- Hang on to your tam.

It's a whirlwind tour of Scotland from quilt shop, to quilt show, to tartan mill.

In between, you will learn how to machine applique a tartan thistle quilt.

[light upbeat music] ♪ Could you imagine a more clever object ♪ ♪ Warms the body, ignites the mind ♪ ♪ A child sleeps under mother's creation ♪ ♪ Together forever ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ [light music] - [Announcer] "Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel" is made possible in part by grants from: Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler; by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needle work and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield Processing, maker of poly-fil brand products for the home, sewing, quilt, and craft industries; and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.

[fanfare music] - Scotland, home of beautiful scenery, sheep, tartans, and quilters.

Where else to start our tour, but a quilt shop.

We visited the Pansy Pins shop right outside of Glasgow.

My hostess in Scotland and owner of the shop is Elspeth Russell.

In this one corner, I can turn and see crochet, macramé, ribbon embroidery silk painting, tatting, lace making, and maybe quilting.

Why so much, Elspeth?

- Well, when we started six years ago we didn't think it would be feasible.

Although, there was a hardcore of quilt makers, we didn't think it would be possible to make a go of it just with patchwork and quilting.

But I have to say that although we do everything, we find that the patchwork and the quilting is become very important, yeah.

- [Georgia] So, if I would ask you for a status of what's happening in quilt making, what would you say?

- I think it's becoming more and more important.

More and more people want to know about it.

There's some people who are very advanced, but an awful lot of people still just asking.

- [Georgia] Now, we have conventions and symposiums in the States.

Do you do that sort of thing over here, too?

- Probably a slightly differently, because it's just not so well-known, but there are three major events in Britain and we've now started a fourth one in Scotland.

The three major ones, there's one in the spring down near Wales called Quilts UK.

There's one in June, July called the National Patchwork Championship.

It's the original, oldest one.

And there's one in the north of England that we like to go to just for fun as a group, and it's called The Great British Quilt Festival.

It's always at the end of August.

- [Georgia] Well, we're so glad to snoop around between the shelves, and now we can let the people know where to come in Glasgow.

To come - Please do!

[Elspeth laughs] - directly to Pansy Pins.

So thank you for having us today.

- Thank you very much.

- [Georgia] Off to Sterling, where quilters had gathered for the yearly quilt event.

I was invited to give a slide lecture at Prince Albert Hall.

As I was leaving, I was so delighted to run into an old friend, Pauline Burbidge.

What a stroke of luck, Pauline Burbidge, to run into at the Scotland Nationals Quilt Day.

We feel so fortunate!

I haven't seen you in, it's been five, 10 years.

Tell me real quickly what's been happening.

- Well, the main reason why I'm here, I think is 'cause I've moved to Scotland.

So I now live in Scotland since December.

We live in the borders and we've bought a farm steading.

So we're converting it to use for both studio space and living accommodation.

- [Georgia] Now, we say we, that... - We, Charlie, my husband and I.

- [Georgia] Yes, oh, that's wonderful!

Well, you have many friends in America and I know we all respect you for the contemporary work that you've done and really leading the field in England.

And we always look forward to the new things.

And now, I'm getting to deliver postcards to one of your friends in America.

- Sure.

- [Georgia] So we look forward to new things from you and thanks so much.

I'm glad I got to see you today.

- Great!

Okay.

- [Georgia] Okay, Bye-bye.

The quilt show was at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

Now I think an art gallery is certainly a proper place to display quilts.

The quilts were hung in a creative manner using all the space available from the floor to the ceiling.

[light upbeat music] This particular quilt is by Sheena Norquay, inspired by a fireplace design.

She used hand applique with machine piecing and machine quilting.

- My interest in machine quilting started round about 1980 and my first quilting was done on garments.

This one here is done on satin acetate and it was hand painted and machine quilted.

I also make wall hangings.

This one was based on stone, sea, and sky patterns.

I did it in sections because I didn't know how to handle a large piece of fabric.

And the other thing I had to remember was I had to start at one row edge and end up at another row edge.

This pattern here, I pinned different shapes of paper on and I simply stitched round the shapes of paper from one row edge to another row edge, whereas other designs in this quilt are done freehand.

I then moved on to doing wall hangings on white acetate because I thought it would show up the quilting even better.

The white reflects the light nicely and shows up the shadows and the highlights.

I experimented with dyeing acetate fabric.

This one was based on isometric wrapping paper.

And when you look at that, you see rainbow colors.

