Quilt FAQs

Lemn Sissay – a major source of inspiration for this project – was a child in care himself: aged just twelve, he was returned to the care of the local authority by those who had fostered him since being placed with them as a baby. All Lemn wanted was a hug, some loving care. He left the system when he was eighteen years old, later searching for, and finding his birth family. His mother had never agreed to a long term placement.

In 2013, Lemn initiated Christmas Day Dinners for Care Leavers. In 2017 Lemn established the Gold From The Stone Foundation (GFTS), dedicated to offering support to individuals and agencies working to address the disadvantages faced by those in care and young adult care leavers. He became the first official Olympic Poet at the London 2012 Games and was the Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He is also Canterbury’s Poet Laureate.

Knowing the comfort a quilt can bring, hearing him tell his story, inspired Maggie Lloyd-Jones to begin to make quilts to be offered of the GFTS Christmas diners: a ‘quilty hug’ and lasting memento of the day.

Our target age group is 16-25 year olds because local authorities are duty bound to offer support to those leaving care between these ages in certain circumstances, and in any event until the young person becomes twenty-one. Once a young person in care reaches 16, they are no longer considered to be in need of “care”.

A Q4CL ‘Hug’ is an oblong which aims to provide comfort to the user without swamping them.

Click here for our guidelines to stitchers: MAKE A HUG

We always need more quilts for males than females, so please think about colours and fabric patterns that might appeal to both wherever you can (though both utterly feminine or overtly masculine are welcome too!). We also welcome hugs for our LGBTQ+ community.

For more information or to show off your quilts, join us on our Facebook group:

Q4CL Makers Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/QuiltsforCareLeaversMakers/

Width of tops/quilts between 40″ and 50″, no wider, but ask if in doubt

Length of tops/quilts between 66″ and 72″ , longer also ok

Make as an OBLONG – as a wrap – NOT as a square : it needs to be able to provide a hug. The ideal is 44″ x 70″

In any event, please make the long side of your quilt at least 20″ longer than the short side.

We always need more quilts for males than females, so please think about colours and fabric patterns that might appeal to both wherever you can (though both utterly feminine or overtly masculine are welcome too!)

Please do not use anything heavier than quilting weight fabric i.e. no curtaining or upholstery.

Our quilts are meant to be a hug or comfort blanket for young adults. They need to be long enough on one side to wrap around a body and short enough on the other not to trip them up.

Try wrapping a bed blanket round yourself and walk around. You will trip up.

Try wrapping a square quilt around you and it won’t go round and won’t give comfort.

Please design your quilts to fit our sizes. Please make sure the longer dimension is AT LEAST 20″ more than the shorter one. Remember long and thin.

No, to avoid complications, we don’t accept any quilts with licensed fabrics.

If you have the complete width of the fabric with the selvedges attached, it will state whether it is a licensed fabric clearly at the edge. If in doubt, please ask us.

A long arming service – where a Q4CL volunteer quilts your top for you - is available for a donation of £10 per top towards the cost of wadding and thread.

Tops should be accompanied by a single piece of backing fabric, 8″ wider and 8″ longer than the top, plus sufficient binding to go around the top + 12″.

If you would like to be placed in the queue for this service, fill in the contact form in the first instance. You will be advised when your tops have been allocated to the next available long arm volunteer and will be bound and retained by them UNLESS you have specified otherwise. If you would like to have your quilts returned to you for binding you will need to arrange the cost of return postage directly with your longarmer.

Once you have finished your quilt, you should contact us for a label that will have it’s own unique tracking number. Please take a photograph of your quilt with one corner folded back to reveal your backing fabric and email this along with your initial request.

You will then be asked to send a stamped address envelope and your label will be sent by return. They are to be sewn (not stuck) securely on the back of the quilt.

Then please store the quilt(s) you have completed until they are called in. This will happen several times during the year: In 2023 these are planned for May and September.

Once you have donated a quilt to Q4CL we are not able to let you know who has chosen it or where in the country it has ended up for data protection reasons. Be assured that once you have handed it over to us it can be tracked by our administrators and is stored safely until it is chosen by a Care Leaver.

YES – you can donate money directly to us or buy a gift from our webshop. The proceeds are used to buy backings and waddings to finish our Block Drive hugs.

If you have fabric you’d like to donate so others can use it in a Q4CL project, you can do so via the Fabric Friends Facebook Group. If you are not on Facebook, contact us and we’ll see how best we can help.