Old Doilies for a New Quilt

A few years ago I reached out to the local Melbourne chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild and applied to become a member. I was interested in sharing and learning new skills, seeing some amazing modern quilts made by our members, as well as the social aspects of being a member of the guild.

For a short while I was the Vice President of the guild and when our Challenge for Remake/Reuse was put forward I thought I had best participate (set a good example and all that). However, I was surprised by how much fun it was to participate in this challenge. The premise was to use existing materials to form a new quilt. I started with no idea of what I wanted to do but rather went on a hunt to a local charity shop to find some donated goods that I could use in the quilt design.

I found 2 mens business shirts and a pile of scrunched up old doilies (embroidered table linens) that I thought might be used to create something. The doilies, like most very old things, had some damage with rust marks, stains and a few holes but I knew that I could work around these as I was going to be cutting them up after all!

The final design ended up being something that I really like. I don’t think it has a modern aesthetic, but rather is modern in the sense of its method. At the same time, the traditions of quilting — using every scrap of fabric as though it is precious — are now the modern way for sustainable design. Always in circles, and this quilt design is no different.

I imagined the doilies as ‘broken dishes’ harking back to the pioneering times and traditional block name. The real fun of making this quilt was found in the quilting designs. This is one of the first quilts that was quilted on my Longarm Quilting Machine. I absolutely loved doing the free motion quilting and ruler work. I moved from block to block with no idea of what I would quilt. The images in the gallery show a picture from my phone where I tried to ‘plan’ the quilt designs but just as we couldn’t plan how dishes might break, it was not really possible to plan the quilt designs, they just happened as they were being quilted.

If I made this quilt again, I think that I would have only introduced the blue as a colour from the mens shirts as they are easy to find and are somehow softer than the pink and blue together here. I would recommend this challenge to anyone who is interested as it was fun and the end result is certainly a quilt that isn’t like any other.

That a wrap from me! Today’s gallery includes a lot of photos of the process for making this quilt. The curves were cut randomly (without a ruler or improv) and pieces together to create each shape. You can also so the use of small scraps to make arcs similar to the method used for the double wedding ring quilt. The lace edges were either seamed in or already existing on the doily and then appliquéd in place on the long arm with a bit of care.

Have a great day, why not consider making your own challenge quilt and as always — happy quilting!