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| Blue Willow Quilt |
A blue and white quilt is a very old fashion quilt. It reminds me of the old-fashioned times of porcelain, old-fashioned dishes and crisp summer mornings. If you've been looking for a project that marries this traditional style with smart modern building methods, the Blue Willow Quilt is at the top of the list of must make projects.
This stunning creation by master quilter Janice Averill is an incredible display of contrast, depth and precision, and was originally created for Quilting Daily (and later published in Fons & Porter Love of Quilting). The intricate longarm quilting of the sample was beautifully reproduced by Janice Roy and the quilt is truly opulent in its texture and visual design.
So, in this overview, we will look into the reasons why the Blue Willow Quilt pattern is so unique, how strip piecing is used to make it seamless, and why managing the "value" of the fabrics is the secret key to making it appear its full beauty.
Design: A Symphony of 10 Fabric Values
Here is the outcome of the Design: A Symphony of 10 Fabric Values.
Here is the outcome of the Design: A Symphony of 10 Fabric Values.
The Blue Willow Quilt is a very intricate, seemingly complex quilt at first glance. Its power comes in the way the designer uses a range of printed cloth print patterns as opposed to complex patchwork motifs.
This quilt was designed by Janice Averill and is made up of the full range of 10 different cloth values, from bright lights to deep, dark blues (including the Blue Moon collection from Quilting Treasures).
In quilting, "value" is the lightness or darkness of a fabric, not their color. Three light valued fabrics, a variety of medium swirls and florals are used to frame the interior and two different dark fabrics provide a sense of multi dimensional depth.
The 2nd Sparkle Effect: The quilt would look beautiful as there are 10 prints rather than 3 or 4. The careful variations in scale and density suggest a glowing, moving mosaic.
Whether you're digging through your scrap collection or visiting your local quilt shop, before you get started on this project, take the time to carefully sort your blues and creams by light to dark, using a gray-scale card or a color filter, so that your project will have the same high-contrast impact as you'd like to see.
Construction: Fast and Friendly Strip Piecing
Although this layout is very large, do not be daunted by it! One of the most attractive aspects of the Blue Willow pattern is that it is easy to sew.
The pattern utilizes a lot of strip piecing instead of cutting hundreds of little squares and rectangles. Long identical strips of fabric are sewn together first and then sub-cut into units which saves a huge amount of time.
Which is better for exact piecers: the design has only a few intersections where multiple seams have to match up correctly. This makes it a very easy, velvety project for intermediate quilters, but will also give you a feel of a wonderfully complicated project!
Block rotation is important when assembling the rows of your design! During early digital views of this layout, a row of large blocks on the left side appeared upside down. Before stitching in the last row, check the primary image of the finished quilt to make sure that the large blocks are stitched in the proper direction.
Finishing Your Quilts with Machine Quilting by Janice Roy
A great pieced top deserves the best quilting for the original sample and Janice Roy has done just that with her machine quilting.
With a high contrast and a geometric design such as Blue Willow, the quilting style is a factor in the design. Soft, flowing custom motifs connect the strip-piecing, adding to the casual, relaxed feel and facilitating the much desired drape in the finished quilt. The generous amount of light backgrounds in this design is ideal for displaying your favorite quilting thread whether you choose to finish with an elegant edge-to-edge pantograph or custom feather and custom filling in the negative space.
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Blue Willow Quilt is available for a free download from Quilting Daily:
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Final Thoughts
The Blue Willow Quilt is an incredible piece of quilting by the thoughtful use of fabrics to create an easy and simple piecing. Janice Averill's genius layout trick is to remind us that we don't have to sweat over some small and fiddly template when making our show-stopping heirloom. This allows a gorgeous array of blue and white prints to do the work, and it's tied off with the power of efficient strip making.
From the first cut to the last binding stitch, you will love this quilt; whether you want to make a timeless lap quilt or add borders to create a grand queen-size quilt to hang in your bedroom.
