According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary: “In English, redux describes things that have been brought back—metaphorically, that is.” So I’m bringing back this quilt from about ten years ago, as I had a request from Sue for information about this pattern.
I noodled around on here, but noticed it wasn’t really a pattern, just a loose set of instructions embedded in three different blog posts, as I made while I was recovering from shoulder surgery. I took on the challenge to get its ready, and spent the 3rd of July redrawing the pattern, typing up the instructions, figuring out the wording.
So Happy Independence Day with a free pattern, on this the day we signed the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago.
Download it now for free here, as soon it will live in my pattern shop for a small price, as it’s a PatternLite pattern. You can find it here when that happens.
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
And when was the original?
Me, sewing a blanket stitch around the stars with my arm in a sling, two days post-op.
Interestingly, I started this when Trump was inaugurated the first time. I say that because that is one lengthy blurb on the label; in wondering why, I figured it all out. We all know a little more now that we are in his second term. And then, I had another surgery for the other shoulder, two years later.
And made this quilt, again cutting everything with scissors!
It’s a big, fancy year for the United States, this 250th celebration of those men in white powdered wigs slaving through the heat of Philadelphia in 1776, trying to figure out how not to have a king, but something else. As Honest Abe Lincoln described it 87 years later, we wanted a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” The three documents that were eventually crafted, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are known collectively as the Charters of Freedom. And so we celebrate this beginning.
We’ve done this celebrating before.
The first one I remember was in 1976, and it was the summer of the Bicentennial (200 years). This is about all I can recollect: a picnic with my toddler.
This year, the Semiquincentennial (250), that son will be celebrating the 4th with his family of five in another state, and hopefully they will remember more than a picnic.
When starting a government, or a marriage, or a school, or any great endeavor, there might be some failures. According to noted historian, Joseph J. Ellis, author of The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding, there were “two unquestionably horrific tragedies the founders oversaw: the failure to end slavery, and the failure to avoid Indian removal” (Kindle, p. 8). Ellis’ book discusses these contradictions, and we are still grappling with these today. Between 1500 and 1800, while “five times as many Africans as Europeans were carried to the New World” (ibid., 13), only a small portion of that diaspora was carried to North America, making us a predominantly white nation of interlopers on the Native Americans who lived here.
Those aren’t the only mistakes we’ve made.
Thomas Jefferson declared in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This year, we celebrate that, but I do keep wondering: are we moving towards that beautiful idea, or away from it? And with all the examinations and navel-gazing, maybe we can acknowledge that we aren’t perfect as a nation, but that we generally are pretty amazing?
While I try to hold all these disparate thoughts in my tiny brain — for this 250th celebration, I made a quilt.
My childhood nickname was Betsy, so of course I loved this panel for the back.
This is Quilt #317 and many of the details are on the label. I actually had a different title, but this week decided I wanted to call it The Betsy Ross Quilt. So I made a new label and took off the first one:
(Photography location scout and quilt holder is my saintly husband.)
Washington Monument
So this year it will be probably a more contemplative celebration, given the tensions in our national dialogue. I like people on both sides of that dialogue, but my overriding desire is to see how we can care for each other — the people — rather than just going for power or for ruling over the populace. There’s a reason why those Founding Fathers eschewed the idea of a king, and I kind of think they knew what they were doing. The dialogue — fraught as it may be — will continue.
Samuel Adams, 250 years ago this year, was on to something:
Freedom of Thought and the Right of Private Judgment in Matters of Conscience, direct their course to this Happy Country.
While I don’t have any great answers about how we make our way to that Happy Country, I just know I want us to keep trying. As a quilter, I honor that spirit of making mistakes, recognizing them and unpicking a few stitches in the process, so I’ve put out all my red, white and blue quilts around the house to jolly things up over here. To celebrate well.
• The post about Betsy’s Creation, my version of the flag quilt, talks about America (of course), with a link to free download and instructions to make the quilt.
My husband once had a year-long sabbatical with the Department of State, and I got to know that beautiful city well. Here’s the George Washington Monument in November, when the late fall sunlight turns it golden, taken from the World War II Memorial.
This quote, on the side of the Supreme Court, gets at that delicate balance between just being right vs. recognizing that our liberty needs to be guarded by justice.
My favorite memorial of all was the Lincoln Memorial, especially when I could catch it at odd times, when all the tired tourists had gone home.