So that's where the colors came from and then, I quilted it with matching colored threads.

The next one along was based on Egyptian art.

I was doing a course in City & Guilds at the time and we had to produce a linear design.

This was my first attempt at using metallic threads.

And this was also my first attempt at dropping the feed dog on the machine, setting the stitch length to nothing and free machine quilting.

Finally, in the white acetate hangings, we have one called Japanese Dreams.

I used Japanese crest designs, which I placed in an asymmetrical way on the fabric.

I then did the borders again in Japanese designs, birds changing into flowers, leaves.

And then I used Japanese stencil designs to quilt the areas in between.

- [Georgia] Now, I love the colors in your more modern approach in this larger wall hanging.

- [Sheena] That was a fabric challenge set by The Quilters Guild.

They had four fabrics designed.

The original design came from a Gustav Klimt painting, and they had four colorways and you had to use that fabric in your hanging.

So I studied Gustav Klimt's paintings and I was very interested in the shapes that he used in the backgrounds to his paintings.

So, the techniques are a mixture of hand applique, machine applique, but it's all machine quilted.

[light upbeat music] - [Georgia] This unusual quilt is by Jacqueline Atkinson.

It is called "The Brain Within".

The design and the title will become clear when you hear Jacqueline's occupation.

- Well, I'm actually a psychologist and I teach at the Medical School at Glasgow University.

And my research is on schizophrenia, and that was one of the reasons why I was interested in doing the quilt of the CAT scan of the brain of somebody with schizophrenia.

- [Georgia] Is this your hobby away from your work?

- Yes.

Yes, it's a thing that keeps me sane.

- [Georgia] And then, I do need to ask what castle you live in to go with these marvelous curtains hanging behind us.

Tell us the technique and why you do these magnificent curtains.

- [Jacqueline] I like doing big things.

The thing that I really don't like quilting is the finishing.

And so the bigger it is, the less you have to finish anything.

- [Georgia] Yes.

- [Jacqueline] And it done with the English method over papers.

So they're the paper templates that you oversew the pieces together.

- [Georgia] And there is a theme behind the color arrangement here.

What spurred you on for that?

- Well, I like dark colors, and these hang in my living room, which is dark green.

And the theme actually is based on creation.

And it's not a traditional block.

The block comes from the painting "The Flagellation of Christ", which has a mosaic floor.

And this is the picture of the mosaic floor, which has a central point, which is the very light one.

- [Georgia] Yes, yes.

It radiates - And then I put colors coming out from that.

- [Georgia] Quilting is growing in Jacqueline's hometown of Glasgow.

When she arrived in the late '70s, she only found one other quilter.

Now, there are four active guilds in the city.

[festive music] Edinburgh also has several active quilt guilds.

They were represented by Angela Chisholm.

What is the status of quilt making in Edinburgh?

- It's very active indeed.

In fact, the group that I belong to, Thistle Quilters, was one of the first groups that started in Scotland.

- [Georgia] That's wonderful.

And it's going strong and probably because of you.

What is your focus today in quilt making?

- Well, I like to work in silk a lot and I've started making waistcoat, we call them, vests you call them.

That is one of the things I like doing, but I also do a lot of wall hangings in silk as well.

Various sorts of silk.

- [Georgia] Well, the one behind you is just lovely.

Give us an explanation of the theme behind that and a little bit about the technique.

- [Angela] Yeah, it is called "Dawn to Dusk", and the idea was to follow the light of the sun over a landscape.

So that it starts with very pale blues and works through desert or sea colors, and then up to mountains, and then into midnight.

- [Georgia] I noticed this particular wall hanging is machine quilted.

Is that the way you go, or- - [Angela] Absolutely.

I like doing everything by machine.

I would prefer, if possible, to sit up by machine all the time.

- [Georgia] Oh, I know.

It's so much fun.

Well, productivity thrives then, right?

- Exactly, yes.

- Well, we appreciate all the quilters sharing with us today.

It's been very exciting to see how prolific everyone is over here.

[festive music] Now let's return to the "Lap Quilting" studio where I'm still working on my quilted salute to Scotland.

Treat yourself to tartans, 18 of 'em this time, machine pieced on a dark background.

Well, my fingers cannot fly fast enough.

As you can see, it's in progress, I have not finished quilting.

Let's remember, connecting the three layers, that's what quilting is all about.

I've chosen a dark batting this time.

Because this is a whole pieced top, I've chosen to lap quilt this in a supported lap hoop.

I like to have a base that fits right on my lap.

