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
Folded Star Cushion
Valerie originally showed this pattern as a folded potholder workshop but Joy turned it into a delightful cushion that co-ordinates beautifully with her quilt. I finally finished the pillow that I wanted to make to match the quilt I had done last year. I ended up putting the design on like an applique after i got it done because my pillow is square not round or hexagon.
Can I watch on my Kindle and/or Smart TV?
Our thanks to Shelagh for the following information about watching on her Kindle: I have downloaded dolphin browser from a link on this page ( www.groovypost.com/howto/install-flash-player-kindle-fire-hd/) the page also had a link to download Adobe Flash Player. I have just viewed the tasters on your site successfully. I thought this information might be useful if you need to give advice to others experiencing my initial difficulty.
How to Sew an Heirloom Quilt (by machine)
Just spent 4 days (away from home!) on a workshop with Pauline Ineson; absolutely brilliant - no quilt to show but LOTS of samples, notes and I learnt SOOOOOO much about my machine. (as did everyone else there). If you want to know more about this quilt (and her other award winning quilts) then we interviewed her at the Festival of Quilts back in 2010 and you can watch it by clicking here: You can also purchase her book in the shop AND there is also an Heirloom Starter Kit - so what's stopping you!