Folk-art and primitive quilts are fantastically fun to make, and here’s one reason why: they’re just not that focused on perfection. In fact, they discourage it. Folk art is a style that affirms individual creativity and invites invention. “Mistakes” are simply opportunities to add character! Start with a few basic motifs and soon you’re designing your own quilts, your own way. No strings (or threads) attached.
Conveying special messages in primitive quilts is a long-standing tradition, and quilt-letter patterns are a staple of the genre. Funny, silly, inspiring, or moving, incorporating words into quilts has a way of instantly connecting quilt maker and owner.
Tracy, our key accounts representative, has made several “message” quilts using quilt-letter patterns from the book Alphabet Soup. I’ll bet she’s too modest to call herself a quilt designer, but she’s designing quilts nonetheless. And she knows how to make fabric letters very, very well. Read on and you’ll see why: she’s had lots of practice—not to mention an amusing way with words.
(Right: Tracy helps build the booth from the ground up, Fall 2012 Quilt Market.)
So many times I’ve wanted to make a gift quilt even more special by personalizing it. I like appliqué, but it never turns out quite as I’d envisioned. So I was thrilled when I stumbled on an appliqué-free solution —pieced letters!— in Avis Shirer and Tammy Johnson’s book Alphabet Soup. I’ve used their pieced quilt-letter patterns many times to make personalized quilts and table runners for the special people in my life.
(I had to ask to borrow a couple quilts back from their owners so I could share them with you. Two of them haven’t been given as gifts just yet, so please—shhh!)
The first quilt I made using the quilt-letter patterns from Alphabet Soup was for a very dear friend who doesn’t much like the holidays—they stress her out! So two other friends and I decided she needed a Christmas quilt. It was just a simple block quilt, and luckily my assignment was the border. I felt the quilt needed to reflect her feelings about Christmas, so I added the words “Bah Humbug.” It’s now Leslie’s treasured quilt. She has trouble putting it away when the holidays are over!
Here’s a close-up of the lettering.
Leslie’s quilt was so much fun and so easy to do, it got me thinking. The next quilt I made was for some dear friends. We somehow got started exchanging monkey gifts—I mean anything to do with monkeys—and over the years, it’s gotten totally out of hand. We even have a saying that started from some crazy monkey email: “You are the bestest monkeys in the whole wide world that I can see—ooh la la!” Now I know it sounds stupid, but we say it all the time and it makes us laugh.
I made an easy block quilt and added the words “Bestest Monkeys” in world fabric (get it—in the whole wide world?). Then I added the “Ooh la la!” My friends were amazed and surprised. And even though it was easy and fun to make, I told them it was incredibly difficult. (But let’s keep that part between us, okay?)
Again, here’s a close up of those easy quilt-letter patterns:
Here’s another quilt I made for long-time friends. We’ve been friends since college and our children have grown up together. Even though we’ve moved several times, we still manage to vacation together. We call these trips Wigturf Tours (a combination of our last names). We’ve even met each other at airports with signs (like the chauffer drivers have) that say “Wigturf Tours.” People thought it was really a tour group! Well, you guessed it—I made another easy block quilt with “Wigturf Tours” across the top.
It’s going to be delivered this month!
This last quilt is a birthday gift for a friend who loves big mugs of tea. I used the quilt pattern “Order Coffee Every 60 Minutes in a Coffee Shop” from Back to Charm School by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene. I put my friend’s nickname, “Queen Jane,” on the quilt to celebrate her 66th birthday, which was on December 2nd. But shhh, because I haven’t given it to her yet!
Only the Q’s tail is appliquéd.
It’s so simple to use the quilt-letter patterns from Alphabet Soup and put them together with any quilt pattern. It just takes a little planning. You can set the letters in any direction on your quilt. I can see using this for baby names on baby quilts, last names on housewarming gifts, first names for graduation quilts, “Nana” on a grandma’s quilt—the possibilities are endless! And although it’s really easy, don’t tell anyone. Make it seem like you did an amazing amount of work…or you’ll ruin it for me!
Your secret is safe with us, Tracy! Thanks for sharing your delightful friendship quilts. (See the quilts from Alphabet Soup.)
Have you made quilts that include words? What did they say—and why did you say it? Share your quilt story in the comments!
Pick up your digital copy of Alphabet Soup this week and save 40%—download the eBook instantly and start saying whatever you like in your quilts today! Check out all the folk-art inspired books on sale this week.
