Memory Quilts Make Popular Graduation Gifts

If you stacked all of the handmade quilts that you have made they would reach the ceiling in the tallest room in your house. In fact, the number of handmade quilts that you have made in the last three years has increased, not decreased. And while your husband used to tease you that you did a lot of sewing when the girls were young, you are pretty sure that you do even more now. From the pieced quilts that you make for yourself to all of the custom t-shirt quilts that you have made for your daughters and your friends, it seems like there is always at least one project going on.

When you first started quilting you were happy to complete one project a year. In fact, the very first custom memory quilt that you made for your grandmother to take to the retirement home with you was nearly 15 months in the making. Today, however, you are able to create a custom quilt in just one short weekend. And even though you are plenty busy making your own quilts, you have now also started helping other moms get organized and start gifts for their own graduates. You quickly realized that you really did not want to get into the business of making entire quilts for someone else, but you have learned that you really enjoy training a team of novice t-shirt quilt makers how to get started.
By offering a 90 minute class to teach the cutting and interfacing technique used in the beginning you have created a community of quilters who love to come work together. You have also been known to leave machines set up in your basement for the weekdays between the weekend 90 minute classes. Armed with snacks and full of laughs, your eager students are more than happy to sew if they know they have someone who will keep them company.

By scheduling two more 90 minute sessions you are able to provide another work session in the middle of the project, as well as a session that explains how to finish the quilt and attach the binding. The middle session of the process includes discussions about what kind of quilting options are available. You have a friend who has a long arm quilting machine who charge a reasonable rate, but you also show your t-shirt quilt makers how to use the old fashioned hand ties or how to use their own smaller machines to create minimal quilting lines to hold the three layers in place.

• Making handmade quilts is a great way to help someone safe the memories that they have collected during high school. From a t-shirt quilt featuring show choir competitions across the midwest to one that includes gymnastics meets from around the country, the decision to gift handmade quilts is very special.
• Estimates from a 2014 study indicated that quilting in the U.S. is a $3.7 billion industry.
• Making quilts is a craft that has been practiced for centuries. In fact, quilting can be traced back to ancient Egypt and China where three layers of fabrics were stitched together to keep the middle layer from clumping and slipping. These ancient methods are still being used, in fact, the sandwiching of the top quilted pattern, the batting for warmth, and the backing is the definition of the word quilting.
• Outline, satin, lazy daisy, cross, and French knot are the five main hand stitches used in sewing and quilting
• Researching the history of quilting can help historians understand much about the culture and lifestyle of a given group of people from a certain time period.
• You can help families remember a loved one who they have lost by creating bereavement quilts
  that include favorite ties and other special items.

Making the decision to create a MEMORY gift is easy to achieve if you find the right resources. If you want to make a memory quilt, for instance, it is important to work with people who have experience in creating treasured gifts. If you want to make sure that you are giving a gift that will be well used, it is important to make sure that you use the best t-shirts.