Kaudi (Quilts) making is considered as the most creative household item made by million little stiches. The making process is as follow:
1. Selection of the Fabric:
Numbers of different fabrics depending on the pattern are selected for quilting. The top layer of a quilt is usually made from cotton fabric. To select the colors of a quilt one starts by choosing a pattern or fabric with the appealing color scheme. This patterned fabric, is observed and certain colors from within the pattern is picked and other fabrics with complimentary colors are matched. The complimentary fabrics selected should appeal out one or more shade, tone or aspect of the original fabric. When making use of these fabrics, it is important to select fabrics that are not too worn in order to create a quilt, which will last. Newly purchased fabric is often washed before being cut or sewn. If not washed, there is a risk of the fabric dyes bleeding into each other when the final product is washed. It is best to wash and dry the fabrics before cutting into shapes and sizes because few fabrics has the tendency to shrink. To prevent creases and wrinkles on the fabric it is ironed beforehand.
2. Cutting of the Fabric:
Wooden frame templates come with different sized shapes: triangles, rectangles, square and set squares. Outline of the required shape is done with the glass pencil marker. A scissor is used to cut out the outlined parts protecting the cutting edge from damage. A quilting ruler, made of clear plastic with marked gridlines across the surface of the ruler is used for the measurements. It is important to make sure that the measurements for the seam equally assembles the quilt.
3. Sewing the Patches Together:
While sewing the large quilt a line method is preferred to maximize speed of the sewing. The fabric pieces are pin together and sewed together without breaking the threads. All the sections are sewn, and the threads are clipped before separating from the fabric. The seams are always pressed flat before joining further pieces to it. Precise seam patterns are important when it comes to quilting a Kaudi.
4. Layers of Quilts:
Quilts usually are segregated into three layers namely: the top layer, the middle layer of batting (polyester), and the fabric backing. The top layer is the design layer. The cotton contained the middle layer which decides the warmness of the quilt. Cotton comes in different length on the thicknesses of the final quilt. Layers of cotton can be joined to increase the warmth of the completed product. The bottom layer is a simple layer of cotton, in complimentary colour with a design scheme. Few quilters use the extra or spare fabric from the top layer to make a secondary design for the fabric backing.
5. Basting the Layers:
The process of sewing loose and long stitches in a grid layout through the surface of the quilt to join the layers of the quilt together is known as Basting. Basting can also be done using large curved safety pins. Hand sewing is usually sewn with a running stitch and is easier to remove and it maintains a control of an area. A running stitch can be easily removed from the surface. The both areas are pinned together to sew with a hand sewing needle.
6. Quilting:
After the basting method, the layers are ready to be stitched together, by hand. The method of quilting involves the use of a glass marker by which an outline is created with the help of the wooden stencil placed on the surface of the quilt. The quilter will then sew along the cut out patterns, and the stencil is wiped off after the quilt is completed.
7. Binding:
Once the layers have been quilted, the stitching of the edges is started. There are many different ways to bind a quilt, where the quilter involves sewing one side of a strip of fabric to the front side of the quilt, through all the layers of the fabric, then by folding the strip over to the back side of the fabric and closing the binding by hand stitching. Another way is that long fabric strips are cut on the basis that are attached to the borders of the quilt and sewed.
Flow Chart - Kaudi Weaving