And then this is a 16-inch round hoop.

They come in 14 inches, too.

I like the fact that when I get to the border, I even have a little adapter that will fit right in, so I can pin the border along each side as I do the final quilting.

Now, to connect the three layers and do the quilting, there are many things to consider.

First of all, you wanna have your short needles.

I like a 12 or a 10, and sometimes the eyes are very tiny to thread.

That's why I've got this one already threaded for you.

A quilting thread is very nice.

They come in all colors today, either cotton or a blend, but it's something that's gonna be a little bit stronger to connect those three layers.

As far as marking the quilt, all sorts of options.

You can use masking tape for your straight lines.

And look at...for instance, on this quilt, if I'm getting ready to do a nice quarter-inch along the outside edge, I would simply put my quarter-inch masking tape right along the pieced border, and then I can quilt right out from that.

It becomes a guide so I can quilt so nice and through that quarter inch.

As for the other tools that you use, everything from your fabric marker to your chalk pencil, to your chalk roller, whatever you use, test your fabric first and make sure that it washes out very nicely.

There are stencils available.

Those are pre-cut plastic that allow you to position any design on the surface of your quilt.

They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes today.

Now, there is something new that a lot of people are using, it's a hera, H-E-R-A, and it's very nice for marking any sort of crease that you'll wanna follow in a hurry, because it'll slowly disappear once you quilt that area.

Let's go ahead and do some quilting.

On this particular quilt, I've decided to choose what I call compatible quilting lines.

And as you can see, the red quilting thread simply outlines the shape of the thistle.

Inside the leaf and inside the thistle itself, I did a little bit of crosshatching and then some straight lines up at the top.

I'd like to put a foolproof knot right at the end of my thread, which is about 20 inches, and that means holding on to that unknotted end and twisting it about three times around the needle.

And then very carefully, just pull that knot all the way down.

Each time, you'll have a perfect little tail at the end.

And, you can go ahead, if you want to, and snip off that tail.

So you have just the knot.

Now, I like to use an indented thimble that allows me to then with my offhand, which is gonna be underneath, I'm going to feel as I pull.

First I'm gonna pull the knot through the material, through that top layer, you can hear it pop, and then with my offhand, I'm actually going to feel that needle come through each time.

And I like to quilt with the needle coming towards me each time.

Do you see how I'm pulling that?

And it's the little action, I put the needle in, and then my thumb is going to actually test just the amount of needle that's coming out.

And I'm pleased with those stitches each time.

The hardest stitch is that, that one that I'm putting in that I just continue to go up and down, feeling each time underneath.

Another project to do with the tartan thistle is simply put two pieces of fabric together.

In the case of this little table topper, I just took blue plaid and a bright yellow background pressed on the tartan thistle, machine stitched around the outline of the thistle, and then pulled this off and cut out, remove the thistle, leaving about a quarter to a half-an-inch seam.

That allowed me to fray all of those edges up to the machine stitching.

And I think it leaves a nice texture.

I did the same thing with a waistcoat or a little vest.

This time, using the green plaid as the batting or the stuffing, the middle layer.

I had red on one side, the green plaid inside, and blue on the outside.

So you get a thistle on both sides with a batting coming through against a different plaid each time.

Now, let's figure out exactly how I made this quilt by going to the sewing machine.

The tartan thistle block starts with a 16-and-a-half inch dark foundation, or you could use any solid color of your choice.

Go ahead and fold it in half on the diagonal to get the true center here.

I then press the Grid Grip outline of the thistle on the plaid, lined it up so you've got that center of the thistle with that true diagonal and come all the way down to this end.

You do nothing more than machine stitch all the way around the outline of the thistle connecting the two layers.

Then, I remove this Grid Grip.

Actually, I was kind of proud, I used the same piece for all 18 blocks.

Maybe that's the Scotch in me.

Then, when that has been removed, you will take your applique scissors, the one with the extension here, and holding it just like that you're going to cut away the entire outline of the thistle and keep it in one shape.

As you can tell, I use that same outline for the borders of the quilt.

So you'll just keep snipping away until you have all the tartan revealed.

Now, you can look at it and realize that that one straight line of stitching is not gonna be enough for the strength of your quilt.

So what you want is a satin stitch, or a narrow zigzag to cover the foundation and go into the plaid.

In order to stitch that, you'll want to use a stabilizer underneath your plaid, either a clear or a plain newsprint, or a tearaway, or even a dark piece of paper, lightweight paper that will slip underneath.

