Are you interested in learning how to quilt, or do you have a child who would like to learn? If so, the Beginning Quilting Kit from Historical Folk Toys is a great way to start because it has most of what you will need to do three great projects: a doll quilt, a small pillow, and a potholder. Of the three projects in the kit, I chose the doll blanket, as it will go along with my next project review, a poppet doll. Both of these will be perfect gifts for my daughter for Christmas.
The Beginning Quilting Kit is a great kit for anyone who wants to learn to quilt, whether young or old. Included in the kit are several large squares of fabric, a large piece of muslin, polyester batting, a needle and thread and instructions for all three projects. All the quilter has to provide is a ruler, a pen, scissors, and pins. I would also recommend working with a thimble when doing this type of hand-stitching.
Making the Doll Blanket
Making the doll blanket did take some time, but overall it is pretty straight forward. There are three basic steps to putting this, or any, quilt together:
- Cutting the fabric — The instructions call for cutting the larger squares into smaller squares and arranging them in a random order.
- Sewing the fabric — Sewing the fabric consists of sewing each of the cut squares together into a strip and then sewing the strips together to form the top layer of your patchwork doll quilt.
- Quilting the fabric — The last, and most time consuming, step is the actual quilting. The patchwork layer is basted to the muslin with the polyester batting in the middle, and each square is stitched around. This stitching not only brings out the pattern, but also reinforces the strength of the quilt, making it durable.
What Buyers Should Know
The Beginning Quilting Kit comes with everything you need to make all three projects, the doll blanket, a potholder and a patchwork pillow. At $14.99 it is a great value. This kit would make a great introduction to sewing and quilting for a mother and child project, or for a homeschooling project about Colonial America.
One drawback to the Beginning Quilting Kit is that even though it is geared towards beginners, the instructions are not clear enough for a true novice. The confusion stems from there being three projects in the kit. Some of the instructions are combined for all three projects, while the rest of the instructions are split out. I have quilted before and have a pretty good background in sewing, but I found myself referring back to the instructions often and questioning if I was indeed following the right directions. With a little parental guidance, however, even a novice sewer should be able to complete this kit.
Finding the Beginning Quilting Kit
This kit was provided by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan (near Detroit) and can be found at their gift shop if you are able to make the visit. It is also available at their online store. Museum shops often have toys and kits that extend the learning experience beyond the visit. The Henry Ford Museum does have exhbits on modern history, such as the role of the automobile in American life and aviation history. For history buffs and history teachers, though, the real gem of the Henry Ford is Greenfield Village which has the Wright brothers bicycle shop from Dayton, Ohio where the Wright flyer was created and Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park labs and offices from Edison, New Jersey.
Historical Folk Toys specializes in educational products at low prices, but they are a wholesaler, selling mainly to museums. However, homeschooling groups could easily meet their minimum order requirements.
Quilting demonstration at the Henry Ford Museum, Photo courtesy Roy Ritchie
**The Beginning Quilting Kit was provided for review to The Untrained Housewife from the Henry Ford Museum.**
