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
We reach 100 (with some help from Carolyn Forster)
filming days that is ! How great is that and since we film more than one workshop/event each day it means there are SEVERAL HUNDRED videos for you to enjoy! Had another great day yesterday filming in the studio where we were joined by Carolyn Forster; she showed us how she marks her quilts ready for Big Stitch and Utility Quilting as well as Amish Waves and she showed us lots of wonderful examples too plus two delightful little workshops from her Sew Jelly Rolls Quilts and Gifts book: all to come so keep watching.
Various comments from you
I have just watched 'Knotting Off Your Threads' with Valerie and would like to say thank you for sharing such a great method. I was taking both threads to the back, tying them off and then weaving in the ends which seemed to take longer than the actual quilting! A great time saver thanks :)
Jan Brown Re: Leaders and Enders That's ingenious...Lyn Yet again my fingers are itching to start sewing after watching the Leaders and Enders video.
Dresden Plate cushion
have completed my first Dresden Plate block and made it into a cushion. Using the Creative Grids ruler, which I found to be excellent, and a Moda charm pack "Indigo Crossing". I machine pieced then hand appliqued. I was pleased with the result, as I had always thought this block to be very difficult. The cushion is a gift for my friend who has a seaside cottage at Polzeath in Cornwall, where, I am hoping, it will fit in very nicely.
Your site is such an inspiration, I always check for tips and inspiration before I start a new project.
Best wishes
Roberta