Broderie Perse: Covid Quilt Challenge #5

Another weekend down, another quilt challenge done. This week our randomly chosen technique was broderie perse. Step one was to google the technique. Basically it's fussy cutting appliqué. We decided to go quite traditional with the project (since it's a very traditional technique) and also said that we would only use inherited fabrics for it. We did however concede that hand appliqué was maybe not achievable in a weekend (at least for us with little to no experience), so we used machine appliqué.

After a bit of googling, the next step was to pull out all the old fabrics we had and try to see what went together. Then it was a matter of adding fusible web to the things we wanted, cutting them out and laying them out. That was easier said than done. It was hard to picture what something might look like once it was cut out, so we each did some cutting before arranging, and we each ended up cutting out a few things that ultimately didn't make the cut.

My friend's fabric had bigger designs on it, and she didn't have much of it, so she went with individual bigger pieces.

She went through a few different arrangement of these pieces, but ended up with a lovely wreath.

She machine quilted around the outside and inside of the wreath, and picked a lovely back and binding to match.

Lovely backing fabric

The fabrics I chose to use had much smaller designs, so I chose to cut out 4 of everything, and make a symmetric design.

As you can see, this took a bit of a toll on the fabric I chose.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but once I got a few things cut out, this layout kind of designed itself. Originally I had less cut out and no overlap, but once I got a few things placed on the fabric, I decided to add some more (and of course it was the pieces that were the fussiest of the cutting that ended up being the ones I added).

I laid it out on my square ruler, because I knew that was about the size I wanted, and then I could easily audition in on different fabrics to find a background. I had a yellow background that I really liked the blue flowers on, but I had all those little yellow dots that wouldn't have worked.

Everything stuck down

Once I got it together, I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do about finishing it. Especially because I had a large number of very small pieces. I let that percolate for a while, and decided that since it was a more traditional technique, I would go with a more traditional finishing method. First I hand embroidered the pieces on (after googling a few stitches for ideas). Then I hand quilted around the design and a 1/2" cross hatch across the rest of it. That much hand work and manipulation meant that some of the small pieces lost their stickiness, so it was a good thing that I had stitched everything down in some way. All the hand work  took me a good chunk of Sunday, but I did manage to get it done in the weekend.

(Great mini quilt frames made by my grandfather)

Another One Done: Covid Quilt Challenge #4

The challenge this time around was "Tessellations". First we had to do a little bit of research to figure out what counted as a tessellation and what didn't. We also had to put a lot of consideration into what tessellations could be done in quilt form.

I really struggled with this one. I found lots of ideas I liked and I had jotted down, but I didn't find anything that super stood out to me, or super inspired me. I was struggling with what direction to go with it. Then, as I was looking at a number of tessellation designs online, and thinking about whether picking certain colours would give me more inspiration, I was kind of commenting to myself that lots of the designs were in black and white. That phrase just sat with me. It spoke to the heartbreak I had been feeling for what is happening in the world. It spoke to the heartbreak I had been feeling listening to stories from complete strangers, from acquaintances, and from friends. But it spoke to something more. It spoke to the hope I felt in seeing people start to come together. And it spoke to my desire for that hope to continue.

I then searched for a tessellation design that involved hands, because I like the idea of being hand in hand. Of being there for one another. Of community. I found this Shaka tessellation by Joshua Ariza.

My next step was to google the shaka hand symbol and whether there was any meaning I didn't want to have as part of my quilt. (How did people design quilts before the internet?) What I found really solidified for me that this was the design I wanted to go with. It was an article entitled "A Short History of the Shaka" by Megan Denny which stated:

The shaka is a symbol of the “Aloha spirit,” which is the coordination of the mind and spirit to think and exude good feelings to others...The simple gesture symbolizes a reverence, solidarity, compassion and friendship. It is a sign of respect and mutual understanding for the recipient.

I knew that this was the design I wanted to do. I can't even come close to understanding what other are feeling right now, or what they have gone through, are going through, and unfortunately, will go through. And I know that me making a small quilt in the isolation of my house doesn't fix anything or make anything better. And I was really worried about whether I would make some wrong design choice that would be interpreted the wrong way or be offensive to someone. But from everything I've been watching and reading made me feel like doing something (even if it's wrong and I grow from that) is better than ignoring the problem or not doing anything at all. Maybe it will make someone think. Or maybe it will start a conversation.

That was a lot of (heavy) writing to get to a quilt with a 30" perimetre, but I wanted to make sure I documented my thoughts and feelings on this one.

A lot of this one relied on the quilting (as you can see here from the top without the quilting on it). I was a little worried, because I don't have a whole lot of machine quilting experience, and it's been a while since I've done any free motion quilting. But I set up a test run in the morning, and it went well, so I dove right in.

As I was thinking about the quilt top and what I wanted to do with it, I really wanted the top to speak for itself and I just couldn't picture a binding around it, so I decided to try my hand at facing. It was quite easy and came together really nicely to produce the exact look I wanted.

For her tessellation challenge, my friend wanted to do something that was based on piecing something that was a tessellation (and not rely on fusible webbing). She decided to go with a tumbling block base for her design. She pulled out great fabrics and colours, and did a great job of placement.

Once she had the base done, she machine appliqued triangles on to the design to add another dimension.

She trimmed it down and added a binding.

The simplicity of the quilting on the back is really great (and carries through the tessellation).

One more challenge completed.