Miniature quilts

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Permalink Reply by Running with Scissors on October 24, 2009 at 11:19am

I don't know for sure...but here's what came to mind. Miniature quilt patterns call for regular quilt batting and wouldn't be heat resistant-so perhaps they are cautioning against making some and then using them as pot holders? I'm assuming that if you used the Insulate stuff that you could use them as pot holders.


The funny thing is that when I got married (eons ago) I was given MANY potholders that were crocheted out of yarn or sewn using "regular" fabric and batting and I'm STILL using some of them!!

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Permalink Reply by Trevi in Texas on October 24, 2009 at 3:43pm

What I think this means is that a miniature quilt needs to have miniature blocks. A small quilt made of regular sized blocks is a "potholder" not a miniature quilt.

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Permalink Reply by Running with Scissors on October 24, 2009 at 4:07pm

Oooooooooooh good call Trevi!

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Permalink Reply by Mary K Hopkins on October 25, 2009 at 7:23am

I think that makes sense. Small versions of regular blocks. One friend also though drapability was an issue. It shouldn't be rigid or stiff. So the thinest possible fabrics need to be used in order to have tiny, not bulky seam allowances.
Thanks for the input.

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Permalink Reply by Jean Smith on October 27, 2009 at 9:14am

Yes, miniature quilts are made using miniature blocks. I think the craziest I ever tried was a 3" pineapple block. As the quilt won't be getting heavy use, it's ok (and advisable) to cut your seams way down, from quarter inch to an eighth inch. That way, as Mary notes, you don't wind up with many bulky seams. It's also a good idea to use an ultra light weight batting, or none at all when finishing the little quilt. Personally I like using regular Warm n' Natural batting in my minis, because I like them stiff to hang on a wall. But if you making a wee dolly bed quilt, I'd suggest foregoing the batting altogether.

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Permalink Reply by Aida Castro-Jacques on October 27, 2009 at 12:22pm

I once thought of making a miniature quilt for my daughter's dollhouse, but the idea of cutting pieces less than 1-inch gave me the shivers, so I abandoned it. I guess I'm not into miniatures, my stature more than makes up for this (I'm barely 5 feet tall).

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Permalink Reply by Gina on October 28, 2009 at 3:41am

This is a very interesting question. I was always told that a miniature quilt was anything smaller than a crib quilt.

I have asked some of my quilting buddies and some said that the quilt should be regular quilt blocks sized down to no more than 4-5 inches. A couple said something about the blocks should be in a scale of 1:12 (1=1 inch). They all agreed that a miniature quilt was a scaled down version of a full sized quilt, as to the size they didn't agree, lol.

As to batting or no batting, they weren't sure, they seemed to think since it was to be a scaled down version of a full quilt that batting was a must, but then again experience told them that batting could cause quiltig problems.

I have not checked into quilt show regulations, but each show has their own rules so I am not real sure that would be much help.

I have decided is that there is really no definition of a minature quilt, lol.

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