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A handmade Amish
quilt is a creation of its own. Time and loving care is put into each
quilt making it a work of art rather than a mass-produced item made overseas.
Many people view a handmade Amish quilt as an investment as well. They
will increase in value as any fine work of art does.
Accuracy and experience play a large part of a well-executed quilt. I
work with ladies who on the average have quilted 25 years or more. They
are some of the finest quilt makers in Lancaster Country, and come from
a tradition passed down from several generations.
In a well made quilt several important skills come into play. An artist's
eye for choosing fabric prints, solid, and colors that work beautifully
together are the first very important steps to creating a work of art,
called the Amish Quilt. Many Amish quilters seem to have a natural gift
of design and sense of color.
After the fabrics and pattern is selection, the task of cutting each fabric
piece, and sewing it together will be done. Aligning all the fabric is
a challenge to the quilt-maker, and very important to the outcome of the
quilt. The fabrics should lineup and complete the quilt's design as perfectly
as possible. When choosing quilts to add to our site, I always strive
to selected quilts that have excellent piecework.
Marking the quilt's top is another piece of the puzzle. Marking is simply
done by using a stencil and pencil to add guidelines to where the quilting
will be done on the quilt. Again experience, care and attention are needed
to insure accurate spacing.
Great quilting is like the icing on a cake. Fine quilting is what can
make the difference between a mediocre quilt and a great one. Qualities
of fine quilting are small stitches that are even and uniform. A high
quality quilt will have 6 to 8 stitches per inch. Some of our quilts have
an even higher stitch count. We always note the amount of stitches per
inch in the description of each quilt. A very good quilt will have over
50,000 stitches.
Each of our quilts has 400 - 700 hours investment into them.
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