My mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother have all been quilters. Growing up I didn’t appreciate the time the women in my family spent underneath a lamp studying the fine stitches they created one painstaking thread at a time. I didn’t understand why they would spend months focusing on these intricate details only to find a safe place for it later where little hands, dust bunnies, and the sun couldn’t reach it.
I am older now, and I finally appreciate the time it took them to make those quilts. Now I understand that dust, the sun, and my dirty hands would have ruined them. My grandmother and great-grandmother are gone, but I am grateful for those memories. They left behind beautiful quilts that I will someday give to my children and my grandchildren.
With advanced technology in the world, even in the arts and crafts world, quilting has progressed to level of mass production. In a sense this is good because it increases the value of those hand-made, custom-designed quilts from the days of yore. But this raises another point. What about the quilts from days of yore?
There are still quilters that hand build quilts from beginning to end. That means the squares or other shapes of fabric are chosen with a purpose, or artistic statement in mind. The design and fabric that holds those shapes of fabric together are not held together for efficiency, but rather with that design in mind and with the long life of that quilt in mind too.
The quilts created by retailers or online vendors are cheap, and production is fast. You may even be allowed to choose the design, what color of fabric will be used, and where on the quilt pieces of fabric will be placed. Most of the time, these types of quilts are done quickly and end up looking just like many other quilts. If you want a quilt that is long-lasting and has been created artistically, then a custom handmade quilt is for you.
If you choose a custom quilter, he or she will be able to guide you on what designs and colors will complement your theme and desired outcome. Fiber artists are putting their names on such quilts and therefore have as much interest as you in making the quilt turn out fantastic, something a mass-producer of quilts will not care about.
Although custom handmade quilts are more expensive and take longer to make than mass-produced quilts, this is the best option if you want a keepsake. You will get a beautiful quilt that will last so long that future generations will be able to hide this keepsake from the sun, dust bunnies, and the dirty hands of their children.
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