Premativa Twist on Bowtie Pasta and Free Tutorial for Quilt Backs

Bowtie Pasta With A Twist in "Primitiva"

jill here....Andover Fabrics was gracious to share some of designer Jane Dixson's new line of Primitiva.  Together, Marny and I cut and pieced the quilt at our DSM Modern Quilt Guild retreat.  We just got it back from the quilter and it's worthy of a process discussion.  This tutorial is intended for personal use (gift or charity) and may not be reproduced without our permission

For the backing, we had a length of Andover's Dimples (designed by Gail Kessler) but not wide enough for the entire quilt.  So rather then adding just another length to bring it to the correct width, I wanted to use the one fabric in the collection that we didn't sew into the top.  Still not enough!  So I added one more light valued fabric with enough contrast to the print.  The quilt top measured 56" X 70"  therefore I needed 64" X 78" to send to the machine quilter.

Three fabrics for the backing with the print acting as the focus.

For the backing I needed:  2 1/3 yard of dark, 5/8 yard of focus, 7/8 yard of light.

Cut the following from the dark fabric: Remove the selvage from one WOF side, leave the other on for stability.  Cut the LOF to 78".  Cut another 5 " X  24" strip.

Cut the following from the focus fabric :  2 strips of  9 1/2"X WOF.  Cut again into (7) 9 1/2" squares.

Cut the following from the light fabric:  2 strips of 11" X WOF, 1 strip  5" X  24" strip.

Sew the dark and light 5"X 36" strips lengthwise.

Sub cut this into (8)  2 1/2" X 9 1/2" segments.

Starting with the above strip set, alternate the strip sets with the 9 1/2" blocks, keeping the same orientation of lights and darks.  The fabric pattern of the focus fabric square was alternated from vertical to horizontal for a more lively setting.

This will make a  strip set  79 1/2" long, trim either end to make it 78" long

Sew the (2) 11"X WOF strips end to end (after trimming the selvages).  Trim this piece 11" X 78".   Sew it to one of the sides of the pieced square sets.

Back side after sewing the light value to the square sets.
We press our seams open.

Back side after sewing the dark value to the other side of the squares.

If there's fabric, they will come.  Thanks, Jaxon!

Back from April West, the quilter, the final challenge was to find the best binding fabric.  The top two fabrics were in the quilt but the orange was the  same light in the bowties.  Not wanting to compete with the accent, it was voted off.  The browns weren't so exciting so I went with the darker orange zig zag.  It was lively but not too crazy.  Turned out just fine!

All decked out with no where to go!

Spring shadows....

Ta Da!

 'Till next Tuesday when I can hopefully say the taxes are out of my hands!  Enjoy  the arrival of spring.

Andover's "Primativa" Process

 jill here...We spied a wonderful new fabric collection designed by Jane Dixon.  It's an Andover fabric named "Primitiva" and Andover was gracious to send us some.  This contemporary floral is one of our favorite color schemes: a tetradic ( four colors that form a rectangle on the color wheel) in orange, fuschia, lime green and periwinkle blue.  It's particularly pleasing because its on a great taupe background with some pops of white.  In addition to the floral, there are many fun accompaniments in the collection.  Small scale geometrics, organic stripes, stylized leaves and zig zags all add to the fun.

So....We have plans to make a new Bowtie Pasta with a Twist.  Even more fun is the fact that the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild is having a retreat in a couple of weeks.  Samples (pre-cut, of course) are the perfect quilts (for us) to make in a social setting.  Not too much thinking and Marny and I have a great system to team sewing.  There will be some preliminary decisions to make.

1.  We plan to make the quilt in the kid size.  This size is easier to show and ship while still giving the viewer an accurate representation.

2.  The large scale floral is such a great pattern that we will use it in a larger proportion, specifically more often.  

3.  If you look at the above fabrics, you will notice that there are three of lighter value...the oranges.  One of these will be the accent.  We want it to pop, not blend,  so the top right circle print, as cute as it is,  will not work due to the pattern.  It is not enough different from the large scale floral.

4.  We'll try some mock ups before we make our final decisions.

5.  Lesson: If you're not certain which fabrics will work best, buy more.  You can always use them in a creative backing!

Stay tuned. We'll take pictures and report back as to the design process.  If you have any comments on process, we'd love to hear them.  Sometimes it's lonely on this side of the blog.

Till  next Tuesday....

Free Modern Quilt Pattern and Modern Quilt Along Coming Soon!

Marny here...

Let me share a few announcements, in no particular order.

First, we had two of our quilts in Sisters, Oregon at Jean Wells' shop, The Stitchin' Post, during the big quilt show they just had.  A picture was passed along to us via Jeanne who got it from Rose.  We really got a kick out of seeing the display of Leftovers (on the seat of the chair) and Bowtie Pasta with a Twist (on the back of the chair) in such a well known shop.  Thank you letting us see them in place.

Second, let me remind you all again that the Des Moines Area Modern Quilt Guild will be meeting this Thursday, the 21st.  Please take a look here to get more information about the Guild and this meeting and take special note of the nametag discussion.  It is going to be great fun!  

Third, let me introduce you to Dinner Plates.  Jill motivated me to create this summery quilt in a bit of a challenge she gave me a few years ago.  She said "try using circles in a modern quilt" and look what happened.  It became a large quilt for a queen sized bed. Often the challenges we give one another either end up as small projects or as permanent WIPs so this was a happy surprise.  It was fun using large and small scale fabrics, some fabrics that read "solid" and a tight color scheme.  April finished it off with some special quilting!

A Dinner Plate block.

A  "without" Dinner Plate block.

I've decided to blog about the steps involved in creating Dinner Plates in several upcoming posts.  You can turn it into a quilt along so please join in.  This queen size and a scaled down throw size will be described in the pattern. 

Fabric selection and fabric quantities for making the Dinner Plates quilt will be posted August 2nd.  The steps will probably be posted every other week.  I am having great fun because I get to use color in my diagrams.  Yipee!  It is more of an immediate visual treat for me, I must say.  When creating patterns to be printed commercially the diagrams and steps have to be in black and white.  

I am hopeful I can create a pdf of the entire pattern that will be available for you to download once we have reached the end of the process or you can choose to follow along in the posts.  All the steps will appear when you click on the label Dinner Plates in the label column if you miss any as we go along.  

Is anybody interested in joining in? 

Till Tuesday...