Testing print, fabric, PWM combo

This video shows the steps in building a sample of one of the reactive squares. These squares will be assembled into a completed story quilt.

Current works of Betsy Garcia

During my time with the Christ Church Sheffield quilt group this weekend, Betsy Garcia showed me some of the other quilt projects she has been working on. 

Below is a picture of a round robin quilt that Betsy has been working on with a few friends. I was particularly interested in the applique shapes on the quilt. Betsy gave me a few tips on applique techniques. It is expected that this quilt will take a total of a year to complete.

Round robin quilt

The below photos are of a hand-made quilt that Betsy is working on for the Hancock Shaker Village. I was particularly interested in the combination of embroidery and applique techniques used on this quilt. 

Tree of life quilt

Tree of life quilt detail

Back of tree of life quilt

Finally, Betsy showed me a quilting sample that she used to teach a three hour quilting class earlier this year. 

Quilting sample

Quilting detail

Christ Church Sheffield Quilting group

Today I was invited to a gathering of Christ Church Sheffield’s quilting group. Every year they create a queen-sized quilt that will be raffled off in the church’s fundraising yard sale. This was a great opportunity to see how these community quilts are constructed and to pick up some quilting pointers.

Betsy Garcia is the manager of this year’s quilt and hosted today’s meeting at her house. Members of the group had already cut the squares that would be used to create the spools and background in the center of the quilt. Today’s mission was to begin piecing those spools together. When all is said and done, the group will need a total of 400 spools in order to complete the queen-sized quilt. 

Betsy created a series of helpful guides that show how the pieces will be sewn together.

Fabrication instructions

Instructions continued

 The four attending members of the meeting worked in an assembly line to create the squares. The first step was to mark the small squares with a single diagonal line between two of the points. 

My mom would then pin these pieces to a rectangular piece of fabric. 

Pinning the squares

These pinned pieces were then machine sewn together and pressed. 

Sewing the pieces together

Finally, the completed squares were measured to ensure they were perfect squares.

Squaring off the completed pieces

I really appreciated being given the opportunity to view this process. In the end I was wrangled in to help with some of the pinning and to count all of the completed squares.

Fall Final Prototype – testing

This clip shows some of the interaction testing I ran on my final prototype for the fall semester.

(music by Nico Muhly)

Final Prototype for Fall Semester

 

Prototype

Above is a photo of the prototype I created at the end of the fall semester. My goal in creating this prototype, was to experiment with some of the techniques I have been talking about incorporating into my interactive story quilt. This included quilting methods as well as integration of technologies into the quilted square. 

I thought of this prototype as a rough sketch and was more concerned with completing it than the narrative and aesthetic components. 

Below is an image of the circuit that was embedded into this prototype. 

 

 

Circuit

Shadow test

I’m working on perfecting this technique. This test was to determine if this type of method could work in my quilt.

User Testing for Display Options

After this round of testing, I realize that a hanging quilt will work best.

Thanks to Steve, Matt, and Kerry Willig, Amelia Wolfe and John.

Reproduction Fabrics

After I told my mom about the Depression era quilt show at the Folk Art Museum, she showed me some quilt squares she made using reproduction fabrics from this period.

My sister’s quilts

While visiting my family for Thanksgiving, my sister showed me the most recent quilt she is working on. I love the colors she’s chosen to work with.

The pattern for Kerry

While I was there she also broke out a quilt that she made for a class project in middle school. For this quilt she used a Sunbonnet Sue motif and depression era reproduction prints.

Pieced Together Show

Earlier this week I went to see the Pieced Together quilt show at Marymount Manhattan College. About 12 quilts were displayed in the show, all of them contemporary. Many of the quilts challenged the concept of a quilt. Materials I noticed included paper, chicken wire, and obituary clippings. While the aesthetics of many of these quilts do not reflect those of my proposed quilt, I appreciate how the artists are pushing quilts as an art form.