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
More great content for Justhands-on.tv
Val: We had a great filming day yesterday when Dave, Matt and I were joined by Dawn Cameron-Dick who told us more about her great new book ‘The Pocket Tutor’ and we also filmed a great workshop on her Snuggle Quilt pattern – perfect for groups to swap fabrics as well as using up your own fabric stash – so look out for those in the new year.
Quilting away from home
Pattern from Carolyn Forster Surrounded by good friends at a great hotel (so food and drink appear at regular intervals) and all we have to do is sew - what bliss. Such a great idea and here is what I managed to achieve so far (Kaleidoscope Hexagon pattern by Carolyn Forster); am also working on making an alternative version of our Block of the Month Rosebud Fayre quilt – Jennie and I made so many samples for the camera that I couldn’t allow them to go to waste – picture will have to follow as camera now has flat battery (forgot the charger!); Dunford House Quilt Retreat Can’t recommend a getaway highly enough – why not think about joining us all at Midhurst in July; here is the link for more details https://www.justhands-on.tv/small-ads/54/scrap-happy-quilts--pieceful-projects/ (and if you just want to sit in a corner and sew our own thing let us know – you would be VERY welcome too)
November 2011
This is a really busy month and with an eye [...]