Monday, February 18, 2013

Modern Quilt Movement

I have been meaning to write about the Modern Quilt Movement for quite a long time.  This is finally happening because I was asked to write a review about a new e-book Modern Quilt Patterns from McCall's.

You can download this free e-book here.

My thoughts on this e-book
  • I am a big into "use what you have on hand" and these would all work with either yardage or left-over bits from other projects. 
  • I am thrilled that the publisher gives you permission to make and display the quilt as long as the pattern is cited.  Sometimes I make a quilt and want to show it, but have to track down permission to do so.  
  • I like the instructions for quilt-as-you-go. 
  • I wish that they provided quilting pattern drawings.  The descriptions are there, but images mean so much more when a quilter gets to the "but how should I quilt this?" stage of the quilt.
I would recommend that new and experienced quilters download this e-book.  Free is free, right?

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My thoughts on the Modern Quilt Movement have been scattered for quite a while.  Let me try to put them in some order here.

I made my first quilt in 1986 when I was pregnant with my first child.  I had a lot of experience making clothes, but did not know how to quilt.  My first quilt was made with scraps from my clothing projects, the block pattern was drawn on cardboard, I cut the fabric with scissors, I used a 5/8-inch seam, I used a sheet on the back of the quilt, and I tied it all with embroidery floss.  After my second child was born, a neighbor taught me about rotary cutters, 1/4-inch seams, and other contemporary quilt-making techniques.  I taught myself to hand quilt, machine quilt, and longarm-machine quilt.

I started hand quilting for customers in 1994.  I started longarm quilting for customers in 2000.  I started to teach machine quilting as my job in 2005-2006.  I am now an experienced quilter who is curious about the Modern Quilt Movement.

I have been a member of a traditional quilt guild for nearly two decades, First Dutchess Quilters, but decided to see what the Modern Quilt Guilds were about.  I joined the NY Metro Mod Quilters in early 2012 and the Hudson Valley Modern Quilt Guild in late 2012.  I am now a member of three quilt guilds, and they are all very different.

My traditional guild works to bring in speakers, educate its members, and promote the art of quilting.  The modern guilds have a more "do what you want with your quilt and see what happens" approach.  While I have learned and mastered many techniques over the years, I have never considered myself an artist.  I love the freedom to try (and fail? -- gasp!) that I get from my modern quilt guilds.

I have always been and probably always will be more of a quilter than a piecer. I think my experience with the modern quilt guilds has made me more of a risk-taker.  I am learning to play with fabric and thread again.

2 comments:

Always In Stitches said...

Thank you for your thoughts on Modern Quilting. I have hung in the background for some time flirting with the idea of this new and interesting movement. I am excited to take the plunge into this "new" (to me) medium.I am finding myself excited about making myself a modern quilt and find I still need to rely on a .....gasp.....pattern. Very hard to train an old dog..

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

I think the MODern movement is all around us,and we all encompass it in our own small ways. ;-) So glad it brought us together! Glad you found somePLAY! ;-) YAY!