Make it Modern Challenge

The May Challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors is to make a modern quilt. Modern quilts are defined differently, depending on who you ask. I’ve been researching this lately and I find it to be very interesting.

According to The Modern Quilt Guild, Modern Quilts can incorporate

• Use of bold colors
• High Contrast
• Graphic areas of solid colors
• Improvisational piecing
• Minimalism
• Expansive use of negative space
• Alternate gridwork

Weeks Ringle of Modern Quilt Studio, whom the MQG cites as influential in the modern quilting movement, had this to say:
For us a quilt is modern if it is a new pattern or technique and it’s also a functional quilt. If it’s a log cabin or churn dash or whatever, it’s a traditional quilt regardless of the colors. Assymetry, negative space, solids, palette is all irrelevant. It’s simple. Is it a pattern inspired by 19th and early 20th century life or is it expressive of the time in which we live like our Tube Socks quilt or Elizabeth Hartman’s iconic animal quilts or millefiori quilts. Also is it functional? If your inspiration is from history and traditional patterns, it’s not a modern quilt. Can it go in the washing machine? If not it’s an art quilt. Our definition has always been simple and easy to understand. Judges lives and those of the quilters who enter competitions would be much easier if they stuck to a simple definition. Having a simple definition also allows for a wider expression varying from highly bold and graphic quilts to lower volume, visually softer quilts. Rachel May’s seminal book Quilting With A Modern Slant is the only book you need on this topic. Thanks for asking and wanting to understand our perspective.

I’m starting to think that Modern Quilting is like another controversial topic. I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.

I started my project in a class at QuiltCon, with Tara Faughnan. I signed up for freezer paper foundation piecing – the sales pitch was foundation paper piecing without tearing out the papers. Sold! Also the sample quilt was spectacular – lots of pointy triangles.

*All of the materials in this project were given to me by Island Batik, as part of the ambassador program.

I pulled all of the blue fabrics from my Island Batik stash, along with solid white and grey. I also pulled orange, pinks, and raspberry, for an unexpected pop of color.

Without giving away Tara’s secrets, I can tell you that I’m completely converted. I need to figure out how to print directly onto the freezer paper using my printer. Drafting them by hand is a little bit too tedious for me.

I loved my fabric pull to start, and I loved the technique, but I did not love the direction my piece was going in. I put it away and worked on other things for a while, until the May deadline was approaching.

I started piecing more sections, using random colors, like I did in class, but it just wasn’t working for me. I took a step back, and realized I needed to remove the grey and add some more organization. I’m just not a random girl. At least not in my quilts. (You can see the raspberry had already told me that it wouldn’t be contained in this grid.)

I took down the parts with grey, and rather than take them all the way apart, I just made new ones. I added more white, and controlled the color placement. I decided to just use the raspberry, and I removed the blue that had greens in it. I also flipped the pattern in a few rows to give myself some interesting color bleeds.

This is much more of my vision of what a modern quilt is. I have plenty of negative space to work with, some pieces that are floating in the negative space, and some randomness in my colors, but not too much.

One thing I realized while piecing this is that I need to create a coloring page and play. I can see some really interesting possibilities with secondary designs with these blocks. I feel like this could use some more work, but time is up! I’ll call this one my first version of this pattern. I like this, but the next one will be spectacular.

Hobbs was kind enough to include battings in my Island Batik Ambassador box. I decided to use Tuscany Silk batting for this project. It is so light and drapey. I really like it.

I quilted the piece on my longarm, using 50 weight Aurifil thread in white. I chose to do straight line quilting. Not my usual approach, but it feels right on this modern project. I held myself back from matchstick quilting.

I finished off the last of my white fabric for the binding, adding a little sparkle with some pieced in scraps.

Quilt Specs
Dimensions – 60″ x 60″
Fabric – Island Batik basics and white solid
Batting – Hobbs Tuscany Silk
Thread – Aurifil 50 weight in White
Quilting – Straight Lines

Have you tried freezer paper foundation piecing yet? It is well worth exploring.