I need to try quilting text. I’ve seen so many inspiring ideas over the course of the year.
—Jean on December 17, 2012The very first quilt I ever made was a nine patch for my great-aunt. It was browns and golds and LOTS of cats. In the wide white border it said CAT NAP and had balls of yarn in the corners. It really was meant as a quilt for napping, too. I like to think that she and her kitties curled up and enjoyed it together.
—Michelle Harrison on December 17, 2012Oh my heck, this is so timely! I’m planning to make a quilt to celebrate President Obama’s re-election. I intend to quilt the quotes he has on the rug in the oval office, and then on the backing, in a more carefree font, to quilt words from the campaign and his speeches. This book looks like it could become my dear companion.
—Beth T. on December 17, 2012My friend and I have made three quilts with words that we donated to a local charity auction. We live in a small village in Alaska that honors their elders. For the first quilt we gathered the signatures of 35 elderly women in the community. We also collected their Yupik/Inupiat (Eskimo) names. Using a light table, I traced their signatures and Yupik/Inupiat names onto fabric. We embroidered the names and used them as the third block in a three-block quilt. The quilt raised a good amount for the organization so we made a second quilt with different names the second year and used the Double Irish Chain pattern. For the third year we collected men’s signatures and interspersed them in a quilt featuring moose. It was a lot of fun making the quilts, but the greatest reward was hearing people bid on the quilts that contained their parents’ or grandparents’ signatures. My daughter won the one with her dad’s name on it and displays it proudly in our home until she has a home big enough to display it there.
—Virginia/AK on December 17, 2012I love the Keep Calm and Carry On signs but couldn’t find one the right size for my kitchen…so I quilted one! I had such fun finding just the right red and free piecing my letters!
—Beth Strand on December 17, 2012I am a relative newbie so no writing on the quilts yet. I LOVE THE BAH HUMBUG idea. And the Queen Jane for that matter. So personal and funny. I bet those quilts will be well used!!
—Shannon on December 17, 2012I haven’t pieced or appliqued words, but I write in free-motion quilting on my quilts. I just finished baby quilts for my twin grandsons with a farm theme and I wrote their names and then names of animals and all the things that they can do when they come to the farm to see me – bake cookies, climb trees, collect eggs from the chickens, pick peaches etc! I look forward to telling them stories about all their future adventures while snuggling them with their quilts!
—Rosalie on December 17, 2012no words … never thought of it and, until recently, have seen very few quilts with words, just numbers for kids quilts. now, this seems to be catching on; i’ll have to think upsome words on one of my next quilts.
—ritainalaska on December 17, 2012I made a story quilt for my husband and it had his name on it.
—Diane Wright on December 17, 2012Men love their name in print!
I made a cowboy themed baby quilt after finding the perfect fabric with kids dressed as cowboys. I made "rope" from embroidery floss by winding it until it wound back on itself (looked it up online), then stitched it down spelling out, "Howdy Pardner!" across the top of the quilt. At the bottom, I found three "brands" for the initials: the Rocking B, the Cirle E, and the Lazy M.
—Billie on December 17, 2012I have been putting the names of the kids I make quilts for in large block letters on the backs of their quilts…so far Spencer, Jasmyn, Calvin and River Joy. The kids really love it. I have just used a very improvisational method so far…no patterns.It’s lots of fun and very modern.
—Peggy on December 17, 2012Our three grandchildren are from two marriages. The boy and girl share the same father, whereas the boy and his half brother share the same mother. I made each of the children a cross word puzzle quilt, using 3 inch felt letters with sticky backings. I entwined the parents and childrens names into one big puzzle and next to their name, I included an 8 X 10 picture, printed on fabric, of the individual child. The focus fabric was the same on all 3 quilts and each child had their favorite color as the secondary color. If you make this quilt, be sure to sew down the edges of the letters as with washings they will come up.
The quilt was made in hopes of unifying the family into one big family.
Keep smiling,
—Lynnita Shipman on December 17, 2012Every year I make a quilt around the theme of our Christian Women’s retreat. They always include words that tells the theme of the retreat as well as the date. On them everyone who was in attendance has signed their name. Some times it is on something pertaining to the theme, and other times on the quilt itself. I am always looking for new ideas and ways to incorporate words. Having ‘pieced’ lettering would be a nice change of pace as they are usually appliqued or embroidered.
—Cindy R. on December 17, 2012