Another Quilt Post! (It’s Long!)

I know, you’re sick of me posting about my quilt collection, but this time, I decided to do something about it. In this post from July, I had some images of quilted coats. I started mulling the idea of making a coat from one of the quilts with condition issues, like stains or wear.

I thought about it some more. The coat needed to be very simple. It needed to be simple because I’ve never made a coat, or even anything with sleeves before. I’d also never really made anything using a printed pattern. The coat needed to be a loosely-fitted, boxy design because of the quilt’s bulk. And I pretty much knew that there was no way in this world that I could construct and attach a collar. I finally found and  bought a pattern for the potential coat.

There was actually a belt with the pattern, but I thought that would move the coat into more of a bathrobe territory.

I pondered some more. How could I make this work? I didn’t really want to have to have to sew hems around the whole coat, because again, the bulk. All of a sudden, the solution came to me. Why not use the borders of the quilt for the edges of the coat! I could use the corners for the two front panels, and then the other borders for the arms and the back.

Once I figured that out, things pretty much fell into place. I had gotten a quilt a little while ago at a different auction from my usual one, and they had a full photo of it online. I screen-grabbed it and put it in Photoshop. As you can see, there’s a pattern of sorts. I wanted to figure out how to take advantage of the larger red squares, because there were only two of them.

Then I scanned in the pattern pieces and started moving them around until I found the layout which would take advantage of the borders and the red blocks. This was an early iteration of the lay-out.

I wanted to try and match the fronts, but alternating the brown and red, and the sleeves with the white at the top. It took some playing to get this done, with the quilt laying out on my bed, Figue trying to be part of it all and me pinning the tissue paper pattern to the quilt. I actually marked the patterns out on the right side of the quilt (in a Sharpie marker, no less!), because I wanted to be certain of where the pieces were going to be. Even after I printed out this lay-out, I changed it again.

The hardest part was actually putting scissors to fabric, but once I did, I just kept cutting. I have a dress-maker’s dummy, so I started pinning the coat on that and could finally see it taking shape… literally.

As I mentioned, I’ve never made a garment with sleeves, so I had NO idea of how this would work. As you can see by the middle image, I initially put the sleeves in backwards, and then realized i needed to turn the sleeves inside-out. I also put seam-binding around the neck-line, since it was the only place where the raw edges showed. Once I figured all of that out, it was smooth sailing sewing. All in all, it took about five hours to make the coat, not including the contemplating and pondering.

I  like how the pattern mostly matches up, and how you can see the amazing stitch-work on the plain panel on the back of the jacket. I think that the bright graphic pattern on this quilt steers it away from the bathrobe territory. I did adjust the sleeves a little, but they were still too long, so I’ve just folded them back.

To say that I am THRILLED about how the coat (or quoat, as a friend termed it) turned out would be an understatement. I started this morning picking up coffee and having a woman stop me to tell me how much she loved my coat. I had to tell her I had made it all by my self!

So, that brings up my next quandry. I thought I would have sold a lot of the quilts at my Pop-Up Shop in September, but I only sold one! I was pretty surprised by that. I am now thinking of making some of these quilt coats for sale. I won’t cut up the perfect quilts, but some of the ones that are 90% perfect, since I now know how much fabric I need. I would make them in S, M, L and XL, not by actual sizes. I am thinking that you could pick which quilt you wanted, and what size you need, and the coat would be made to order. Thoughts?

Popped the Pop-Up!

Well, the Pigtown Anglo-American Pop-Up was a huge success! Actually, so successful that I kept it open for an extra two weeks at the request of the shopping village where I had opened.

We had planned to open with a little sip & shop party, but I ended up not getting into the space until the day before I had planned to open, so that plan was scrapped. And working all day to set up the shop didn’t really put me in the mood to party. Plus, we had a huge storm that evening and got 2.5” of rain! Just what we needed (haha!).

My friend, Stiles, helped me finesse the shop’s final look and made it really look spectacular. He knew exactly how to arrange the display shelves and tables perfectly, and brought along risers and stands, as well as ladders from his shop, Halcyon House Antiques.

I was fascinated to see that almost all the really HUGE pieces sold first. Platters, trays, tureens, candlesticks, bowls and pitchers, all went in the first two weekends. In fact, I had sold so much, that I had to plunder my house to get more items to fill the shelves.

The shop was located in a 50-year old mixed-use development, and one of the things I loved about it was that it was full of light, no matter how dreary the day was.

As always, my favourite pieces are the glass domes! Most of them sold, but in the meantime, I had fun filling them with both items from the shop and seasonal Baby Boo pumpkins.

And who doesn’t love transferware! I had it in a range of colours, including the rare mulberry!

All in all, it was a fun experience. At times, I felt like it was a revolving cocktail party with all of the friends coming and going. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to buy or just to say hello!

Festival of Fabrics

Earlier this week, John Rosselli at the D&D Building in NYC hosted a Festival of Fabrics.I really wanted to go, but my work and pop-up schedule didn’t allow me enough time to go to NYC for the day. I am such a fabric addict, and there were so many clever ideas at the Festival, that I wanted to share them with you.

The staff at Rosselli created a festival-like atmosphere, complete with tented fabrics, balloons and popcorn.

I love these pinwheels from Right Meets Left Design

How can you not love these little sailboats by Le Gracieux Creative

And the bow of a sailboat peeking out from behind some flowers.

