A Quilt for Jaci

Materials |

New, vintage, up-cycled, dead stock and hand dyed yardage in: cotton, linen, silk, cashmere and drop cloth.

Warm and Natural cotton batting.

Quilted with cotton and silk embroidery floss.

The binding is made from vintage kantha quilts and linen remnants.

Size | 51 x 48”

I love this quilt— and I love that its vibes are very much handmade. While I can (and sometimes do) quilt with meticulous precision, with every corner and seam lining up just so… I don’t find a lot of fun in that. I much prefer the aesthetic and experience of creating functional art that looks like this, rather than cookie cutter perfect. It’s got personality.

Some of my favorite details are in the “imperfection” of it all: tiny random decorative stitches around the binding. A pieced and layered patch I made when one corner didn’t go quite as far as it needed to. Hand quilted circles that are almost perfectly round- but not quite.

I used sentimental everyday objects to outline the circles (before stitching over) including a polka dot mixing bowl my grandma gave me. It’s the only bowl we ever made our cookie dough in— and I always thought it was really something to be admired.

Inspiration |

Last November, at Descanso Gardens, we were magically surprised with Tom Fruin glass houses on exhibit {my second time serendipitously finding them in the wild}. We sat for an hour playing around this house and watching the rainbow shadows it cast on the ground. I knew I wanted to quilt something like it, using color and negative space, so I filed the idea away for later.

I first experimented with smaller scale pieces, and came up with one stained glass-ish square. I liked it and decided to make a single, large version for one side (as opposed to a dozen or more single squares/rectangles combined)… and I chose to work with triangles for the other.

This Side |

I pulled fabrics from my collection → cut them into pieces → pieced them into strips → and turned them into stripes of color sandwiched between white linen. Voila!

That Side |

I pulled fabric from my collection → cut them into squares → that I cut into triangles → laid them out on my living room floor → counted how many more white triangles I’d need to fill in the gaps → made those white triangles → and sewed them all together, one row at a time.

Quilting |

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do → I thought and thought → then one day I grabbed a dozen colors of silk and stitched abstract designs across the entire piece → I didn’t love it → so my handy dandy puppy and I removed them all → then machine stitched 1/4'‘ from the ditch → and hand quilted various sized circles, each in a different color thread.

Binding |

My trademark move, which is a total crapshoot, goes like this: grab fabric I like → make as much binding as feels right {measurements schmeasurements} → machine stitch the first side down until I see if I was right → and da-ding! folks, I had about five inches to spare → hand quilt the flip side with hidden stitches.

Scraps |

All of my quilts are heirloom quality- though fabrics can wear with time and use. Quilts that are lovingly cared for can last for generations. I love to send leftover binding, good cutoffs, and fun bonus pieces of mixed sizes for future mending. Consider visible mending as a beautiful way to add more story and character to your beloved textiles— helping them to live on and continue being enjoyed.

Details |

All content is owned by Tifanie White | studio. Unauthorized use including reproduction, distribution, reposting, downloading and transferring is prohibited.