Prototypes

I asked everyone who joined the swap to try something new. And then I realised that meant me too....

My first challenge to myself was to rething what quilt fabric is. It doesn't have to be a shiny fat-quarter from the hopelessly traditional quilt store in town or, more likely in my case, several yards of funky Japanese fabrics from Superbuzzy. I resolved to use only materials that I had already, and not necessarily from the fabric stash.  Behold my inspiration:

Those, are in fact, assorted diaper covers that matched Dumpling's pretty dresses. BB has worn some of the dresses as well (though not many fit!), but the diaper covers have never been worn. So I ripped them up, saved all the elastics and cut the fabric into strips and squares.

My first stab at it involved a lot of white space (which is a vintage pillow case from Ebay)

I like it. Especially if I add some embellishments to it in some way. I have a few ideas.... but it still wasn't exactely what I wanted, so I tried again.

I like it a lot more. Less white space, pattern mixing and touching. It inspired me to grab the scraps and squares and make some free-flowing backs.  Which brings me to the second NEW thing I tried..... going hog-wild, with no patterns, no measurements, just grabbing scraps and fashioning them into rectangles until I had a full back. I even played with chunks of the pillow case embroidery.

Here's the thing... Now I have two little quilts (unassembled) made from my girls' clothes (sort of)..... I can't give those away! Those have to be for their own dollies. But I like the general idea of a striped top and a cobbled-together back. I just have to find another source of inspiration as far as materials go. Because soon, these little quilts are going to be in the girls rooms....

Comments

[meg]

adorable! always a risk to want to keep them- but I agree- they are from your girls clothes and therefore they should get to keep their baby dolls warm with them- but ohhhh so cute!!!!
Meg

[wzgirl]

I love Superbuzzy. Beautiful job - I really love the embossed pieces as a contrast to the colorful ones. Looking forward to the groups progress - I can hardly believe the length of your list of participants!!

[wendyn]

Great idea. I love it!