Below are some paintings on the ceiling of the Capitol Building (in addition to the Samuel Adams quote, above) that remind me how we stitched our country together:
Or, the Almighty Sawtooth. Or the Magnificent Sawtooth. Or the Sawtooth Supreme. But first:
The famous novelist, Joyce Carol Oates, talked about what she turns to after she finishes a novel, as she described herself then as spent, and empty. Poetry, she said. I was sitting in that audience when she gave that talk, and it taught me the value of not abandoning the craft when weary. But it also taught me that it’s okay to take a moment after going full steam ahead, a thousand hours a week, pedal-to-the-metal. This week was one like that, maybe not like writing a novel, but the always On, always Going, and by Thursday, I turned to my kind of poetry: sawtooth stars.
A rendering of a current popular pattern, but I’ve done this before:
“This” being to make an outer frame of the sawtooth’s Flying Geese blocks, and insert a design in the center. Why do we like the Sawtooth Star so much? I think the answer to that lies also in why we like star blocks so much. And it was to this I returned this week, after dancing around with multiple combinations of everything for the Granny Square blocks.
I’ve had this sawtooth star idea floating around my sewing room for probably five years, the how-to sheet pinned to my design wall just to the side (see the free download at the end). It was time. The large block measures 20″ finished.
The handout/pattern is pretty loosey-goosey but after you make the inner quadrants, trim them to 5 1/2″ square, making sure you are centered with your ruler. And maybe also centered in your soul. Kidding.
As I mentioned, these are jumbo blocks, 20 inches square, finished. The one on the left is destined to be quilted and then made into a pillow for — what else? — Flag Day, which is today! (Put out your flag and celebrate America’s 250!) The multi-hued block will probably kick around my sewing room for another few years until I decide what to do with it.
But there is one more.
Yellow and blue are two of my favorite colors.
This came from when I was experimenting with BlockBase+ software and wanted to insert blocks into a different frame than a Sawtooth. Original post is here.
And now I wanted to finish this idea.
Here’s something I sketched up in my Affinity Designer software. That’s a total of 64 sawtooth blocks surrounding my houses, and finishes at about 55 inches square, a nice wallhanging size. I included the info when I revised the Build Me A House pattern. (It’s a PatternLite pattern: cheap.)
This block finishes at 6″ square — after spending several hours on the two jumbo sawtooth stars, this was made in a blink of an eye, it seemed like.
First one done, sixty-three to go. That blue fabric in the center square is from my very first quilt. I try to slip it into my current quilts when I have a chance.
It’s been lovely to spend some time writing poems–
Before I sewed on the top Flying Geese: I thought it looked kinda cool.
If you are honoring the 250 anniversary of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, be sure to visit the Official America 250 website. There are some fun ideas on there to commemorate and celebrate!
Let’s go to the movies! The Oh! Granny movies! If I could wave a magic wand I’d change the world so you could see the congregation of Grannies we’ve all started together, but this screen capture video will have to suffice. If you make a Granny Square, I’ll add you to the group — just tag me on Instagram.
Here are my two starter Grannies for June:
Block #9 (above) and Block #10 (below) If you want to jump in, it’s never too late. More info is on a previous post, plus a free pattern.
Obviously my micro-season of red, white and blue has influenced this last one. And by the way, I really enjoyed reading all your micro-seasons, left in the comments on the last post. After hearing my stories about my garment sewing (see below), Wendy came up with another micro-season: WWIT, or What Was I Thinking? I find myself in that season often.
Did you see this one as we rolled the movie? This is from Allison; she made a pictorial chart in Canva, and is adding in her grannies as she makes them.
I’ve got some more squares cut up in my sewing room, and will soon get to making more.
I keep running into Granny Square designs. This is from PomPom London, a purse maker. I may or may not have just purchased a red purse from them.
My apologies, this model in this color is apparently sold out, but I also like the one-zip City Bag in blue, if that suits you. I’t ‘ve had it for a few months now, and has the best cross-body straps (hands free!) and I can even fit a small, short water bottle in there. I’d say, if you’re hot for a red purse, check back as they replenish their stock often, or choose another (they have three different reds). I’ve now seen three different copycat ads for purses in my IG feed (see below about junk in our media feeds), but PomPom London is the original. And yes, each bag has a pompom, or tassel or whatever.
Short Story: Hair dryer died. Got a new, different (better) one, based on the dryer in my hotel room in Paris. (PS. I mention these items, but no one is paying me.) This year has seemed to be the Time Of Getting Things Repaired & Fixed/Replaced, and I’m getting a little weary, but there you go.
Chimney collar repair, with Tobi on top and David as assistant. And more great news is this:
Yes, the stair bannister was finished, and delivered (late one night, felt sorry for Bryan, but he’s a good guy and his IG feed is fascinating to look at, if you love watching other people work).
Short Story: router died.
