Monday, February 17, 2014

Improv Strata in a Quilted Pillow

 
The starting point for this extra large quilted pillow (24 x 24) was the tiniest of scraps.  I picked the smallest blue and gray scraps from my tickertape pile and sewed them together at random to make what I call strata.  You can find a similar technique in Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson where it is called crazy piecing. You can click the photo below to find an affiliate link to the book.
I trimmed the strata which, once made, can be used like any other piece of fabric, into squares and rectangles. I trimmed each shape a bit wonky, adding white around the edges to frame it against the black, Essex yarn dyed linen.
 
A line of brown ties the blocks together.
Working completely improvisationally, like this, is a bit of a puzzle.  Figuring out how to fit the components together forces me to think critically and reevaluate constantly.  In the end, I love my improv pieces for it.  They are unique, even when inspired by quilts or techniques in a book, as mine was. 
 
The pillow top is quilted with organic straight lines, and the back is a self-lined envelope closure (great tutorial by Amanda Jean here).
You can find this one-of-a-kind pillow cover in my etsy shop.

5 comments:

Debbie said...

It's beautiful! Love it with the Essex!

Tennjenny said...

This is beautiful and I love the progress shots. What's the polka dot in the fifth picture, if you know? I love it.

Annabella said...

Oh my goodness, it is absolutely gorgeous and I too LOVE the Essex linen.

Kristy said...

The STLMQG brought in Jacquie Gering for a class last year and she showed everyone how to make "strata" as you call it. We've been seeing the results in several projects throughout the year.

My absolute favorite part of improv quilts is that you hit on...that puzzle feeling one gets when trying to put pieces together, I just love it!!

Your pillows are great!!

Anonymous said...

eeeekkkk, I love this pillow!