Scrap Quilts and How to Make Them

Scrap quilts are made out of whatever leftover (or "scrap") fabric is lying around. Sometimes the quilt will have a theme, like "shades of green," or "flower fabrics." More often, the theme could be summed up as "this is what I had on hand." But no matter where the fabric came from, these quilts have a hit-and-miss beauty that can't be denied. There are even traditions that surround scrap quilts, like the legend of the charm quilt. The story goes that if you make a quilt out of 1000 pieces, no two cut from the same bolt, then the quilt is "charmed" and whatever you dream under the quilt will come true.

I started quilting as a way of using up the fabric left over from years of costume design and stuffed toymaking. My first quilt was made of old clothing. So all the quilts I've done have been scrap quilts. This web site is a collection of directions and drawings of my favorite patterns.

CLOTHING AND CHARTS

This page will tell you how to prepare old clothing for quilting scraps, and gives yardage charts for popular blanket sizes.

INSTRUCTIONS - these pages give complete instructions for these patterns:

NEW! TV Guide Quilt An excellent beginner's pattern. Requires no measuring.
Pioneer Braid A simple pattern that gives the illusion of braided fabric. Try it with black sashing between the braids.
Cathedral Window The easy way of doing a complicated quilt.
Log Cabin One of the oldest and most popular patterns. Traditional colors for the center square include red (to show the hearthfire) and black (to mark a stop on the Underground Railway).
NEW! Endless Stair A simple dark/light pattern quilt. An excellent baby quilt when made in pinks and blues.
NEW! Seminole Strip Seminole patchwork is a whole subsection of quilting. This is the most commonly used variation.
NEW! Colorado Stripe An all stripe quilt. Very colorful.

NEW! OUTLINES - These pages have outline drawings of quilt blocks and a sketch of the completed quilt. Let your imagination run wild!

College quilt - the first quilt I ever made.
9-Patch Log Cabin - two fun patterns in one quilt
Windy City - stripes and squares of all sizes. Very colorful.
The Ultimate Scrap Quilt (strip variation) - a collection of crazy quilting, string quilting, Pioneer Braid, and Colorado Stripe. Guaranteed to use up all your scraps!
Chinese Coin - a cross between an Amish Bar Quilt and Colorado Stripe.

Paper Piecing - (TO BE ADDED WINTER 1997) No more cutting, no more measuring! Perfect for those oddly-sized scraps, this is "sew by the numbers" quilting.

Crazy Quilt Blocks - four different blocks for that totally random look. Try appliqueing random shapes over the seams to hide the lines between the blocks.
(Other patterns to be added)