Ending: We’re back on the internets with a new mesh network. The bigger problem is that home repairs TAKE TIME, even when you are not the one doing them. I mean, gawking checking on the guy up on the roof seriously takes away from the sewing, if you know what I mean. And don’t even get me started on the lengthy tale of getting the router up and running.
However…I finished up the final squircle!!
I started sewing these nine months ago.
And here they all are, sewn together. (Big smiles.)
Now to consider borders. I have one I’m thinking about, simply because the quilt is intended for a taller person, and more length is needed. Did I mention already that a partner in crime, Gladi, has also finished her squircles?
Now for the WWIT micro-season: a pattern review. And pattern-making review.
ScreenshotScreenshot
My friend Susan, in Australia, has made two of these jumpers, and because of her success, I decided to try. I was a pretty experienced sewer from back in the day, but my advice for this jumper is: Take Your Time.
First off, find the pattern. I went to the Internets (now that it was fixed) and found the pattern at Lakes Makerie. Usually I print off my PDF clothing patterns at Tape Free Patterns (recommend highly) but Lakes Makerie had an option where they would print it off and send it to me for a small extra charge. I liked this! It didn’t include an envelope for the pattern like Tape Free does, but their service was very convenient and fairly quick.
Top two (first two) photos are of the back pleat. I did a modified length — not too short, not too long — and didn’t like how they finished the pleat. I just did a standard finish. Third photo is the inside, and yes, I turned my pocket fabric right side out so I could see the beautiful fabric, hoarded since the Dawn of the Century. This is a navy cotton/linen lightweight fabric, with a metallic thread running through the slubby face (even though it looks grey in the last photo).
This jumper has a scoop neckline, which I lowered by 1/2″ (upon the advice of those on social media), two button plackets on either side, generous front pockets and (last photo) two back patch pockets which are getting unpicked soon. Why? Because while I tried it on and loved it (and see Susan’s post link for how her sister looks in hers), but on my smaller frame it just looked a bit too blocky; the pockets don’t help.
This is why I make my clothes, so I can make my clothes how I want.
So I added two self ties, and stitched them on about 6″ in from the side seams so they’d line up with the shoulders. They help define the waist area a bit more. Button shopping was a challenge without any sewing shops nearby, but I did find some at Hobby Lobby — cheesy plastic ones — but they’ll keep the dress on. On the advice of others, I also cut a smaller size. Do This.
On the left is the Box Box Dress (Merchant & Mills), and on the right is the Hope Dress (Style Arc). I’ve noticed that I tend to find the next dress I want to make from social media and blogs, so here are two that I have made and enjoyed. I did add pockets to the Box Box dress, as well as modifying the sleeve, as I like my sleeves a bit longer.
Here’s a pocket pattern (free download) if you need one.
Cut it out, hold it up along the side of your garment, and just try it for where you want it, making sure your fingers can touch the bottom of the pocket bag. I use a different method of putting in pockets these days (shorter video HERE, and the longer video is HERE). My first pocket installation using the newer method was a bit ragged, but now I’m getting pretty good at it, only because the volume of mistakes I initially made sent me on the Path to Knowledge.
Okay, that’s all for garment sewing — I try to put this topic on Instagram, but just couldn’t include a pocket pattern on that site for you. 🙂 According the latest, if we’re smart we’ll all get off of social media, given that most of what we see is ads, even when you think it’s just a someone-or-other showing your their favorite thing:
Click HERE to listen. I did want to read the article by Lane Brown, but can’t get past the paywall. Kai Ryssdal is good host on the Marketplace podcast, and the show is not political in the least. Which is how I’ll close.
I said something off-hand last week about the upcoming California Primary Election to a neighbor when we encountered each other during our morning walks. It did not go well. I was upset for days at how it blew up quickly, but then — the quilting world came to my rescue with this:
My Stars and Stripes Probably made by Ella Evans Made in Tennessee, United States; Circa 1900 Cotton IQM 2013.025.0001
The International Quilt Museum writes: “In this piece, we see the American flag as an enduring symbol of American patriotism. Made by Ella Evans, this quilt holds identical Unions in opposite corners each with forty-five stars — an accurate rendition of American states in 1900. Evans made this quilt for a man named Otis Golden. Evans cared for Otis and his brothers after their mother passed away.”
Even on opposite sides, we can still be part of one entity. Our church did a nationwide discussion of the Constitution last week, and my husband and I took the opportunity (and reminder) to read the full Constitution. It was instructive, a bit over our heads in some places (the Senate’s interpretations on the side did help), but it reminded me, as does the flag quilt by Evans, that we are all in this together.
Thanks so much for reading, I appreciate you very much–
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 