Sew Expo 2008 – Pam Clarke’s Quilting Templates

As I passed by Pam Clarke’s booth the TV with a video playing of her machine quilting technique caught my eye. It was demonstrating this lowercase L design. Now, my first thought was “I don’t really need a book telling me how to machine quilt an L” but it peaked my interest so I stopped to watch the tape.

What I learned was that her technique is about machine quilting designs that fit simple grids and require minimal marking. There are two basic templates, a pie shape and straight lines. The companion book is full of quilting patterns that overlay the templates.

The baby quilt I’m finishing up is a great example of the technique. I quickly realized I didn’t even need to mark the quilt with templates, the piecing lines of the squares formed a perfect rectangle shape for each L. What I did use from Pam’s book was her method of eyeing key points of where the quilting pattern ‘hit’ within the grid and aiming for them. A very simple concept yet just having it explained so well in words confirmed a lot of things I’ve thought about these types of designs. A true light bulb moment for me. The book includes quite a few patterns that progressively increase in difficulty as you go through the book. Pam also has a fabulous attitude about mistakes and not focusing on every little wonky stitch (click on the first photo if you want to see the details of how I embraced that philosophy!).

I used a pink thread on top and orange in my bobbin, both were Mettler silk-finish cotton threads. BEAUTIFUL! They shimmer on the quilt.

I used spray basting, my first time. Yuck. I survived the experience but won’t be using it again. Fortunately it was a sunny day so I opened all the windows in my sewing room as I quilted, I sprayed outside but the smells don’t go away and they followed me right back into the house! It did the job and I didn’t have any puckers. I just couldn’t take the chemical smell. Sort of silly because I don’t use any toxic products to clean my house so why in the world I would use something like that on a quilt is beyond me. I was looking to speed up the process but in the end I don’t think I even accomplished that objective.

I purchased these fat quarters from the Stitchin Post booth. I used all the pink and orange fabrics in the baby quilt.

That’s it for my Sew Expo 2008 goodies. I’m feeling very energized to try new things and happy that I’ve cracked the seal on some of the things I purchased, I know too well how that can sometimes go! More on the quilt in my next post.