I was asked by my second mama to make a quilt for a special person in her life. Mama E has known me since I was a baby. Her daughter is my oldest friend – we grew up together, were college roommates, Maid and Matron of Honor – that sorta thing. Chosen family. The kind of family that goes back so far we don’t need to explain things, we just get it. We know the stories, the people, the supporting cast members. There for all the milestones, holidays and more. Our lives have been intertwined for 50 years and, while I could easily go down a rabbit hole about that, I’ll just sum it up to say what a blessing. How lucky am I to have a friend like that in my life? But I digress.

Anyhow, when chosen family reaches out to ask if you’ll make a quilt for a special friend having a baby, you quickly oblige her. The baby is due soon and I was asked to make a quilt using her parents clothing.

Now, I’m not one to take (many? any?) commissioned quilts, especially when working with clothing. T-shirts are one thing but quilts from ties and garments? Such pressure! If there is one mis-cut, I have a big problem. It’s not like I can go to the store and buy more fabric or replace the item. You have to get it right. That pressure is one thing then there’s the pressure to make sure that you make a lovely quilt because quilts made from garments are really emotional objects for the recipient. For good reason, of course, but pressure all around, for certain. And what’s worse? What if they don’t like it?! gah! Even more selfishly, I’d be remiss not to share that I have such limited time sewing that when I do have time to sew I want to work on my work. But when mama E asked I couldn’t (wouldn’t?) say no to her.

So I met mama E one morning for a cup of coffee and she gave me a bag of ties, linens and garments. I began by taking everything apart then got to work. The center of the quilt went through a few iterations; at one point I had some green, blue and orange in there – it was sort of working but I wasn’t really happy with it. I took a step back and realized how to make all the piece come together, and when it all finally came together, the work was fast.

Here’s a little progression.

I ironed Woven Fusible interfacing to each of the ties and garments for stability before I cut them. The linens didn’t need it as they were still in good shape and I didn’t think it was necessary to add the extra weight and bulk to the quilt. Many of the ties were wide enough to cut a larger quantity of squares for the quilts but ties aren’t all the same size, so that posed a minor design challenge – what will fit where? I had to carefully measure and count squares to make sure the design could come together. It was important to me to make sure that each row of squares was created with one tie or other item for continuity instead of mixing and matching. I’m sure on a galloping horse no one would know but I would.

The squares finish at 3” each to make this lovely Trip Around the World quilt and my friend, Cheryl, quilted the top for me using a darling floral pantograph. I made the binding using some grunge I had on my shelf and I picked up the Ruby Star Society backing from String and Story.

I’m really pleased with how this quilt turned out. Taking garments and linens and incorporating them into a quilt that is both visually appealing and makes sense is a challenge but I think this worked out well.

What do you think?

At the beginning of July, I started to work on a new project. I was inspired after the SCOTUS ruling on Presidential Immunity. Let me be clear here: No president is above the law and we should EXPECT that the officer sitting in the highest office in the land follow the letter of the law. We DESERVE a President who is a law abiding citizen. Period. End of story.

All that to say, I while I understand the point SCOTUS made with the ruling, I’m concerned that there may be some terrible consequences from that decision. In the wake of the ruling, I was immediately drawn to how I could process how I felt and how I could work through that artistically. Naturally, I gravitated to this American flag quilt I made in 1995.

It’s been sitting in a cabinet for 30 years. I take it out every (other?) July 4th to snap a photo (if I remember) and then it gets folded up for another year (or two). I still love this quilt even though it isn’t my style now. Definitely not colors or a pattern I would gravitate towards these days but it was a great piece to learn about points matching and other beginning quilting hiccups. I think this was the third or fourth quilt I ever made and it definitely has some mistakes! However, current me is grateful to past me for holding onto it all these years.

I’ll share more about the ah-ha moment of WHAT the direction I was taking this quilt in a later post. This is about taking it apart and dyeing it.

Step One – Take the Quilt Apart

The first step for me was to take apart the quilt. I wanted just a few of the center squares. I spent HOURS carefully taking the quilt apart to get the pieces I wanted.

First I removed the binding.

Then I removed the borders.

Step Two – Secure the Quilt

After that, I zig zagged around the edges to secure them.

Because this quilt is old, there were some seams that had come apart. To maintain the essence and feel of how I wanted this quilt to look when finished (again), I zig zagged seams to close them and secure the pieces.

Step Three – Prep for the Dye

After that, I weighed the quilt.

Step Four – Make the Dye

DISCLAIMER: I am not a fabric dyer, though I have experimented with fabric dyeing in the past and I had a semester of textile chemistry in college. That makes me a pro, right? <<wink, wink>> I’ve been around fabric dyeing enough to be dangerous, but like I said, definitely not a professional. If you choose to dye fabric PLEASE follow all safety instructions, including, but not limited to, wearing a mask and/or respirator and gloves, and follow any recommendations made to keep your house, your body and your space safe. Remember that cups, glasses, pots, other materials you use to dye are NOT safe to cook from once they’ve been used to make a dye. Let me reiterate: follow all safety instructions.

I have to back track a smidge here. The first step to making the dye was determining how much dried walnut shell I needed to make the dye. There are formulas online (just search) based on the weight of the materials you are dyeing. I sorta guessed and used a half a pound of DRY walnut shells. What you use may depend on the weight and quantity of material you plan to dye. I know I wanted my quilt substantially darker so more shells was better for me.

To start, I put the walnut shells in an old lingerie bag. I submerged it into water and brought it to a boil. I let the dye boil for about 1 hour. Look at the before and after below!

Then I added my scoured quilt to the dye.

I let the quilt simmer in the pot for 2 hours before cooling it a little and adding some soda ash.

What I learned through my research about dyeing with natural materials before I began was that walnut shells have a high level of tannins and doesn’t need a mordant. To err on the side of caution since I’m a newbie at dyeing with natural dyes (save the one time I did it in college, thank you Dr. Etters), I added a few rusty nails to the dye bath (thank you, Sam Hunter and friend, for guiding me in this process). There’s some sort of reaction between the iron and the walnut, I guess? At any rate, it worked.

Step Five – Wash and Dry

I rinsed the quilt THOROUGHLY before letting it air dry.

The before and after are remarkable!

I needed to calm down the colors and this worked. Fingers crossed the next steps are successful. <<gah….nerves>>>

Check back in a few weeks. I hope to be able to share the next steps soon!