Long Arm Tradition: Ideas

Sue Daurio is quilting Denniele Bohannon's Sprouts quilt.

You might just let your long-armer go wild --- Sue's contemporary ideas

are fabulous on Denniele's contemporary applique.

But, if you want a more traditional look---some suggestions.

Cable quilting is an option for borders and sashing if you are looking

to hand quilt or machine quilt a reproduction.

19th-c Petticoat

These cables with 5 or 6 lines are an old design

Collection of the Winterthur Museum

...Found in this possibly late 18th century Quaker strip quilt of silk.

Complex cables were popular with Pennsylvania quilters

in the 19th century.

Pattern from the Lockport Batting Company in the mid-20th century.

A template from Lockport

Jessica's Quilting Studio

Do a search for these modern-day long armers. Maybe they

can add you to their waiting lists.

Cables became mainstream in the mid-20th century, perfect

for all those sashed blocks and solid color borders, but they were simplified. 

If you want to do a cable on a 19th-century reproduction go for more lines.

Too 20th-century.

Of course, if you are making a 1930s repro it's perfect.

Seven lines

A little nostalgia for the Colonial days. Like the hoop?

The feather wreath is also another great option.

Quilt from my collection dated 1882 with the

inscription inside a wreath.

For hand quilting there are many templates and patterns.

This one from Aunt Martha in the 1930s.

The long-armers at the Mt Pleasant Quilt Company

will quilt a feather wreath.

There are templates.

One reason I did these three posts is I wanted to communicate better with my long-armers. I'm going to continue to do searches for long-arm quilts and quilters to add to my idea file. One good source:

There are nearly 150,000 pictures at the Instagram hashtag Longarmquilting

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/longarmquilting/?hl=en

Modern patchwork, traditional quilting

from the Sterling Quilt Company.

"Orange Peels have been a popular choice lately and it’s pretty easy to see why."

LongArm-Lady

Wisconsin

I'd pay extra for some filler.

Or maybe (since I enjoy handquilting) I'd hand quilt a filler grid into the background. A grid about an inch apart would be good for a '30s look. 

Here are links to the other two posts on the topic:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/07/long-arm-tradition-feathers.html
https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/07/long-arm-tradition-all-over-or-edge-to.html