Eleven Reasons Custom Handmade Quilts Take Time
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This is a sample custom quilt profile we offer for customers who decide to give a custom quilt but can’t get it finished in time. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Eleven Reasons Custom Handmade Quilts Take Time
Every once in awhile a potential custom quilt customers asks the question why a custom quilt takes 90 days to make. The answer is simple: they are truly handmade. There’s no big factory, no assembly line, no cookie cutter pattern. All of our custom handmade quilts are unique to the customer and made by hand here in Missouri, USA.
The following are the eleven reasons why custom handmade quilts take time:
Our custom handmade quilts are made to a customer’s specifications. It can take a customer who isn’t used to making a handmade quilt extra time to decide on the details such as handmade quilt colors. The colors depend on a variety of factors including sneaking into the recipient’s bedroom to see what colors they have on the walls.
The second step is choosing the pattern. We rarely make traditional patterns so its up to the customer to tell us what message they want to convey through the custom handmade quilt and we go from there.
Probably the longest step for the customer is deciding what photos to include. The number can depend on the size of photos and the kind of quilt layout they choose for their custom handmade quilt. Collages are the easiest way to include the most photos so that can take some time for the customer to compile and ship to us.
If the custom handmade quilt is being made out of someone’s clothes, that step also can take time. We advise customers who are sending us clothes from departed family members to take their time, this becomes part of the grieving process. We listen carefully to the stories they share and try to reflect that in the custom quilts we made for them.
If the custom quilt is being made out of someone’s clothing, we like to include a photo somewhere on the custom quilt. Deciding on the one photo can take time.
If the customer wants to add a saying or dedication, that can also take time for the customer to decide what to include. We sometimes make suggestions but usually customers have something that strikes them as perfect for the memory.
Then there is what font and size for any custom embroidery, which also requires several decisions prior to any work getting started. That way, the custom embroidery is included in the quilt piecing and doesn’t show up on the back of the custom quilt.
Quilt batting is what is in the middle of the quilt, giving it warmth. Traditional handmade quilts are all cotton. The majority of contemporary quilts are a mix of cotton and polyester batting, while others are all lightweight polyester. We offer another option, renewable and sustainable bamboo which is very light, similar to cotton but not as damaging to the environment to process.
Custom handmade quilts can be made reversible if the customer chooses something besides a white fabric for the backing. Sometimes a customer has a great fabric they want and they order it and ship it to us.
What kind of quilting is another decision step, from a pattern overall design to one of my favorites, a meandering machine quilting.
Then there are the customers who try to sneak a photo, or two, in after the final design has been approved and work has begun. We try to accommodate if we can but once the piecing is started, the only way to add something is to go back to the drawing board and redesign the layout.
Once we get started on the quilt piecing, the process goes relatively quickly. We send the customer photos once the custom quilt top is finished; or both the top and bottom if there are two custom quilt sides.
After the photo review, it is quilting time, basically finishing the custom handmade quilt.
There are at least four people involved in this process and every one has to fit in the custom quilt into their schedule of other custom work.
We are proud of the final product and we are sure no one else will have a handmade quilt like the one we make for you.
Charlotte
