Quilt Sandwich has the largest collection of extra wide fabrics in the UK. Most extra wide fabrics are 108 inches wide and this makes them superb to use as quilt backings as there is no need to join fabric. This also means that they are much better value. All our fabrics are 100% cotton and can also be used for standard patchwork, dressmaking, bags and indeed many other projects.
We also have a range of extra wide traditional Indonesian Batiks which we have had specially made for us.
Standard width batik is usually made on tight woven fabric called 50s. This is a little too tight for quilt backs and not recommenced. All our batiks are made on 40s fabric which is perfect.
So how much extra wide fabric do I need?
If you are having your quilt top longarmed, normally at least 4 extra inches are needed around the quilt top, so measure your top in both directions and add on 8 inches. If not then you still need some extra wiggle room.
As a quick guide a king size quilt would normally require 3m, a double 2.5m and a single 2m. There are 39 inches in a metre for those who are calculating.
Quilt Sandwich also offers a longarm quilting service and a discounted rate is also available when backing fabric and wadding is purchased. For full details click here to visit our website - www.quiltsandwich.co.uk.
This year we have been invited to take our fabrics to a couple of local shows.
On 9th June 2018 we will be at Clifford Village Hall, LS23 6HY and 13-15th July 2018 at Whitby Quilt Show.
We will also be at Festival of Quilts at the NEC 9-12th August 2018.
So don't forget your fabric swatches to match up for a beautiful quilt back.
At Quilt Sandwich we are proud to announce that we have teamed up with a wonderful group of fabric scientists in Java, Indonesia to manufacture the worlds first Extra Wide Fabric for Quilt Backs made entirely from Recycled Plastic Bottles.
Our Fabric Scientists in Java (Fabricists as they prefer to be known) have sourced millions of Plastic Bottles from mountains in Maldives. Although the Maldives is one of the lowest lying countries in the world they had a mountain the size of Snowdon made entirely of discarded Plastic Bottles.
Indeed when it rained it was so large that people were even able to surf on it!
The wonderful thing with this product is that it is 100% made from recycled material, it is ideal for your quilt backs. Following the developments by our Fabricists it is now as soft as 100% cotton and is wonderful for either Longarm Machining, Hand Sewing or domestic machining.
An additional benefit to this product is that it is 100% waterproof and so your quilt will never get wet and any quilt shows in the UK can be safely ran in even the worst British Summer conditions. This has been extensively tested in back gardens throughout the land already with massive success.
We are pleased to announce that following the extensive manufacturing we now have a sample shipment of 50,000m of product in a container UK bound.
As this product is 100% recycled we have priced it extremely competitively. At QuiltSandwich we want to save the Planet one Bolt of Extra Wide Fabric at a time and so we are offering this product at cost.
Although the development of the product has taken six years and 4,000,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah to come to this point we are happy to pass this development on at only £8.00 per metre for the Extra wide Fabric at 108" wide!
Should you wish to place an advance order please contact us by email at Quilt@royalhotelbrid.co.uk
January and February are both mad months in the QuiltSandwich Show Calendar.
Started with a magnificent new show at Newark. This was then followed by Edinburgh and Harrogate Quilt Shows. The next to come are Duxford and finally before the Easter Break comes The Scottish Quilting Show.
At QuiltSandwich, as we also run Patchwork and Quilting breaks and retreats at our hotel in Bridlington the Winter and Spring Season tend to be out times for getting out and about and hitting the Shows with our 400+ Extra Wide Fabrics.
Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the best fabric is used for backing your quilts. This implies having the right colours, right feel, right type and of course the right size. As Longarm Quilters when we receive a top to quilt and the backing fabric is pieced it is the most difficult job in the world to make the back look as magnificent as the top. Use Extra Wide Fabric and ‘no problems’.
With our range of 400+ Extra Wide Backing Fabrics we have so many that the right choice is just on the shelf waiting.
