Each month here at the Sew! Let’s get Dressed Blog we are bringing you some insider info about the projects in our book Sewing Quilted Patchwork Jackets. This post is about the inspiration and materials for what we nicknamed “Kids Modern”, the adorable kid size Wholecloth and Collage Opus Jacket, project #7.
Finding Materials
When we were planning the book, we wanted to create kids jackets that would work well, but not exactly copy, an adult jacket in the book. This little jacket was a mash-up of leftovers from jacket #3, the Assorted Patchwork Jacket, and bug-themed cotton fabric which had been purchased with another project in mind. Read in Rae’s own words where the inspiration for this jacket came from.
Looking for Design Inspiration
Over the years I have been intrigued with the idea of making a “modern quilted jacket” but was never quite sure of the distinctions that characterized a modern quilt from other quilting styles. That led me to purchase, some years back, a book on modern quilting that was on the clearance table of a local quilt store, Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, Interweave Press 2012. Often these kinds of books get an initial review and then sit on my shelf until inspiration is required to proceed with a design. As we began planning our book project, I rounded up several quilting books and put them on the table next to my favorite chair. Whenever I had a few minutes, I would pick up one or two and leaf through them for ideas. The modern quilting book had such fun colors and interesting free motion designs, it became the inspiration for the easy applique technique used on this simple wholecloth jacket.
As is often the case, the finished Opus modern jacket is not exactly like any of the projects in the Quilting Modern book, but it is easy to see the similarities and inspirations that informed the final design.
Creating the Appliqued Quilt Sandwiches
The white-on-white cotton background fabric looked great with the cotton bug themed fabric already on hand, and so the jacket base and lining were chosen. The little appliques were made from the extensive pile of leftover stash fabrics from the Patchwork Jacket. Because the jacket was so small, small prints and geometrics were chosen. I cut out a number of little patches in the chosen fabrics using the rotary cutter to get accurate squares and rectangles.
Once the jacket’s outer layer, batting layer (Hobbs Thermore), and lining were cut and stacked, the appliques were randomly placed on each section. At least that was the look I was after. After organizing them for variety, I laid out the jacket sections in relation to each other and did some rearranging to assure that the applique fabrics were not repeated in close proximity to each other. Once the front and backs were arranged and the appliques pinned in place, the sleeves and side appliques were placed using the same procedure.
Support the Appliques
As with the star appliques discussed in the post about the Night Sky Jacket, some sort of adhesive was needed to keep these appliques crisp. Unlike that project though, these appliques would be stitched to the coat during the quilting process. After some testing, a narrow double sided fusible tape (from my stash) was chosen to keep the appliques crisp but not stiffen up the coat too much.
I did the design work on my table in the studio where it was easy to focus, but I applied the tape to the appliques one at a time while watching TV. The mindful work had been done, now it just needed to be prepared for quilting. As you see in many of these photos, a mini Oliso project iron and felt mats are super helpful for this project.
Quilt the Prepared Quilt Sandwiches
I chose an all-over pebble design for the quilting, inspired by the same Quilting Modern book, and made some test samples using Sulky Blendables Thread. The results are very pleasing though this sample has much denser quilting that I would normally use for a quilted jacket. It was a good thing that an extra ½” was added around each jacket section because there was not much left to be trimmed away after the quilting drew up each section.
Let Sewing Quilted Patchwork Jackets be your Guide
Sewing Quilted Patchwork Jackets has plenty of photos and instructions about how to construct this coat, as well as offering options for finishing seams, cuffs, and more. It is just these insider design tips relating to the inspiration and materials for the Kids Modern coat that did not make it into the book’s text.
Come see this jacket, and all the jackets in Sewing Quilted Patchwork Jackets, at the Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild Expo April 27 and 28. Fit for Art will be sharing a booth with Capital Quilts and leading a demonstration on cutting a jacket from an existing quilt on Saturday at 3PM. We will also display the quilted coats and jackets featured in the book at Road2VA, a new quilt show in Richmond on June 26-28, where Rae is also teaching two evening classes on piecing.
Sew for and with Kids
The Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild show is held every 2 years; at the previous show in 2023 we launched our Kid’s Tabby Jacket pattern. It is the companion to our signature Tabula Rasa Jacket for adult/kid coordinated looks that are not quilted. These two jacket patterns are bundled with a 25% discount for a Mothers Day Special right now in our store. Take advantage of this terrific offer on the patterns and, while you are there, pick up a copy of our book and maybe even a Tilda Hibernation Bundle of the fabrics used in these three coordinating Kid and Adult jackets!