And another view!

How about this Venetian tabletop by Jenny Wolf Interiors!

And another view.

Here is the detail on the Sister Parrish cloth.

John Robshaw umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.

Detail of an umbrella

All in all, it looked like such a fun event, that I am already making plans to go next year!

Quilts, Again…

If you’re following me on Instagram, you have seen that I am have been seriously collecting Amish and American patchwork quilts in preparation for the upcoming Pigtown Anglo-American Pop-Up Shop.

One of my theories of retailing is that I would never sell anything that I don’t love, would not have in my house or would not collect. When I began thinking about these quilts, I realized that I have been collecting them for several decades!In fact, over the weekend, I opened a container only to find my first quilt purchase.

But it’s not just me who has a renewed interest in quilts. This recent piece in Fashionista outlines the resurgance in using quilts in fashion.  And in the recent article on my friend’s house on Nantucket in Architectural Digest, there were quilts everywhere. In the “Design Notes” there was a mention of the quilts, with a reference to Calvin Klein. It was noted as “price upon request” which generally means that if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.

From the Calvin Klein website, comes this:

CALVIN KLEIN is pleased to present a series of vintage quilts, hand-selected from across the country, exclusively for the brand’s Madison Avenue flagship. Emblematic of both American heritage and a homespun, handcrafted ethos of days gone by, these one-of-a-kind pieces range in origin, dating from the 19th to early 20th centuries. Some arrestingly graphic, others intricately wrought, these heirloom objects are entrenched in America’s visual vocabulary, and synonymous in many ways with Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons’ vision for CALVIN KLEIN. At Simons’ debut for Fall 2017, vintage quilts lined oversized, utilitarian parkas, or became panel detailing on classic Wall Street topcoats; most recently they were seen on the Spring 2018 CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC runway, tucked under models’ arms.

Click the image above to see all of the quilts in the collection. No prices!

But Klein is not the only one who is using patchwork quilts in their designs. Rosetta Getty had these designs, using the Log Cabin pattern, in her spring 2018 collection.

I would murder for this jacket, from the collection of Emily Bode,

this is from Libertine,

and these are from Mimi Prober, all from their Fall 2018 collections

Quilts in fashion is such a trend that the New York Times has even written about it, in a piece amusingly titled, “This Old Thing?” For quilts that aren’t in museum condition, you can always re-purpose them like these pieces from Kelsey Parkerhouse’s Carleen.

So, I am letting you know that quilting is having a moment, and I am here to help!

Parch Marks

For most of the summer, many of us have been suffering through a horrible drought (it broke here in Baltimore over the weekend with 6+ inches of rain since Saturday!), but it’s still going strong in the UK. This drought has uncovered a trove of information, much previously unknown. Appearing in the grass and on the lawns of many historic sites are what is known as parch marks. These marks are the remnants of what existed in the space in the past.

In this garden at the historic house, Hardwick Hall, you can make out the original garden design with the original design just below.

Here’s a general explanation of parch marks, or as they’re sometimes called, crop marks:

Crop marks appear due to the principle of differential growth. One of the factors controlling the growth of vegetation is the condition of the soil. A buried stone wall, for example, will affect crop growth above it, as its presence channels water away from its area and occupies the space of the more fertile soil. Conversely, a buried ditch, with a fill containing more organic matter than the natural earth, provides much more conducive conditions and water will naturally collect there, nourishing the plants growing above.

The differences in conditions will cause some plants to grow more strongly and therefore taller, and others less strongly and therefore shorter. Some species will also react through differential ripening of their fruits or their overall colour.

Here are some additional images that which have been discovered over the past few weeks in the UK. In the UK, the big drought in 1976 revealed many unknown sites,  but many of these parch marks are only being found now because of the availability of drone photography which provides the perspective needed to see the marks.

Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire

This house at Clumber Park was demolished in 1938, but the outline is now showing.

The outlines of a former circular garden at Knole.

WWI Trenches in Kent

Outlines on the lawn at Chatsworth (still peeved that I couldn’t visit)

A newly discovered henge in County Meath, Ireland

Remains of a former RAF airbase in Hampshire.

Parch marks of a large prehistoric enclosure in Wales' Vale of Glamorgan (where I used to live), with the faint footings of a probable Roman villa

The remains of a Roman town in Norfolk.

WWII air-raid shelters in Cambridge

Although the drought is not a good thing, it’s certainly fascinating what it has been revealing!

Announcing the PigtownDesign Pop-Up Shop!

For months, I’ve been watching a space at a shopping village close to my house play host to a revolving cast of pop-up shops. Last week, I signed a month-long lease for all of September for the second third Pigtown Design Pop-Up Shop!

After my recent trip to the UK where I visited the Wedgwood Museum, and realized how many pieces I of Wedgwood I have at home, and with my recent acquisition of a number of stellar Amish and Pennsylvania quilts, I decided that the theme of the shop should be Anglo-American! Amazingly enough, that’s my heritage – my father was British and my mother is American. I have dual citizenship throught the UK’s Right of Abode.

I will be selling a wide range of decorative items, including china and books (including some give-away Book Thing books!),

mother-of-pearl and French ivory-handled silverware,

a selection of cloches and domes,

pennants and bunting,

pillow covers,

silver,

tea towels,

and much, much more!

The Pop-Up will be at the Shops at the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore, and it will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I hope that you will stop by and check it out!