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
Gives a whole new meaning to beading
Found through my facebook page and I thought it worth sharing: You're probably thinking this VW was "yarn-bombed" or modge-podged, but you'd be wrong on BOTH counts! This VW was actually BEADED! It took 8 bead artisans over 9000 hours to accomplish this look! --- https://bit.ly/1mRKMdx
Sew Easy’ Curve and Square ruler
Question: have been trying to find some instructions for a very old 'Sew Easy' Curve and Square ruler. They still seem to be available on line, but I cannot find the instructions anywhere. My originals were on the back of the packet and this got thrown away. Answer: Sew Easy range is distributed by Groves in the UK. There is a helpline number for local stockists etc that you can contact: 01453 883581, or e: crafts@stockistenquiries.co.uk They do have two curve rulers in the range: Curve Ruler NL4196 which is size 13 7/8 x 7 3/8” - it has a curved edge to the left and a straight edge to the right, includes metric and imperial measurements and detailed instructions and illustrations for use.
Update 18th April 2014
Technology Upgrade On the move or just out and about [...]