Post by Colette
At our last meeting Shevvy talked to us about Improv Quilting. This is a popular way of working amongst Modern Quilters, the freedom to create, change your mind, not worry about matching seams and perfect points and to be led by the fabrics and colours is very appealing.
Many of Shevvy’s improv pieces come to life from her scrap stash, some of which are tiny. These tiny scraps are pieced together, sometimes chopped up again, mixed with solids and played around with until there’s a quilt top that’s pleasing to the eye, there are many examples on Shevvy’s Flickr page.
Ashley at Film In The Fridge is one of my favourite quilters, her quilts are all so different and she has a wonderful way of using colour and creating interesting designs with fabric.
This one, Cascading Pools has a wonderful balance of colour and neutral spaces.
This one incorporates a variety of fabrics including corduroy, linen and double gauze, together these create a wonderful texture and the colour palette is striking.
Lu Summers is another inspiration when it comes to improv quilting. Lu mixes up geometric shapes in blocks of different shapes and sizes to create intricate pieces in bold colours. Lu’s book Quilt Improv is packed with blocks, tips and inspiration to get you started. Remember this one? It’s still one of my favourites.
I’ve put together a mosaic of some Improv quilts that are inspiring. I think I’m going to have to try some improv curves, these ones look so good!
Click on the links to see who made these –
1. Assembly, 2. Improv. Blocks, 3. improv curve mini quilt, 4. wool improv quilt, 5. Keeping Eden, 6. add a border plus plus, 7. “Up Down” Quilt with Facing Finish – Detail, 8. Improv / free form quilt block number 5, 9. Quiet improv quilt
Leave a Reply