Stephen's Quilt
'Autumnal Mondriaan'
I made this quilt for my grown son. I knew he wouldn't like something that looked 'cutesy' or 'country' or even 'traditional'. He's more of an 'urban chic' kinda guy. But I did want him to have a quilt I'd made...it's kind of like giving him a hug when he goes to bed each night.
I call it 'Autumnal Mondiaan' because it reminds me of the art work of Piet Mondriaan, the Dutch painter of the last century who created paintings featuring blocks of colors in white, red and yellow with black frames around them. I used more subdued, masculine colors - the colors of autumn, you might say. Stephen's art savvy so I knew he'd appreciate the name.
I used silk dupioni squares of varying sizes. Now silk dupioni, like most fabric, comes in a variety of qualities; some of the really cheap stuff online looks like cheap stuff - flimsy and very rough looking. But I found some lovely remnants from good fabric stores which worked well since I was using varying sizes of squares. I prepared the fabric by washing it in the machine...yes, you can wash silk dupioni and even dry it. It changes the hand and is not as crisp but I used a polyester batting so I wanted it to be 'machine-washable'. Just be sure to wash it before cutting it.
I ironed the squares to the gridded fusible interfacing available in quilt stores. Note, it takes high heat on your iron to get the interfacing to fuse, but this doesn't hurt the silk. (Try it out on a sample first to be sure.) It took a little planning but basically, I cut the squares as I went trying to vary the values, colors and sizes of adjacent pieces. I used more of a 3/8" seam than 1/4", but using the grid, it's easy to sew the pieces together.
I used plain dark brown dupioni on the back and the same for the binding. I always attach the binding by machine and then hand sew to finish.
My son says he likes his quilt and it should look nice on a queen-sized bed. I made it for more of a bedspread with the quilt top fitting the mattress top and plain sides. I made the top long enough that he can tuck pillows underneath. I hope it's something he'll treasure for many years.
