I've Always Wanted to Make One

I am fascinated by quilts that are completely pieced with squares, rectangles and triangles, yet have what appears to be curves. My favorite of this is called Storm At Sea. I have always wanted to make one and I thought it would look stunning in silk, and it does!

The quilt is made completely with silk dupioni. The construction of the quilt is very simple. It's made from 3 basic blocks: a small square in a square, a larger square in a square and an elongated diamond. 

I used paper piecing for all of the blocks, because precision isn't my forte and precise points are important for this pattern. I found downloadable patterns here: http://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/storm-at-sea-quilt.html

I made the quilt top almost one year ago while I was in Key West last winter. I hemmed and hawed about how to quilt it. I looked all over the Internet for some ideas. Frankly, although I conside myself a decent machine quilter, I was intimidated by all of the open white space. So when in doubt, contact a professional long arm machine quilter. Barb Persing has quilted another silk quilt for me and she did a wonderful job, and she did a great job on this one too. 

I debated whether to finish the edges with a traditional binding or to face it, which is used for more artsy type quilters. I decided to use the traditional binding because of all the white. I thought that with a facing it would just run off the edge, especially when hung on a light colored wall. 

I liked Barbs comment. She told me that she loves quilting the silk because the stitches sink into the fabric, but she wouldn't want to piece it. 

I wish I were a better photographer so that you could see the iridescence of the silk. Here's a close up. 

Minimal quilting in the colored sections really lets the dupioni sing. I back all my silk for piecing with fusible tricot. It's important to stabilize it. 

I can't wait to share this quilt on its maiden voyage. I'm giving my "Sensational Silk" talk on Monday at the Quiltmakers of Boyertown. Maybe I'll see you there.