Friday, April 24, 2020

Skirted



A week or so ago, I was kinda moping around trying to decide what to make next, and happened upon a too-small skirt that, a while back, I'd transferred from my closet to my stash. I loved that skirt. So much that I'd kept it around way longer that practical to serve its original purpose. But considering it was made from a nice neutral linen-cotton blend with subtlety contrasting top-stitching, I'd deemed it worthy of cutting up and incorporating into a quilt project. Without a clear plan for what was next, I cut my new 'fabric' free from its zipper, waistband, and hem, and set to finding some stash and scraps to mix with it.


As far as design inspiration, I thumbed through a few of my improv books, and in Gwen Marston's Minimal Quiltmaking, I found something I felt inclined to explore. The chapter was entitled "Hard-Edge Quilts," and in it, Gwen mentioned that the term "was coined in 1959 to describe the work of California painters who were painting 'non-representative work with clear and sharp delineated areas of color.'"

I ended up taking my project in two directions somewhat different than what Gwen described. One, my main 'fabric' was neutral, and I kept all my other fabrics the same, the notable exception, if you call it that, was an Essex Yarn Dyed in Leather - a light gold that matched one of the top-stitched threads in the skirt fabric. So color was definitely not a focus, rather the lack of it. Two, Gwen's examples were mostly on quite a large scale, where I got bogged down in smaller segments, though throughout the progression of my quilt, I worked to change that.


So in addition to the skirt, and that Leather Essex, I also used the skirt lining, which was a cotton poly blend, definitely not something I normally use in my quilts, but it was fabric, and it contrasted nicely to the skirt fabric. Also in the mix was a good bit of Essex Homespun in Natural, a fat-quarter of Carolyn Friedlander's Gleaned in White, and a scrap of Essex in Natural. All told, I added approximately three-quarters of a yard of stash and scrap fabric to the 1 1/2 yard of skirt/lining fabric to make the quilt top/


For quilting, I did emulate the mood of Gwen's quilts in the book, and used several different designs as I moved around the quilt. Guidelines were marked as needed with my trust hera marker, which means I marked stitching lines 2-3" apart then eyeballed the stitching lines in between.





I used mostly Aurifil 50wt #2309 [Silver White], though on the Leather Essex - and beyond just a bit - I used #2314 [Beige, but really a nice light gold]. The backing was pieced from stash, and I bound it in an unknown neutral, though I was just about 12" short after cutting up a fat-quarter.



Luckily a short length of another slightly lighter neutral was in my scrap basket nearby, so that was handy. For that short bit, I went ahead and top-stitched the binding as I was sewing it on - quirky maybe and not that visible in the finish - but it was fun and why not?




The quilt finished at 44" x 50", and it really fit the bill for what I needed this last week. Plus it was a nice change of pace to use a repurposed piece of clothing as my starting off point. There are two additional clothing items I moved from closet to stash along with this one, so don't be surprised to see another similarly inspired project soon.

13 comments:

  1. fantastic! I love your inclusion of clothing and learning your thought process.

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  2. beautiful combination of fabrics and the quilting looks amazing, I especially like the crosses and how they stand out.

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  3. I really love that you can still see the top stitching lines of the old skirt. Choosing the Leather Essex to match one of the top stitch threads was a great choice as I think it really pulls the eye around the quilt and into looking for the top stitching detail.

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  4. Just great! simple, clean but then your quilting make it so wonderful!

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  5. I couldn't wait to hear about this quilt from it's name! Now I get it! Repurpose of clothing has become very popular these days. You brought together your skirt fabric with all the other fabrics perfectly. I really love the Leather color!

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  6. I enjoyed reading about your process, reasoning and choices!
    Why not recycle fabrics with amazing texture, (colors or prints), really why waste that?
    Gwen Marston is always inspiring, I need to buy that book.
    Your 'Skirt' quilt is superb.

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  7. Love, love, LOVE your neutral quilt!! Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I read the post. Recycled materials? That's SEW awesome! Interesting illusion you created by "quilting" on the rogue binding section. I'll have to remember that slick trick!

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  8. Gwennie would be proud. I miss that lady! Your quilt is so very Zen. Perfect for this time. And for your binding, you followed one of her maxims: if it’s too short, add on to it.

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  9. I love that you re-purposed the skirt and ended-up with a lovely quilt. The quilting is really beautiful. Great finish!

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  10. I can see how it got you out of your funk. Just simply picking something up, no end goal in mind, no deadlines... just enjoying the sewing. And I think it shows that you did enjoy it! xo Melanie

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  11. Great project!! I am sure I will look at my cast off clothing in a whole new way after seeing this!

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  12. Incredibly good! I also made the experience of using old (too little) shirts etc. for quilting during holiday in sicily (there are no shops of quilting fabric...) and it was a lot of fun.

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  13. The interaction of the threads running through the skirt fabric with the quilting lines adds another level of interest to the neutral (calming) palette. Love the title too!

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