Saturday 16 August 2014

sew vintage {a WiP}





a few test blocks first

no sashing ...


... and sashed 





Some time ago I spotted a photo of a curtain made out of cutter quilt tops. What particulary caught my eye were the segments of Puss-in-a-Corner blocks. So soft & pretty! so scrappy! Ever since, I've wanted to replicate something similar, and, more recently, to use up some of the vintage looking Japanese cottons I purchased at Amitie/ Australia.

It has seemed a little strange to be working with mainly light & medium fabrics! But I found that the more fabrics I used, the less important any one decision became. I'm using the measurements given in Amy Smart's book "fabulously fast quilts", a book full of time-saving methods to cut, piece & assemble quilts. For this particular block, Amy stacks & reshuffles complementary fabrics whereas I am stacking & reshuffling anything & everything! The finished blocks are 8 1/2" x 8 1/2". I've made quite a few blocks now but need to keep going to make it up to a reasonable size curtain quilt!
Then the big decision will be whether to simply stick with my initial plan and join them block to block, or maybe add sashing and borders with something vintage-y like the Kona Kale solid! What do you think?

a bit more # 18
Do you know what a "cutter" quilt is? No? well neither did I! 
So to find out I checked back to Kathy @ Material Obsession  http://materialobsession.typepad.com/material_obsession/2008/01/cutter-quilt-cu.html
A "cutter" quilt is an old torn vintage quilt top.
People reuse the selvegable parts to create something else
... pin cushions/bunting/teddy bears/Xmas ornaments/chair covers/tablecloths/
doll quilts/curtains ...

4 comments:

Karyn said...

I vote for no sashing. It looks very pretty!

Julie said...

I'm going with no sashing too. Love that scrappy vintage look.

Hettie's Mum said...

Yep definitely no sashing. The blocks look super without. The sashing seems to make it look sterile and less vibrant.. Whereas with out it is interesting and adds some challenge to my eye! I like the way it's shaping up a lot. Very creative

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Consensus then is ... no sashing! Thanx so much for the quick feedback, especially before I had gone too far with this. It's really great to be able to stand back & really look at things on my little design wall, just wish I had room for a bigger one! (and I'll use the sashing in something else...maybe something a bit darker in value, with more blue / greens?) Linda