Quilting is the Workout You Never Expected

People assume quilting is a relaxing hobby. They picture someone sitting peacefully in a cozy chair, sipping tea and gently stitching little pieces of fabric together. Adorable. Completely misleading. Quilting is exercise and frankly, it may be one of the most demanding workout programs around.

First off, there’s pressing fabric. Quilters press seams approximately 47,000 times per project. That’s not ironing. That’s repetitive upper-body conditioning. Your arms are working, your shoulders are engaged, and your patience is being thoroughly tested.

Then there’s lifting bolts of fabric. Have you ever tried carrying six bolts of cotton from the fabric store to your car? That’s strength training. Add a few yards of flannel and suddenly you’re doing a deadlift.

And don't forget wrestling with batting. Batting is light and fluffy… until you try to unfold it without getting the cat tangled in it. At that point, quilting becomes a combination of yoga, wrestling, and emergency floor exercises.

The real cardio begins when you run out of thread! You’re happily sewing along, feeling productive, when suddenly but the thread has vanished and you are stitching with air. You leap from your chair, search the sewing room, trip over the cat (again), and race to the thread drawer. That’s interval training.

So, the next time someone says you should get out of your sewing room and “get some exercise”, just tell them you’ve got it covered like a queen sized quilt!

Please join us here every other Wednesday for another fun, fiber-filled installment of By the Yard. You can see this and other fun comics from By the Yard® in the new 2027 calendar for quilters available at www.bytheyardcomics.com!

—by Jen Lopez