Playing with Parts and Possibilities is a process more so than a pattern that I have taught and made many times but never before using the fabric from four different pairs of deconstructed pants. The Aurifil Artisan Challenge for April was the ideal opportunity and celebration of Earth Day.
Along with my curved improv abstraction blocks, I combined traditional blocks, some freehand cut and others like the half square triangles using the Accuquilt cutter.
Pieced with 50wt 2600, quilted with 40/3wt 4250 variegated and finished off with 12wt 2530 trying big stitch by hand on the binding, Aurifil threads made for great teamwork .
The two pants with 100 percent cotton content were much easier to deal with than the other two with 5 percent stretch. The jean weight took some getting used to but fortunately, unlike my previous attempts with velvet and corduroy deconstructed pants, these did not shed.
I purposely kept the size smaller 35" x 45" to avoid an unreasonable amount of weight for the finished quilt.
Keeping in the spirit of Earth Day, I also used scraps of leftover batting patched together. With a graphic design for the piecing, I opted to go with a mix of playful designs on the quilting motif.
Pressing with steam (thank you Oliso) and open seams helped with bulk and I did take my time stitching over the multiple layers.
After a long and wet winter, the weather has been beautiful lately. My finished BeeSewcial blocks for Debbie's April prompt "Albersesque" look so vibrant tossed on my Britches quilt don't you think? From the Josef Albers book Interaction of Color 50th Anniversary Edition, I chose inspiration from the transparence and space illusion chapter.
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What wonderful work you've been doing, Karen. Fun to hear how the trio of Aurifil threads worked together on Britches.
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