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
Interested in Hand Embroidery?
Don't these look wonderful? Learn goldwork from Hand & Lock and make shoes like this. Hand & Lock launch their festival of embroidery in July and they’ve got a fantastic offer for Mastered students. You can get any of their courses for a special concessionary price and if you leave a comment on this blog post you’ll be in with the chance of winning the course of your choice.
More from Karen Nicol
Karen has had a piece of her exquisite textile work accepted for the Royal Academy Summer exhibition 2014! Her name if Crystal and here she is: Well done Karen; and if you would like to see more of the Singerie we maade a delightful video of them when we visited Karen at her home. Karen also has an exhibition coming up on the other side of the Atlantic in New York - It will be at the Rebecca Hossack gallery 262 Mott Street, New York,
Between Houston and Prince Street
NY 10012, USA
+1 (212) 925 3500 running from 15th October to 5th November 2014 and has the working title of 'On the Edge of the Woods' Here is a sample piece to tempt you:
6th June 2014
Lace Skirts with Karen Nicol Originally a fashion designer, Karen [...]