Whole Cloth Challenge - Sponsored by Aurifil

by Ruth

We saw the finished QuiltCon and BAM blocks at the July meeting, and Bay Area Modern is already launching a new challenge!  The goal of the challenge is to make a whole cloth quilt  - that's a quilt made from a single fabric on each side, without piecing.  This style of quilt really shows off your quilting, and that's where we want to focus for this challenge.

The challenge guidelines:

• Make a quilt.  Your design should rely on and emphasize quilting.  Instead of creating a top and then thinking "how will I quilt this?" - we're going to start with that question.
• At least one side of your quilt should be whole cloth in a solid or solid-like fabric (examples:  shot cotton, tone-on-tone, quilters linen, etc).   Use of whole cloth is encouraged on both sides but piecing is ok on one side of your quilt.
• Consider thread weight for your quilting and how it will affect your design.
• Overall quilt size is up to you. You could make a mini-quilt, or a king size (ha!). You are invited to make a square quilt, size 30 to 40", which can handed over to the guild charity group for donation to the Stanford NICU, if you like. Donation is optional to the challenge, but it might help you feel less pressured to create a masterpiece. Since, ya know, it won't be sticking around and staring you in the face
• Quilts are due in October, at the meeting on the 6th.

Aurifil has generously donated a thread pack for each participant in this challenge.  It contains their wool thread and their cotton thread in weights 12, 28, 40, and 50.  Thread was distributed at the meeting on Saturday, but we still have a few sets left.  If you weren't able to make it, you can contact an officer to sign up for the challenge and arrange to get your thread pack. 

Want to participate, but not too sure about whole cloth quilts?  You probably just need some inspiration!

Your design could be more simple, but still have a big impact.  Whole cloth means that you don't have to worry about quilting closely to reinforce the pieced seams.  Sparse quilting gives your quilt a lovely soft drape.  Like this circle quilt from Film in the Fridge (that dot fabric would be fine to use as a "solid-like"):

Whole cloth baby quilt by Ashley @ filminthefridge

You could quilt more closely to create beautiful texture, like these wavy-quilted pillows from a stitch in dye, which get added interest from the dye variation in the fabric:

Whole cloth pillows by Malka Dubrawsky (stitchindye)

If you just can't resist piecing, you can put it on just one side of your quilt.  Maybe your design could be an interaction of piecing and quilting, like this modern mini quilt from Swim, Bike, Quilt!:

Modern Mini Challenge by Katie @ swim,bike, quilt!

Perhaps a repeating geometric pattern is your style, like this herringbone quilt from Latifah at The Quilt Engineer.  I love how she brought in additional color with the wide color-block binding:

Herringbone Linen Quilt by Latifah Saafir

The cloth for this star quilt was created using a Japanese dyeing technique called Shibori, but you could translate this inspiration to something created by sun dyeing (like the fabric that Rhonda showed on Saturday), or perhaps using a bleach pen to draw your design: 

Carolanne Graham's Shibori Star Whole Cloth Quilt

Perhaps you are a quilting pro, and would like to do something more intricate for your quilt, like this dot quilt by ReannaLily Designs (I would not consider this dot fabric to be "solid-like", but only side of your quilt needs to be solid):

Whole Cloth Quilt by Jen Eskridge

You could get your graffiti on:

Lemon Grafitti quilt by ralexandra

Or create your life's work:

Whole cloth quilt by Kelly Gallagher Abbott

 Someone, anyone?  Gonna make one like that?

Whatever you do, get your thinking caps on!  We'll be discussing our quilting plans at the August meeting and then show finished quilts in October.