For some time now, I have wanted to make a quilted jacket. While I admire the fabric in vintage quilts, with all the texture created by use and washing, I don't admire the bright colors and frantic patterns--at least not for an item of clothing. With that attitude, I am thinking that a quilted jacket with a patchwork block or two would be a fun project. I'm approaching this project cautiously, testing the patchwork waters.
This first patchwork assembly is constructed from 4 half square triangles. While the center is like an hourglass block, and the construction is like a windmill block, this block is neither. Regardless of the proper name, this block looks good with the available fabrics and can be used repetitively to create other designs.
The fabric is all left over from wearable toiles I have made in the past few years. I often use quilting cotton for my wearable toiles. Some are more wearable than others. The dress I made from the striped fabric was donated a few years ago but it has been succeeded by two other versions of the same pattern, Simplicity 8910. I am not totally sure that it is quilting cotton. It is not as tightly woven as other quilting cottons, but it is 100% cotton.
The green Chevron print is left over from a later version of that pattern. It was listed as apparel fabric. I thought it felt like quilting cotton. Now that I am using it in patchwork, I see it is not good for that purpose because the print is too bold and is directional. This became apparent once I put the first photo in Layout to mock up quilt designs. I found Layout app somewhat helpful, especially in making me feel like a productive quilter.
Thanks for that suggestion, Layout, but that is excessive. The dark blue is a quilting cotton remnant I bought on impulse but never used much. I think I made some bias binding with it. The camo-like floral is quilting cotton with a very soft finish. It became a dress I really like. That was a useful toile that demonstrated that the princess seams in McCalls 8192 needed adjustment to fit me properly.
Above is the type of design that might look good on a jacket, perhaps combined with chevrons. Since this mock up in Layout was done, I have refined the block, first by constructing three more of these blocks
and then rotating the three other ones to make a sawtooth star.
That effort resulted in my first finished quilt block, a sawtooth star with a diamond in the center that is made with corner square triangles. The center block could have been left plain, as in the Layout illustration. However, inserting the square in the center distracts from any imperfections in the alignment of the stripes in the center fabric. It's not perfectly aligned and probably, with the limitation of my beginning quilting skills, would never be aligned. The final quilt top will have sashing around each of the 16" squares that will mask any problems with aligning either the stripes or the points.
For reference, and to aid my poor memory, the starting point was two 5" squares, sewn diagonally from point to point 1/4" on each side of the diagonal. Cutting between the two lines of sewing produced two half square triangles, each 4 1/2" square. Four of these half square triangles were sewn together to create the quadrant, Four quadrants sewn together produce a 16 1/2" square with a sawtooth star pattern. The corner squares were about 2 1/2" squares. I adjusted the size to leave a 1 1/2" border of striped fabric around the square.
There are enough half square triangles to construct 8 more of these blocks. However, changing the layout is possible at this point. I have a flannel board that will help me visualize different designs. I also have other leftover fabric. Lots of possibilities, lots of time. I wouldn't need a jacket until the fall.
