Sunday Morning Quilts: Sort, Store, and Use Every Last Bit of Your Treasured Fabrics

Introduction

As long as there are quilts there will be scraps. As long as there are scraps there will be scrap quilts.

With the proliferation of new, bright, and modern designer fabrics, many quilters are left with fabric so precious to them that they are hanging on to every last inch. With the modern quilt movement growing, in terms of both fabrics and techniques, modern quilters need options for sorting, storing, and using their scraps effectively and beautifully.

Making quilts from your scraps is partly about embracing the frugal history of quiltmaking. Long before there were stores devoted to quilting cottons, there were the leftovers from home-sewn clothes, linens, and cloth feedsacks. Buying fabric just for quilts was sometimes a luxury. Many quilts were made with what was available rather than what was wanted.

In the modern age, when new fabric is easily at hand and overwhelmingly inspiring, it’s easy to put the scraps aside and move on to the next project and the next group of fabrics. Just because we are modern quilters, we shouldn’t forget those traditional roots. Nor can we ignore the waste if we just throw out the scraps.

Scrap quilting is about celebrating gorgeous fabric. It is about making something amazing out of the odds and ends that are causing havoc in our sewing space. It is about being mindful of what we have. It is about pushing our creative limits to find a way to utilize every last piece.

Sunday Morning Quilts marries the notion of the scrap quilt and modern quilt design. These quilts are bold, appealing to the new generation of quilters. They are at home in a modern setting—covering a platform bed, as an art installation, or on the back of a streamlined sofa. Better yet, wrapped around a pile of legs on the couch or used as the walls of a fort.

Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about—making a quilt to be used. We may love our fabric and thrill in the creative process, the best part is curling up with a quilt. Looking down from our mugs on a quiet morning to see the fabric from both our first and latest quilts is satisfying, and we encourage you to take your scraps out and make your own Sunday morning quilts.

OUR JOURNEY TO THE SCRAP PILE

Combined, we have almost as many years of quilting experience as we are old! We’ve made more than 250 quilts. As you can imagine, we have a lot of scraps. A lot.

We came together through the power of the Internet. Okay, that’s giving a lot of credit to the Internet. Beyond our blogs, we’re both busy moms with a tendency to go crazy over clutter and to drown in our fabric. We share ideas and help each other out when we’re stuck on a quilt or life in general. This book emerged out of those conversations.

We aren’t the same type of quilter. Our fabric preferences vary, our goals are different, and the rate at which we work is light years apart. But we do come together when we talk about scraps. There comes a point when they take over your space, your life, and your inspiration. If they aren’t dealt with right now then nothing else can be done. We totally get that about each other.

Scrap quilting isn’t new to us, or to anyone. We wanted to make quilts that we loved making and using. And we wanted to deal with every last bit of fabric we had.

Could quilts be made with just those little bits? It turns out that the answer is a very obvious YES!

THIS BOOK

Sunday Morning Quilts is a direct response to that question. Stunning and bold quilts can be made with those little bits! And you can make a dent in the scrap pile while making those quilts.

The first step is effective sorting and storing of all your scraps. You can’t get to the creating part without this step. In addition to strategies for sorting and storing, we’ve included a great project for storing those scraps—made from scraps! After that we’ve provided 15 inspirational designs to help you use up every last bit.

Not everyone will move through his or her scrap bin from one design to the next, but there is at least one quilt among all the designs here that will get you running to your scraps, if not your stash.

We want to encourage you to make each quilt your own. Not only will your personal scrap selection inspire differences, but you can adapt the designs for the sizes and colors you want. Each project includes a few of our suggestions for design alternatives. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

This book is for the adventurous beginner, the experienced artist, and everyone in between. The techniques in Sunday Morning Quilts are easily adaptable for all quilters, so even the most traditional of quilters can take something from them. All we assume is that you have basic quilting skills and a pile of scraps begging for attention.

Even if you are a beginner and your scrap bin is actually rather empty, these designs are easily adapted to new fabric. You will just need to turn your fabric into scraps by chopping it up first. Or you can ask around to see if you can get your hands on someone else’s scraps.

We’ve come a long way from our first quilts. But you know what? Those first fabrics are still around—and some of them are in these quilts. Embrace the roots of your quilting history and quilting in general. Take those scraps and move forward with these bold designs. You, and your fabric, will be very, very happy.

What Is Modern?

Our quilts are decidedly modern. A lot of factors combine to put them in the modern category. Design, construction, fabric choice, and color all influence whether a quilt is seen as modern. Perhaps what is most important, though, is how you see your quilts. Whether you see them as modern or not—or whether you are even concerned with that—being happy with your quilts at the end of the day is what matters most.

The modern quilt movement would not exist without the Internet. Blogging, photo sharing, community sites, and online shopping changed the face of quilting. Not only has the Internet opened up quilting to a younger audience, it’s made for the quick and widespread sharing of ideas and concepts. With physical chapters of the Modern Quilt Guild now being established internationally, the online world is making a transition to in-person gatherings. It is a perfect metaphor for modern quilting as a whole.

Not much in modern quilting is radically new. We’re still using fabric, thread, batting, and skill to put a quilt together. While some contemporary or art quilters love to include the use of paint, fusing, beads, paper, and more, modern quilters are actually more like traditional quilters in their choice of materials.

Modern quilts are also a lot like traditional quilts in their simplicity of design, use of solids, and color choices. Arguably, modern quilting could be considered a throwback to very, very traditional quilting.

It also has been argued that modern quilting is a mutation of current quilting conventions. As modern quilts are made, each new idea is tested and shared, and it continues to mutate. Every time you see a quilt, you can be sure that variations, adaptations, and new quilts will follow. Modern quilting takes traditional quilts and changes them, and it also takes contemporary quilts and steals their bold flavor.

The importance of history and tradition is acknowledged in modern quilting, but people often come to the movement either evolving from or rebelling against traditional or contemporary quilting.

Perhaps modern quilting is really a reflection of societal changes?

• Granddaughters looking to reclaim the skills of their grandmothers

• A push for domestic simplicity and a return to the craft of living

• Women (and a few men) acknowledging a creative outlet in a fast-paced, technology-driven world

• A younger batch of quilters looking for new inspiration

• A search for community beyond preschool and soccer games

These have resulted in the development of simple yet energetic designs—modern quilting.

Design

While no one factor makes a quilt modern, some design commonalities make modern quilts stand out from the rest of the stack.

LARGE SCALE

Regardless of the finished size of the quilt, the designs are often on a large scale. This can be manifested as a quilt that is one large block or a quilt made from a handful of large blocks. In a similar vein, modern quilts are often seen with large pieces of a single fabric. In part, this is a reflection of the desire to show off large-scale prints as well as a love for many modern fabrics.

CLEAN AND SIMPLE

Even when complex in construction, the designs of modern quilts are usually clean— it’s like looking at an ultramodern home in comparison to a Victorian. Both houses serve the same purpose, but the design is radically different—the modern one