First a little history of quilting and patchwork designs.
  I know - boring.
  However, if you know a little of the history of quilting and patchwork quilting in particular you'll appreciate the final result of your endeavours even more.
  The art of quilting has been around for hundreds of years dating back to the Chinese.
  Women in Europe noticed the use of quilting as a warm cover and quickly adapted it for use in the cold damp climates that exist there.
  Of course when they came to America they brought the craft with them.
  Unfortunately cloth was in short supply in the colonies and the settlers used old clothing cut into pieces to in order to make use of it for the longest period.
  The birth of recycling?  In those early years quilts and particularly patchwork quilt designs were more practical than esthetic.
  However, as the craft evolved and a supply of cloth and clothing became better, the patchwork quilt became more colorful and elaborate.
Today patchwork quilts are typically made from left over scraps of cloth or from cloth bought specifically for that purpose.
  You can't use just any cloth however.
  It must be suitable for the purpose.
  It has to be woven tightly enough to stay together, but not so tightly woven as to be inflexible.
  Most quilters start their patchwork designs by piecing together what is call a quilt block.
  These blocks are then sewn together to form the face of what will become the quilt.
  The blocks can be of random design and color or can be used to form very elaborate designs with special meanings.
  The remainder of the quilt is made up of batting (the interior insulating material) and an appropriate backing material.
  These are then put together and "quilted".
  The actual quilting can follow the patchwork design or it can be an entirely different design.
  It's up to the quilter and their skill.
  And, with the advances in the techniques used for producing quilts anyone can now choose just how they actually put these pieces of material together.
Many patterns exist that can be used to put the blocks of patchwork designs together to form the quilt.
  However, there are only really two ways in which to actually assemble the quilt: hand piecing and machine piecing.
  With the advent of sewing machines made just for quilting, hand stitching is rapidly becoming a lost art.
  Hand stitching is still the only way to a really get the real hand made look which a machine made quilt does not have.
  The major advantage of machine made quilts is that you can produce your patchwork designs much quicker, and more sturdily.
 It will stay together better with continued use.
  With a little practice you can actually turn out quilts that will rival handmade quilts and do it a lot faster.
For more information and tips on making patchwork designs visit www.
Patchwork-Designs.
com