I recently started working on a new column for the
magazine. My thought was to create a
feature where old quilt patterns were re-stitched with fresh fabrics. I started to dig through thirty year old
issues I found in the warehouse and was amazed to realize that instructions
thirty years ago were predominately templates with little to no instruction for
assembly. I guess if you’re piecing by
hand and you probably learned most of your skills from a grandmother, you wouldn’t
need all those instructions we are so used to using.
I found a pattern in one of the old magazines that really
caught my eye. It’s was a very basic
hexagon pinwheel and the sample, you could tell from the photo, was done in old
shirts and probably scraps. This was
very typical for the era.
To be honest, I’m not much for hand piecing but that’s not
to say I don’t admire those that do. It's really a time thing with me. My
mind started to think about how to simplify the process and make it
faster. This type of quilt pattern is
quite popular right now. You know,
anything hexagon.
I selected the fabrics I wanted to use, then began to
experiment. First, I would strip piece to save time. That was easy enough. Figured the angles and selected my rulers
then it totally dawned on me. Faster can mean more complicated.
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| Fabrics from Moda. |
There is a lot more to figure out these days to update those
simple template patterns. With all our
wonderful gadgets, it’s faster only after someone figures it all out. Wish me luck!
