Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope 2015 is off to a great start for all of you!
Over a year ago, I discovered Sarah Waterhouse's screen-printed fabrics and fell in love. I quickly decided that I wanted to stock her designs in my shop, and selected a number of prints from her Geometrics collection to carry. Though her organic fabrics are a heavier weight---perfect for upholstery, tote bags, pillows, and zipper pouches---they actually work quite beautifully in quilts, as I discovered while working on this improv wall quilt.
I started simply with small swatches of each of the fabrics in the line. I outlined each print with a white border, and then built up blocks using solids which coordinated with each of the prints. Each block was pieced improvisationally, so no two are alike in size or layout. I used various shades of white for the surrounding background, and anchored the blocks to a center horizontal line.
For the backing, I chose a quirky Japanese print I've had in my stash for years, which had most of the colors featured in the top. I quilted it with a grid of diamonds in white thread and bound the quilt with an orange-red crosshatch print.
This piece came together organically, and I really fell in love with the results. I hope to do more piecing of this type; it's fun to go into a project with no set plan! This quilt is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop, and you can find Sarah's prints there as well, to use in your own crafty projects.
Photos by Caroline Okun.
Gorgeous colors and shapes! I think the black piece is a very important bit of contrast and anchor.
ReplyDeleteI purchased this quilt and love it hanging in our bedroom - the lively overall design, the beautiful subtle colors in the surrounding pieces and the way that it all comes together is fabulous. So glad that you made it!
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