Ideas for my quilt designs spring out of all sorts of situations. Sometimes, I see something—in nature or architecture—and immediately identify the kernel of a quilt project. So I take a picture and file the idea away for a future design session. Other times, I sit down with a particular objective in mind—I want to use up a bundle of fabric or create a project with a specific theme—and that gets my brain going in one direction or another.
On two occasions, however, I have set out to design an American flag quilt, and both times I failed. I chased multiple ideas in these sessions, but the results were not compelling enough for me to pursue. There are a lot of great patterns for American flag quilts already, and the ideas I came up with didn’t bring anything new to the table.
Both times, however, I realize that I had already designed an American flag quilt. Here are the details ...
Accidental Patriotic Quilt: Love Boldly
Years ago, inspired by one of my older son’s t-shirts and motivated by a QuiltCon stripes challenge, I designed Love Boldly. I love Love Boldly’s bright, oversize hearts sitting against a white background. I finished my sample quilt by quilting a giant X through the center of the quilt top and then echoed in each of those quadrants.
You can imagine my surprise when I looked at the pattern a few weeks before its scheduled release and saw the stripes of the American flags in its lines. A quick mock-up in EQ8 verified my suspicion: There was a flag hiding in those hearts!
At first, this patriotic flag heart existed as a bonus block to the Love Boldly pattern. But over time, it became more popular than the original, so I spun it off into its own pattern, calling it Patriotic Love Boldly. There may not be a huge market for heart quilts, but there is definitely demand for patriotic hearts on quilts.
Accidental Patriotic Quilt: Twin-Star Cabins
I was certain this accidental-design phenomenon was a fluke. Then it happened a second time.
With the 250th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence coming this summer, I was once again thinking of patriotic quilts. I played around with a paper and pencil but couldn’t develop anything unique.
Then, once again, I considered an existing pattern: Twin-Star Cabins. This design, released earlier this year, is built upon stars. All it took was a blue-and-red fabric collection—I chose Sweetwater’s Independence Day—to transform Twin-Star Cabins’ Ruby Star-studded original ...
into a patriotic quilt ...
I have heard quilters talk about the upcoming 250th anniversary and express an interest in patriotic quilts. Have you heard any buzz along those lines? I’m going to compile a list of patriotic quilt patterns. If you have a favorite—something you’ve already sewn or have on your quilty bucket list—let me know!
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