Up to the Challenge?

Hello! My name is Crystal and I normally blog my sewing misadventures over at Sonnet of the Moon.

Aesthetically I’m drawn to today’s modern quilts. Lots of white, colors that pop, improvisational, wonky. When I flip through pictures of quilts, the bam, in your face modern quilts are always my favorites.



Emotionally, though, I’m drawn to traditional quilts. I like to think about the people who made them, why they made them, who they made them for. I imagine women swapping ideas for blocks, trading scraps of fabric, sewing by hand, by candlelight. I think of the rich history, the memories in each scrap of fabric. Who was the first person to create a nine-patch? A log cabin? Who first thought hexagons were worth all that trouble? Were they as obsessed with them as I am?



Unfortunately, as much as I love the idea of traditional quilt blocks, I don’t like them very much. Modern quilts are so fresh and fun, traditional quilts are bland and boring.

At least that’s what I thought when Jen approached me with her idea for this project. I was pretty convinced that there was no way to make traditional quilt blocks modern or interesting.

But then the rebellious side of my personality kicked in. Surely there must be a way to give traditional blocks some modern appeal. There has to be a way to make a sampler quilt look good. There has to be a way to modify tradition without changing it beyond recognition.

So that’s the challenge I set for myself and that’s my goal in this project. I look forward to thinking about the history of quilting while making my traditional blocks. I look forward to picking bright, beautiful fabrics to compliment the block designs. I look forward to making a sampler quilt I don’t hate.

Maybe I can do all this and maybe I can’t…but at least I’m going to try. Hopefully you’ll want to give it a try too.

What's Modern Part 1

Mini Patchwork Quilt
Originally uploaded by BooDilly's

Millie had it right when she sang that "everything today is thoroughly modern." Most quilts that I see exhibit modern characteristics.

One quality I consider modern is use of white space. Modern quilts, like modern page layouts, use white space (though not necessarily white fabric) to their advantage.

This modern Nine Patch quilt alternates blank white space with a printed fabric that includes a lot of white space. This technique gives the quilt a crisp, minimalist feeling. A quilt alternating two small scale prints with little white space wouldn't feel nearly as up to date.

Tradition

Quilting is an age-old traditional craft. Quilts have long been seen as necessary, functional items, as well as works of handmade art. Participating in this craft, in whatever form, connects us to history, ancestors, and tradition.

Lately, though, it seems that contemporary quilters have moved away from traditional forms. This is a shame to me, because traditional quilt blocks are what first interested me in the craft. I love the sense of geometry and order that traditional quilts present. The calculated angles and symmetry appeal to me. At the same time, I love the look of modern quilts. Their irregular sense of space and inventive use of shape and color intrigue me.

This project idea was born out of my appreciation for both traditional and modern quilts. I wanted to marry my love for the traditional with the form and method of the modern. In this blog, Crystal and I will attempt to modify tradition-- that is, we'll each be using traditional patterns to create a modern quilt.

Interested in the experiment? Sew with us! We'll be posting tutorials for two different blocks each week, as well as discussing modern color and layout choice.

This ain't your grandmother's quilt sampler!