American Quilter - Winter 2001 - Page 1
 
     
 

By Susan Deal
 
    In 1987, I received my first invitation to be a designer in the Fairfield Fashion Show.  One of the goals I set for myself was to create a garment with a design that someone seated in the back of the auditorium would have no trouble seeing. Because that fashion show would mostly occur at quilt show events, and because I have a deep appreciation for traditional blocks, I've enjoyed incor­porating traditional blocks into my garment designs. But I also love vivid colors and non-traditional fabric and feel that incorporating these into my gar­ments gives them a very contemporary look and feel. There are several consider­ations in using traditional blocks and designs in garments. Among these are the following:

Size

>   A large quilt block with many small pieces will be extremely difficult to make in a size small enough so it looks right on a garment. A plentiful number of small blocks look much better on a garment than a few large blocks.

>   Look for a block that has enough pieces so it will be visually interesting, but not so many pieces that it can't be done in the smaller size usually required for a garment. Depending on the

  Puesta Del Sol,  Susan Deal
  Photo: Tom Henderson Studios
  number of pieces and their layout, generally blocks from 3 to 6 inches in size work the best. This, in part, depends on the size and type of garment. For example, is the garment a coat or a small vest? Is it a size 6 or 16? The smaller the block, the more overall design possibilities there will be. Many blocks that would other­wise be impossible to piece as 3 inch to 4 inch blocks can be accomplished by piecing over paper foundations.

Concerning layout

>   The overall design might be more interesting if the blocks were set on point or at some other angle rather than parallel to the top and bottom of the garment. This depends, of course, on the design of the block. Mainly, the layout of your design should comple­ment your garment pattern rather than fight with it. Because there are several pattern pieces in a garment (two fronts, a hack, and sometimes two side panels), you have more options for layout than you would in a quilt. Units of blocks can be angled into a seam, and the design allowed to "drop" off that edge (see Fig. 1). You can then pick up a new design on the next gar­ment pattern piece.

>   But there are hazards! You must think about how those designs will look when they meet at shoulder or side seams. This is why careful planning is so important. One solution I often use is to leave sufficient back­ground area around my design so only the background fabrics interact at the seams.

>   Combining quilt blocks with appliqué is another way to solve cer­tain design quandaries.

>   When selecting a block, keep in mind that a design that requires sev­eral blocks to establish a complete pat­tern may not work on a garment. By that, I mean that certain quilt block layouts may need 18 to 20 blocks to reveal the whole design. Some Kalei­doscope or Storm at Sea designs are perfect examples. For garments, you need to restrict yourself to repeating a pattern over a very few blocks. In workshops, I work with students using their garment pattern to help them determine what block size and layout will work best.		  
     
  American Quilters - Winter 2001
 
 

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Copyright  2006 Susan Deal Designs.  All rights reserved.
Revised: October 28, 2006.
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