilting, you look more at the quilting than the piecing! It's all about us...:D

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Shana,

You & I are thinking along the same lines. I've already purchased a couple of cheaters. Wish I could find one like the one Gerry did, that one would be fun to practice on. I'm getting the ones that seem to have lots of different elements, curves, geometrics, points, large areas, small areas, etc. I know it's not the same as a real quilt but I'd like to have some confidence in my abilty to control the machine before I touch a real quilt no matter how cheap it was! Also going the preprinted wholecloth as the next step up from that.

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Shana,

When I took a class from Marilyn Badger she came in with a binder full of her work. What she did was mark off on muslin the size of a sheet of paper, quilt a design in there and cut it out and put in a page protector to show customers different ideas for their quilts. I have done the same thing after practicing on utility tops (quilts that are used on the floor and you don't care). Customers really like the binder.

Hope to see you quilting soon and pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

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The binder is a really great idea -- little 3-dimensional quilting samples that fit in a 3-ring binder. Too cool. That little binder might be a great to leave at each quilt shop as a reference for potential customers along with your brochure. I wonder if quilt shops will let you do that? Hmmm..... Thanks.

Shana

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Hi Shana,

Hope your foot is better soon.

I've made several charity quilts and given them to the local police station. My dad and a good friend where both cops, so I'm rather partial to them. I also received several quilt tops from a friend who cleaned out her stash, you might ask around. Another option was the cheap fabric that someone gave me. I cut it up into 12" squares and sewed them together into a "quilt top" I quilt them up as I have time and machine bind them, and give them to the police as well. Somwhere, some little kid's going to be warmer.

If you can't find any tops of your own, or aren't able to piece them, let me know, I'm sure I've still got several in my box here. I could send them to you when you get your machine for practicing on. Let me know.

Beth;)

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Beth, you are so sweet! Thanks for the great ideas and the offer to send me a top or two later down the road. I do have quite a few Turning 20 quilt tops that I can practice on (these will eventually go to local charity).

And, about the foot... well, I get a little bit better every day. Speaking of cops...LOL!!...I work at a place that has security guards at the front desk and most are retired cops or troopers or military...anyway, I was joking around with one of the guys today (ex cop) and told him if I ever get pulled over for speeding I'll just tell the officer that I can't help it because I have a lead foot! (and then I'll proceed to pull out my X-ray that shows about 15 screws in my heel bone!). :P Hey...maybe it will work? I'll bet those cops have heard about every excuse in the world. :P

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My DH ebays all the time for me "practice" tops. I have been amazed at the quality of some of them and some of them are total nightmares. My favorite one was a little 5x7 envelope that arrived with 417 pieces in it. Someone didn't read the small print. I have threatend to take away his ebay account LOL.

But they make wonderful practice tops and I think the idea of using cheater tops for practice and then giving them to the police of some charity is a wondeful idea. I wouldn't have thought of it.

Shana can hardly wait until you get your machine and start showing off your work.

With the lead in your foot you can kick your machine if it doesn't behalf instead of the garbage can like me. :P

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My DH ebays all the time for me "practice" tops. I have been amazed at the quality of some of them and some of them are total nightmares. My favorite one was a little 5x7 envelope that arrived with 417 pieces in it. Someone didn't read the small print. I have threatend to take away his ebay account LOL.

But they make wonderful practice tops and I think the idea of using cheater tops for practice and then giving them to the police of some charity is a wondeful idea. I wouldn't have thought of it.

Shana can hardly wait until you get your machine and start showing off your work.

With the lead in your foot you can kick your machine if it doesn't behalf instead of the garbage can like me. :P

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  • 1 month later...

Hay Shana

any way you look at it the key to longarm perfection is practice, practice, practice. The charity quilts for local guilds and shops is a great idea because it helps you and the guild members and the people that will recieve the quilt when you are finished. It also gets your name and your work out there. The guilds often show off the charity quilts and the members will see your work get better and better and become clients. It's all good when that happens. Also the charity quilts are done with lots of different types of quilt blocks which allows you to try new quilting patterns with each quilt. As for stitch in the ditch... it is actually easier to do on a real quilt with seams then on a cheater quilt. In saying that I do believe that you do gain great controle from working on cheater fabrics and whole cloth and you can draw trace and pounce designs on with out the worry of how it might come out. You want to develope hand to eye and new musle controle so tracing the same feather, heart, stipple design and quilting it over and over again will help the controle come quickly. To work towards freemotion start by tracing out the whole pattern 3 to 5 times, then trace part of the pattern 3-5 times then quilt it freemotion 3-5 times. Soon it will be like signing your name and you won't even have to think about what your doing.... that when you turn up the tunes and quilt away... good luck I will be looking for pictures:D

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Cheaters are great for practice and even just to quilt. I have seen some really nice cheaters. Quilted they look great. Like others have mentioned they are really awesome for charities also. I have four ready to quilt in my line of quilts to do before the end of the year myself.

Whatever you do, practice, practice practice. I still practice a few days a month. Many techniques I'm still not that good at. Maybe there's hope for me yet.lol

Moda has one out 3Sisters that I am quilting next week simply so the quilter can make her a jacket with it. So some of your customers may like wearing quilts. lol

At least in the end you have something useful and for a good cause and you can feel your money isn't wasted on something you cannot use.

Remember that the ugly stuff can be cut up for your local pet shelters or vet's office to use in their small beds.

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What a great thread. :)

I ran over to ebay and bought a few tops. Never even thought of doing that and was amazed at how many are available. Even our quilts are being outsourced to India!

I can't wait to get them and see what the quality is. I expect the fabric quality to be "less than stellar" -- ha, maybe that is my new dba name, Linda S ;) -- but I was thinking about the quality of fabrics used in antique quilts, and even in the quilts my grandmother made forty or fifty years ago---cut up shirts and cotton dresses, and that fabric was not good quality, but those were wonderful quilts.

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I bought one of those recently, I'm trying to stock up on practice pieces before I get my machine. You are right about the fabric, it's definately not what we are used to here but it's not horrible, either. Look at teh pictures for colors really well, computers are a little decieving there. i found one seam that was not joined in a star pattern but that is fixable and as far as I'm concerned it is probably is an excellent way to figure out what to do to address problems that might arise with customer quilts since you never know what you'll be getting there either! I was happy with the way it looks and it is SQUARE! and the borders don't appear to be wavy.

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