Hexagons in Fashion

Surprise! Dior has a quilt pattern in their pre-Fall 2017 fashion line!

ceramic tile detail in Barcelona, Spain

My Veronese friend Piera's latest quilt!
All hand pieced and hand quilted.
The outside shape of the 3-d block is a hexagon

picture taken at the ROM in Toronto, BIG/Méga exhibit
quote from the label: "Needlework was a professional trade
 as well as a domestic skill associated with the feminine virtues
 of patience, concentration and cleanliness"
...comment anyone??

A cube quilt in the process- interesting how the quilt maker
used a grey and black for 2 sides of the cube
 and only one coloured piece.

Click here to see how Dior used the hexagon shape! (it is slide #46) Interesting ....although the model doesn't seem to be too happy to be wearing it! (I can't stop laughing!)

Popular construction of a hexagon during the 30's and 40's,
hand pieced and hand quilted

Charlotte's Webs in Blue
large hexagon quilt by Judy Beca
(photo taken at the York Heritage Quilters Guild Show
Inspired by Bob Gutcher's spiderweb quilt

We are ahead of the fashion curve, ladies!

I show this example when I teach the art element of value.
Value is very visible when comparing it
to the same photo (below) in black and white.

Back From Sicily

A few weeks ago I had an authentic experience in Sicily with my friends from Verona.

Town of Gangi, Sicily.

One of the ladies has a house in Gangi. She organized a trip for 12 of us.

Gangi

You can imagine the chatter and the laughs we all had together...and the FOOD.

We visited Palermo and Monreale, Castelbuono and Cefalu'.

Cefalu'

We had a wonderful evening teaching English paper piecing to the local residents of Gangi of all ages. They loved making hexagons.

Room where we shared our passion for patchwork!

It was interesting for me as a trip organizer to be on the 'client' side. I confirmed that travellers like to integrate in the place they visit. I am on the right track with the Verona trip and the Umbria trip!

A Lesson in Hand Quilting

I am not very good at hand quilting. I am a fast person and hand work slows me! But I do love the look…so I am trying again. I never give up.

You may remember from past posts that I pieced a hexagon quilt (crib size) by hand. I started it 8 years ago as I travelled by train in Italy.

This top stayed rolled up for many months and I am now ready to "be slow" and quilt it by hand- an excellent activity to be done during the Canadian winter.

My friend Gail gave me a refresher lesson. She does not quilt using a frame. Maybe that is another reason I have not taken to the technique. I do find the frame limits my movement.

This is my back fabric choice.
I used two pieces from my stash.
It isn't something one might think of putting together
but I think it really works well. Both fabrics were
 difficult to use in a traditional quilt
so this was a perfect way to use them up.

We had a nice afternoon together sitting in her sun-filled room…sipping red wine and eating crackers and goat cheese spread. That's what quilting should be like -a "together" activity. Thanks Gail.

Love Those Hexagons

What a find!

A double-bed size quilt, vintage, from Kentucky, USA, all hand pieced and hand quilted.

The quilting is so fine that even I had trouble deciding if it was machine done or not. The stitches are so small and pretty even. The person who made this had great skill.

Too bad it has no provenance. There is no label. The little I know was told to me by the person who bought it in the States.

It is being packed in my suitcase because I am giving it to my italian "sister". She'll love it, I know. She told me she loves it...I had to send her a picture because it will take up half my suitcase and I didn't want to bring it if she didn't like it!

hexagons everywhere

Hexagon quilts have had a resurgence in the past 5 years.

sidewalk in Barcelona

floor in the Comune, Verona

Sicilian kitchen tile

floor at Le Petit Italien, Montreal restaurant

floor, Santa Maria Maggiore, Roma

floor, Santa Maria Maggiore, Roma

the ultimate hexagon!

although this reads as a 3-D cube, or as a tumbling block
quilt pattern, the outline is a hexagon.
floor of San Giorgetto, Verona

In March during Verona Tessile, I taught a hexagon class at FNAC, the italian version of an Indigo / Future Shop combination.

Laura, a Verona Tessile executive, and I

There were 35 people, some of whom had never sewn before. I taught the traditional method using a paper template. To print the paper templates, click http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal/


The best part of the workshop, in my opinion, was the friendships that transpired. At the end, new friends were exchanging phone numbers.

I have finally finished my hexagon quilt. It is made with pieces of my fabric scraps as well as bits given to me by friends and students. I used reusable plastic templates instead of the traditional paper.

reusable templates and my special box
that I bought at a quilt shop in Barcelona

I made the body of the quilt and appliqued in onto a contemporary fabric border. I like the juxtaposition of the traditional hexagon design in the Grandmother's Garden (1930) pattern done in a non traditional way bordered with the contemporary fabric by designer Kaffe Fassett.

crib size quilt with contemporary flowered border

They say, "It is not a quilt until it is quilted" so technically I still have a ways to go!

new and old

Four years ago when I was on my first trip to Italy without children, I started this hand project to do on train rides. I travelled from Milano to Lugano, Switzerland, back to Milano and off to Verona, Padova, Trevi, Foligno, Rome, Naples, Atrani and Sapri.

I am almost finished the top of this baby-sized hexagon quilt, all done by hand using cotton bits saved from other quilts I made over the 20 years I have been sewing.

Here is a beautiful queen-sized antique I found at a garage sale in Toronto's east end. It is hand pieced and hand quilted from the early 1940's. It cost me $10. To think of all the hours someone put into this quilt! Years of train travel....