The Glasgow Quilt Show at the SEC is on from 8th to 11th March and is the largest Quilt Show in this season. It is a four day event which is on from 10am to 5pm (4pm on the Sunday). It is advertised as:
“The Scottish Quilting Show is a fabulous showcase of the finest patchwork and quilting, and highlights the wonderful work of Scottish quilters. Enjoy exciting exhibitions that encourage all aspects of this delightful and wonderfully creative art form. There’s talks, competitions, demonstrations and workshops – a true patchwork paradise!”
As traders at The Scottish Quilting Show Quilt Sandwich have been provided with a number of free tickets which we would love to offer to UKQU Blog Readers. We have 8 to give away. If you want one please send us an email with your name and address on so that we can send you the ticket. The only thing that you need to do is: –
Tell us how many fabrics we have in our collection of Extra Wide Backings; and,
Send your email to Quilt@royalhotelbrid.co.uk by close of play (6pm) on 2nd March. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you all there (or at Duxford).
This last month has been hectic. We have been lucky enough to spend our Christmas and New Year on holiday in Lanzarote with my Mum – which as usual proved rather challenging for many reasons.
The day after we got back we headed up to Scarborough and collected our new purchase. We do love Boxers and this big boxer is proving to be no exception. Specifically sized, specified and designed to take all of our fabrics around the country, our beautiful Boxer Van will be a great asset on the road as we spread the word of the wonders of Extra Wide Fabric.
A few days later it was time to load up and head off for our first quilt show of the year.
This is a brand new show too in a great untapped location – Newark. Loading all of the fabrics and equipment is quite a feat, quite like completing a jigsaw, and takes three of us around 4 hours to complete.
We travelled down to Newark on the Wednesday so we were ready to get an early start setting up at the venue on Thursday. As time goes by we are learning what works best whilst doing the quilt shows. We tend to prefer to use self-catering accommodation when doing the quilt shows. It gives us a bit more space to chill and relax and it also means I can get showered and PJ’s on when we get back from a hectic days cutting at the show and relax for the evening.
The Newark show was at a super new venue which offered great access for the exhibiters and we were able to pull the van right up to one of the sets of door in the Hall. Setting up though is a long process and takes the two of us around 7 hours. After a long hard physical day, it was time to head off for the supermarket for provisions. Our Sat Nav took us to Asda in Newark, but unfortunately we couldn’t get into their carpark due to a height restriction barrier!
I guess that is a drawback of having an enormous range of fabrics to choose from.
We ended up heading to Tescos at Ollerton! Having filled up with our provisions for the next few days it was back to the accommodation to make dinner and deal with the emails before relaxing and watching a bit of tv before bed.
After a great night sleep in a comfy bed we were back to the show ready for the door opening.
We met some lovely people and saw many friends too. For a brand new show in a new location the footfall was really impressive and all of the traders were impressed with the location and will be back again next year.
We are pleased to say that we have already signed up to being at the Newark quilt show second year in 2019.
We arrived back home in Bridlington late Sunday night and then first thing on Monday we had to set about emptying the van and preparing for our quilters arriving at the hotel. We were almost full for a fantastic retreat with Jennie Rayment later that day.
On Tuesday I teach a beginners patchwork/sewing class for the charity I work for at the local Priory Church Rooms. So I had to dash off to this and leave Tim to look after Jennie and all the lady quilters at the hotel.
Wednesday was a different story and it was my turn to play. Running and organising the retreats has to have some perks! So Wednesday was my day to join in the class with Jennie. We made bargellos and had such great fun as usual. You won’t believe some of the things that we get up to during the coffee breaks!
Courtesy of Maureen Bromley. Thanks.
Thursdays I normally teach art/craft for the charity, but unfortunately I had to take the day off to attend a funeral over in Halifax, so again I had to leave our lovely quilters & Jennie to Tim to look after. It was the last day of the three day retreat and workshops at the end of which the ladies said their fond farewells and headed home with more knowledge that you can shake a hoola hoop at!
Friday – time to throw things in a suitcase very quickly and head off to Manchester where we are overnighting in preparation for our flight the next day to Jamaica.
And so ends a hectic January. The last week of course – lost in an ‘All Inclusive haze’. Bring on February and March – to us this is ‘Show Time’!
