About Claire
Claire is a modern quilt designer and teacher, based in Stratford Upon Avon in the UK.
Claire has always had a love for sewing which was reignited when her children were born and needed a creative outlet for herself. It wasn’t long before quilts were the only thing she wanted to sew.
In 2020, during the pandemic, when Claire was stuck between never ending on-line lessons with her kids home-schooling, she designed her first quilt pattern, the Retro Metro Quilt. It was a way she could still channel her creativity when life wouldn’t allow much time behind the sewing machine. Since then, Claire has immersed herself into the quilt designing world and has had her work featured in Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine and justhands-on.tv videos.
Claire’s designs are Inspired by modern geometric designs and repeated patterns – – wherever she finds them – – including toilet tiles and the front covers of books. Claire is the designer behind Made Just Sew. Click her to see her bright, colourful designs.
Though not formally educated in art or teaching, Claire has excelled as a quilting teacher – – winning the Big Janome Skill Share in 2021. What makes her unique is her passion for quilting and a passion for sharing what she has learned.
Click here to watch Claire share her Walking Foot Quilting techniques in an episode of The Makers Studio.
Keep up to date and follow Claire’s quilt journey over on Instagram @madejustsew
Signature Technique
Quilting with a Walking Foot
Top Tips
- Pick your backing fabric first, then match your front colours to your backing. This works really well for those of us who love colourful printed fabrics for our backing.
- If you’ve struggled with quilting, use the walking foot. It makes quilting so much easier.
- Don’t be afraid to quilt straight lines across your patchwork. It gives your project enhanced depth and texture.
- Marking quilting lines with a hera marker provides a useful guide for your straight line quilting.
- Don’t worry about mistakes. We all do it! Remember, you can always unpick stitches and come at it fresh tomorrow.
- Use quilting gloves to help you guide your quilt under the walking foot. The sticky tips of the glove give you a little extra grip.
- If you want your quilting to stand out, choose good quality colour thread to contrast the top. Colour thread can look dominating when on the spool, less so when on your quilt.
Videos
Posts
Sewing Retreat at Denham Bucks
A weekend away sewing with like minded people and no responsibilities - what a great idea that is! Pictures by Matt Bigwood 15 ladies joined Valerie and Maggie at the Denham De Vere Hotel and you can see they were hard at work. They all worked on their own projects but there was inspiration in the form of quilts on the wall and a small shop of goodies provided by Creative Quilting.
Fine Cell Work exhibition
We spent a whole day filming this small but great exhibition that is being hosted by Lady Sew & Sew at Henley on Thames. Founded by Lady Anne Tree in 1997, Fine Cell Work trains men and women in prison to do high-quality, paid needlework in the long hours spent in their cells. Last night we were fortunate enough to meet up with and interview Tracy Chevalier who is a leading author and patron of Fine Cell work - indeed she commissioned a quilt entitled the Sleep Quilt which was made by 60 men and women from 9 different prisons - and this is on display in the exhibition.
Variations on Going Crazy
Thanks to all the contributors: we have included some of the early ones that Valerie made too : Crazy with sashing One for him and one for her Small crazy with sashing In the Deep fabric range On display at Lady Sew & Sew for the Henley Arts Trail WIP Made for Simply All Sorts in Truro Made for Creative Quilting Made for Pauline's Patchwork Made for Lady Sew & Sew with Kaffe Fassett Fabrics