Introduction - Handcrafts, like all phases of human endeavor, rather run in varying cycles. Some of us were born in the Pyrography period and reared on hand painted plates with much beshaded backgrounds; others of us date back to the stork painted on velvet with a pressed pen technique, while all of mature age have survived the era of crochet boudoir caps, of tinfoil and glass paintings,  and much be-beaded lamp shades!

1. Select Pattern - "You may be a confirmed "quilt fan" and have a chest full of beautiful coverlets and yet be eager for one more handsome pattern; or you may be just on the verge of attempting your first quilt. At any rate, you surely cannot be indifferent to the charms of patchwork — that simply isn't being done! This wholesome revival of quilt making which is so thoroughly sweeping the country is far more than a fad. One would hardly call Monticello or Mount Vernon "Vogueish."

2. Quilt Materials - To begin with, I want to say something as trite as it is important and that is, "Use the very best materials that you can afford for any and all handwork."   Extravagance is never smart, but good quilt materials are not expensive. It's the sleazy ones, unreliable dyes and starched cloth that prove expensive in the end.

3. Cutting - After the pattern and material are decided, the problem of cutting OIK our quilt is next.

This is conceded to be the least interesting and most tedious part of quilt making; however, it is certainly not a step that can be hurried as blocks must be cut exact. There is no alternative to this. The very week I am writing this there came a gingham diamond clear from Montana to me in Missouri, from a woman asking, "What's wrong with this pattern I got from a friend—it won't make a blazing star"! And indeed it would not; the angle was too acute.

4. Setting - Setting together may give a wrong impression to you of romantic mind. Now, as John Fox explains "whar you says 'making a call on a young lady' we says "settin' up with a gal"—an, stranger, we does it!" Well, setting together a quilt means business, too, because the next and final stage is quilting.

5. Borders - The borders of quilts are seldom given the prominence that they deserve. Too often we say, "I want my quilt about 72 inches wide by 84 long so I'll use blocks 12 inches square, that's 6x7—42 blocks. All right, that's that"; and the quilt may be ever so much work, beautifully done, and yet look disappointingly ordinary when finished. Personally I'd as soon hang my pictures unframed, as to finish my quilts unbordered.        

6. Quilting Patterns - Old-Time quilting patterns were few compared to the great number of designs for patch-work. About a dozen standard patterns, with their variations completed the list. Here they are: diamonds, shells or scallops, circles, ovals, cables, crescents, stars, hearts; leaves, running vines, tulips, roses, buds; pineapples, harps, birds, baskets, and feathers, feathers, feathers!

7. Quilting - We Have carried our story of quilt information through several chapters to help you decide on material, and patterns for piecing and quilting. We have told you how to cut and make up the blocks, and fit them together into a top. That is as far as most modern quilt makers care to go. It is usually the wisest thing here to call upon a professional quilter or your church "aid society" to complete the task—especially if you are inexperienced and the quilt top handsome.

THE END

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