Breaking the Shell

Many thanks to you all, as I was really touched and encouraged by the comments left after my last post. By that evening things started to become clearer to me, and the shell began to crack open. I realized that the reason I was having a hard time translating the lines and shapes that were in my mind into quilts, is because this time, I wasn't suppose to put them into quilts... I was suppose to just put them into cloth.


Wanting to keep going with the theme of utilitarian patchwork, I turned to Pojagi, (which is a type of Korean patchwork, often used to make square wrapping cloth) for inspiration.

Traditionally, (from what I can gather) Pojagi is constructed with hand stitched french seams, that are then tacked down with very small hand stitches. However despite my love of hand stitching, I knew that I didn't want to do it that way, (as I tried it once and didn't like it!)

I kept thinking about it and as I fell asleep I saw how I might do it on the machine, and the next morning I woke up and started to create a humble little panel out of muslin.


I joined my patchwork with machine stitched traditional seams, pressing them open, and tucking the raw edges in, then stitching them down... (and I enjoyed the process very much this time!)


To continue the play of light and shadow that this work encourages, I also added a little pocket where a leaf can be tucked into.

Now my mind is expanding with new ideas, and it feels wonderful. My next experiment with this construction method will be a long and narrow cloth runner made with shot cottons. Can hardly wait!