Putting Free Fabric to Good Use / Beauties Pageant 213

I entered a guild meeting one month last year to find the tables covered in free fabric. A fellow guildmate was destashing boxes and boxes from her collection, and she thought it would be fun to let the guild take what it wanted.

I felt as if I were 10 years old again and walking into Christmas morning! My guildmates and I dug through the piles, discovering treasures and encouraging each other to take more and more fabric. I left with an armful of yardage, including Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom line in a beautiful citrusy palette. (Heirloom is long out of print, but I found it on Etsy, FeelGood Fibers, and Lark Cottons.)

When it came time to sew these prints into a quilt, I quickly homed in on Irish Twist, my take on a traditional Irish chain quilt. Most of the Heirloom I had was in half-yards, but I also had two larger cuts, and between the quilt top and back, I thought I could bust through almost all of it.

Irish Twist is a whole-composition design, and the larger sizes are made by cutting the pieces bigger, not by adding more blocks. This means I needed a plan for fabric placement before I started sewing, and I chose a fun way to audition the prints ...

The design requires cutting two sizes of squares. Before cutting all the fabric, I cut enough of the smaller size squares and laid them out on point to mimic what the quilt top would look like.

There is a coloring page in the pattern, but I’m not much of a coloring page girl. And this method is more effective, I think. Plus, because I cut the squares in the size I’ll use for the quilt top, I’m not wasting anything, just putting those squares to good use before I sew them up!

I made a few tweaks, cut out the remaining fabric, and started sewing. This project is at the longarmer right now. I expect to get it back soon and can’t wait to show you the finished quilt and pieced back! 

I am a fan of variations on Irish chain quilts. If you’ve encountered an interesting version, let me know!

And by the way, I am a member of the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild. We’re a super welcoming crowd, love fun monthly programming, and retreat together twice a year. If you’re in southern New Hampshire (or, like me, northern Massachusetts), come visit us!

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