Here at Quilt Sandwich, we have now taken the plunge and purchased a super van to use for the Quilt Shows such as Festival of Quilts, Great Northern Quilt Show and others.
Up until now we have been hiring one each time however, our product range of Extra Wide Fabric has proved so popular amongst Quilters that we have booked for many more Quilt Shows.
The last occasion we hired, was rather stressful.
We made the journey down to Hull to collect it and when we got there, Hertz said they didn't have our booking! We only made it three weeks early with them direct when we took the van back after Festival of Quilts.
Of course they didn't have a van available and to be honest, they could not be bothered to help locate one. We had to return back to Bridlington without a van and hit the internet to find one for the next morning. Luckily we managed to find one for the next day and we managed to catch up and get our fabric to the show.
So yesterday, we collected our brand new van, a wonderful Peugeot Boxer, and took it to our signwriters for signing. Here are a few pics
Quilt Sandwich will be at the following shows in 2018 -
Newark - 19-21st Jan
Edinburgh - 16-18th Feb
Harrogate 23-25th Feb
Duxford 2-4th March
Glasgow 8-11 March
Festival of Quilts @ NEC Birmingham 9-12th Aug
Harrogate 31st Aug - 2nd Sept
Malvern 19-21st Oct
Springfields 7-8th Dec
Of course all our extra wide fabric is available in our online shop too here -
A super new website for quilters has been launched.
www.ukqu.co.uk is going to be a fantastic resource for all quilters. It started with a facebook group of the same name around four years ago and this group today has over 13000 members.
I am lucky to be one of the guest bloggers for this new website and below is a copy of my first blog for the site.
So as this is my fist blog post
I would like to introduce myself.
I am Fiona Garth and together
with my husband Tim we own and run The Royal Bridlington hotel where for many a
year now we have run Patchwork and Quilting Retreats, offer a Longarm Quilting
Service and through our website and at Quilt Shows throughout
the UK we are the
purveyors of the largest range of Extra Wide Backing Fabrics in the UK.
My interest in sewing has
extended right back to a very early age when I used to sew alongside my aunt. I
got a brand new sewing machine for my 10th Birthday. It was a Singer with lots of fancy stitches
on discs. I soon started making clothes
for my Mum and I would often come home from school to find fabric and a request
for a dress for the next day!
Approximately 10 years ago my
Mum once again surprised me with a new sewing machine. This time it was a Janome 11000 which came
with a quilting kit. I had never made a
quilt, so I ordered a book from the internet then later the fabrics and I made
a quilt. This got me hooked. Tim’s
‘cousin’ offered to come down to Bridlington to provide some advice and so the
Patchwork courses began. We got a group
of ladies together and Susan Briscoe provided a three day retreat for us all
and then the acorn was planted and the Oak tree started to grow.
From this one course we now run
well over a couple of dozen retreats / workshops per year both out of season,
winter through to spring and also in the summer months.
Like most quilters, I thought I
would just quilt my own tops, but my pile of UFO’s soon grew with the workshops
and the other students likewise. I would rather make a new top than battle with
a large quilt under my machine – its hard on the eyes and shoulders. We decided to invest in a Longarm Quilting Machine and after much
research we chose an ABM Innova 26 inch with Lightening Stitch & computer
(affectionately known as Rodney &
DelBoy!) We flew out to Utah for
extensive training – but I will tell you much more about this later. Of course with the growth of the Longarm side
of our business we then identified the need for Extra Wide Fabric and we now
also import specially made extra wide
traditional batik direct from Java.
All in all over the last 10
years we have had a massive learning curve but at the same time we have had
some wonderful experiences and met some amazing and talented people from all
around the world – although none of this was in the original business plan!
Over the next series of Blogs I
will be telling you all lots more about our journey from the early days to the
current day. Indeed I would also love to
tell you about my latest venture into the world of teaching for a local
Charity, The Hinge Centre, as their Arts and Crafts Coordinator providing Arts
and Crafts for therapy and development to all sectors of the community.
