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
Mini Mosaics is a winner for Lyn
Hi Valerie...must share my good news....
after watching your fabulous videos & picking up so much knowledge especially the mini mosaics with Paula...I entered the NFWI Makower Quilt Challenge 'Summer Days' & have won 1st prize...... The theme this year is 'Summer Days'...we had to design & use 50 % of certain Makower fabrics ( I used 100% as I didn't want to bring any more colours in).I played with the lyrics to Gershwins Summertime to suit quilters!
Lots of free stuff to watch
We have a wide variety of videos that are free to registered viewers dotted through the interviews, tips, techniques and workshops on the site. BUT you can access them all now through a new page 'What's New' which is located on far rh side of the green menu bar when you hover over 'videos'. or click here One of our most popular workshops has been the 40 minute scrap quilt - why not take a look.
First Sampler Quilt Finished!
Hurray I have just finished my quilt. I love it. For me it looks fabulous. I know I can improve in stitch in the ditch and quilting but as you tell us practice makes perfect.
Thanks a lot for your tuition and guidance.
Regards
Joyce It's lovely Joyce and yes you will always improve with practice, but we never seem to stop learning or improving! Its a journey that I hope you will continue to enjoy.