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
Girls on the move
Val: Three girls and a van full of fabric join hundred sof others at the NEC for the the major textile event of the year - Festival of Quilts; Isabelle from Creative Quilting with Lesley Owens and Valerie Nesbitt ready to roll up the M40: complete with jacket for Sunday's filming day!. One empty space at the NEC that needs filling (10m x 2m) ; maybe we should have a picnic and compare notes.
Fashion Sans Frontieres!
Jennie: Nearly there - the Festival of Quilts! Justhands-on.tv will be there filming all sorts of delights for your enjoyment over the coming months. Not only will the camera crew (Bizview.tv) be at the show BUT.... they are filming the Fashion Show on Friday evening which will be available on our site for all our members. 6 Brits and 8 Russians will parade down the catwalk with day/evening/wearable art and an accessory. It is a very exclusive do and the garments will be amazing - I am perhaps not as serious as the others in my work so have gone for 95% calico but have done a new bridal outfit with a surprise.....
August 2010
Here I am returned from France, where we spent a [...]