Tag Archives: #silkquilt

The Silk Quilt Reimagined

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This marvelous quilt was made by Lizzie Johnson White sometime in the late 1860’s to early 1870’s. Lizzie was living in Pennsylvania when she made her quilt. Each of her blocks are unique designs made with scraps of silk. It is exquisitely quilted.

After being given the opportunity to view and study this quilt at the New England Quilt Museum I drafted Lizzie’s designs and gave them each a name. I also included the variations of her four-patch snowball block used throughout the original quilt.

In my reimagined version of the quilt I have arranged the blocks differently than Lizzie did and I included her snowball variations, and some of my own designs, in the setting triangles. I used quilting cotton in this quilt, but I chose a metallic fabric for the sashing and borders to give it a nice silky shine.

If you would like to make your own version of Lizzies’s quilt you can purchase and download the pattern. The majority of the block patterns use the foundation paper piecing method, so please be comfortable with that method for making your blocks. This is a digital PDF download. No printed book will be mailed. A printer is required to print the patterns and instructions.

Reimagined Quilt by Patrice Denault

Here is the EQ8 Design, the top and the pantograph I used.

After photographing the blocks at the New England Quilt Museum I drafted each block in Electric Quilt. The best method for making most of the blocks is Foundation Paper Piecing, although some of the blocks are best made with rotary cutting. Here are details for two of the 10″ blocks in the quilt showing the original, the EQ8 Design and my block.

These are two of the 5″ blocks that Lizzie used in her 10″ blocks.

And a here are photos of the rest of the 10″ blocks that I created patterns for.

Here are the rest of the 5″ blocks that are in the pattern book.

After putting this top together I also made a mini version of Lizzie’s quilt. Pam Weeks, the Curator at the Museum, is writing a book that will include Lizzie’s quilt, as well as others in the permanent collection in the Museum. The book will have a pattern for this little quilt. Amazingly enough, someone donated silk fabric remnants to the museum and there was enough green silk for the sashing and borders, so I could use Lizzie’s color scheme and also have a mini all silk quilt.

After spending so much time drafting these patterns I decided to put a book together with the patterns for all of the blocks in Lizzie’s quilt. The book includes instructions and foundation paper templates for the fourteen 10” blocks and seven 5” blocks in Lizzie’s Quilt, and includes instructions to complete the 83″ x 83″ quilt.

The majority of the block patterns use the foundation paper piecing method, so please be comfortable with that method for making your blocks.

This quilt is in the permanent collection at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. 25% of the proceeds from the sale of this pattern book will be donated to the museum.

This is a digital PDF download. No printed book will be mailed. A printer is required to print the patterns and instructions.

Tom’s Ties

Tom asked if I knew anyone who would be interested in making a quilt with his collection of ties. Who me, did I know someone? So, of course, I am now making quilts out of silk ties. I had to practice with Bob’s before I would commit to taking on Tom’s Ties.

Here is what I came up with for Bob.

The plan for Tom’s Ties is a little different:

Here is what I have so far for Tom:

 
 

If you are working with silk in a quilt it is best to stabilize the fabric somehow. You can use a fusible interfacing for this. I have used a light weight fusible woven interfacing with silk in the past. For this quilt I decided to paper piece the blocks, as the paper provides stability. The other thing I decided to do was to spray the silk with Best Press, which worked great and did not harm the fabric.

Keep in mind that silk ties are not dye fast. They bleed like crazy, so be careful with the steam on your iron and when all is put together DO NOT WASH THIS QUILT IN WATER. The only safe way to clean a silk quilt is vacuuming it!