A popular hobby for home crafting is making your own patchwork. This is a form of needlework that involves sewing together many pieces of fabric into a larger design. The great thing about this is that you can choose your design and fabric and make something perfectly unique. This method is used to make quilts, bags, wall-hangings, cushion covers, clothing and jackets. With Christmas coming, what could be more wonderful than giving someone a beautifully handmade piece created by you. It is of course nice to use your home made pieces but if you are desperately huddling under a patchwork blanket because your heating is broken you would be much better off contacting a Cheltenham Boiler Repair company such as http://www.hprservicesltd.com/cheltenham-boilers/boiler-repair-cheltenham/
Patchwork has a long history and the earliest examples have been found in Egyptian tombs and in China about 5000 years ago. In the Middle Ages, layers of quilted fabric were used in the construction of armour to keep soldiers warm and protected. As a result of this development, quilts began appearing in the 11th to 13th centuries, around the same time as the European climate got significantly colder. People would decorate these simple cloth quilts with different patterns and thus decorative quilting was born.
During the Great Depression in the United States, patchwork became very popular as a way of upcycling used clothing into warm quilts. Popularity declined after the Second World War but has since enjoyed a further revival.
International quilting exhibitions attract thousands of visitors each year and smaller events are held locally much more often. Quilt Art is a recognised art form and some quilted works sell for a great deal of money to galleries. Fantastic examples of antique quilts are purchased by collectors and museums alike. In India, quilting is known as Kaudhi in some areas and blankets made in this way are given as gifts to newborn babies. The Lambani tribe’s women wear skirts displaying such artwork.
Patchwork designs feature geometric shapes stitched together to form a larger designed picture or random mix of colours. Strip piecing is stitching together long strips horizontally and then doing the same with long strips going vertically. A popular trend in patchwork is something called the Stained Glass window effect. Simulating the stained glass found in churches, this method uses coloured silk fabrics to copy the glass effect and then black binding to act as outline simulating the lead around the glass.
Another form of patchwork that can emulated today was the popular Crazy Quilting of the Victorian era. This was made up of random shapes and many different types of luxurious fabric, such as velvet and brocade. Any leftover objects were sewn on too, like buttons and lace.
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