Then with your open applique foot on, I like to do a satin stitch that covers not only that straight line of stitching, but goes into the plaid also.

And so you'll know there's a double reinforcement as you're coming all the way down.

[machine revving] Now, once you've gone all around the thistle, then you'll take the tearaway, the paper from behind, and you'll notice that there's still gonna be a little extension of plaid.

Once again, you'll pick up those scissors and you can come in just any excess plaid that's coming out, trim that right up to your satin stitch.

How about some more plaid?

This time, we got to see how plaids or tartans were woven in Scotland.

As quilters today, we are interested in all forms of cloth, and of course, we could not leave Scotland without going to a tartan mill.

It's a pleasure to introduce Mr. Kenneth Maxwell, who is production manager at Peter MacArthur & Company.

Tell us, what is the difference between a tartan and a plaid, Ken?

- Well basically, there's not really any difference.

Plaid is more an American term for the same thing as we would call a tartan.

We would term a plaid as being an article of clothing which drapes from the shoulder across the body.

But other than that, there's not really a true difference between the two things.

- [Georgia] Now, what is this, I've heard such things about registering a tartan.

What does that mean?

- Well, registered tartans are generally the traditional tartans that everybody knows has a family name.

But, we can always register new tartans.

Although there are never really any new families coming along, there are always people who wish to have tartans registered for one reason or another.

One of the latest sort of trends has been for people like business companies or football teams to have their own designs.

So they are registered with the Tartan Society.

- Well, that's interesting.

Well, I've just enjoyed looking at the array of designs in this book.

Tell us a little bit about the Fraser line here.

- Well the Fraser, you can see from here, these colors that we have on this page are what we would call old colors.

Many people refer to them as ancient tartans.

And they are based upon what you would call the standard dyes available at the time, which would be animal dyes or vegetable dyes.

But nowadays, we would use what we would term modern acid dyes, which give you much more vivid colors especially in the bright reds and so on.

And although the pattern is identical, the whole picture of the tartan appears completely different.

- [Georgia] More updated, so to speak.

- It's more updated, yeah.

But we also have what we would call a muted tartan.

And the story behind the muted is that after the 1745 rebellion, tartan was banned.

Scots weren't allowed to show the tartan anywhere in public.

If they were seen wearing it, they would've been flogged.

The tartan would've been destroyed.

So people, rather than lose their tartan and their identity, they buried the cloth in the ground.

And when it was dug up many years later, due to the peat and so on that's found in the earth, the colors had all muted.

They had changed to these sort of brownie tones, sort of darker greens, darker browns, muted sort of tones that you see now.

- [Georgia] Well, we look forward to going through and seeing the mill, all the operation, and thank you so much for opening up your doors to us and giving us a chance to fill people in and give them more knowledge on how tartans are woven.

- You're very welcome.

- [Georgia] Thank you.

- You're welcome to wander and fancy as you please.

- [Georgia] First, we went to the yarn store where cones of yarn are stored until they are needed to be converted into cloth The large number of bins enable different colors, thicknesses, and types of yarn to be kept separate from each other.

[machine whirring] Just watch as these hands prepare the proper size cones which will fit the creole.

Her speed reflects years of experience with such dexterity.

[machine whirring] The warp is prepared by running on one section at a time across the width of the drum until the required number of threads is reached.

[machine whirring] When finished, the warp is then transferred from the drum onto a metal warp beam, which will eventually be put onto the loom.

There are many grades of wool.

The finer yarns go into worsted wool.

These wools come from Australia, where the climate is more conducive for fine yarns from the sheep.

Once the individual threads are drawn through the eyes of the heddles, the rest of the process is all automated.

Ken slowed the machine down to explain how the weft, now these are the crosswise yarns, are inserted by rapiers, a system of grippers mounted on flexible plastic tapes.

These looms insert up to 220 weft threads per minute.

[machine clicking] Soon, out comes the tartan in all of its glorious color.

The yard goods are carefully inspected for any flaws or mistakes.

If any are found, each area is isolated and carefully rewoven.

Before long, the woven tartan is rolled into bales for shipping to customers all over the world.

Look at that shading.

That is absolutely beautiful.

Each proudly displays a selvage, "Made in Scotland".

"Made in Scotland", nice, nice.

[light upbeat music] ♪ Forms the body, ignites the mind ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ [light music] - [Announcer] "Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel" is made possible in part by grants from: Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler; by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needle work and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield Processing, maker of poly-fil brand products for the home, sewing, quilt, and craft industries; and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.