If you've seen the cover of the April-May issue of
The Quilter magazine, you've seen Michele D'Amore's
Sun-Kissed collection in a
fresh (and gorgeous!) quilt. This lap-size beauty was designed, stitched and
quilted by Julie Lynch, who shares a bit of her design process with us below.
About the Trip Around the World design:
Julie: I tried a
traditional Trip Around the World design first, but it didn't have the same
appeal as the on-point version you see below. I had a stack of squares from each fabric, and I
just played. I'd agonize—and if I didn't like how the colors looked next to
each other, I picked up the squares and tried again until it worked. I don't
have a design wall, so it's all done on the floor.
About the Sun-Kissed fabrics:
Julie: This quilt
was really fun to make. To me, the fabrics had a 60s vibe. I loved the graphic
prints. They were fun. The collection has a great mix of light, medium and
dark, and size variation. The solids (from the Colors for Quilters line) were perfect because
the prints needed a quiet place to rest your eye.
Details matter:
Julie: I purposely
oriented the striped squares (3rd print out from the center) as you
see them to create a zigzag illusion. I used the large circular print in two
very different ways in the quilt. The cream background version is chopped up
into squares in the quilt. But the design needed a bigger statement, so I used
the darker brown version I a big border to help hold the quilt together,
visually. I really liked the boldness of this border print.
Isn't a Trip Around the World usually square?
Julie: It didn't
look right being plain old square to me. I thought it needed to be elongated a
bit. I added in the olive-y green and the blue print squares as additional rows
on the top and bottom to create a rectangle
Design tip:
Julie: When you have
a quilt top laid out, step away from it overnight, and take a photo of it as
well. Coming back to it with a fresh eye, as well as seeing it on a camera
screen, helps you see your design with a more impartial eye.
Fun fact:
Julie: I don't use a
computer. I've been sewing quilts for Benartex for more than 25 years. They
send me a collection—it's always a surprise when it arrives and I start playing
around, working with what they've sent. If I don't have an idea immediately
when I see the fabric, I often just start cutting and playing with the prints
on the floor.
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p.s. Have you nominated a fabric collection for our March Madness Fan Favorite bracket yet? Maybe it's Sun-Kissed, featured on The Quilter's cover, or maybe it's a different line. Read more about the bracket here and nominate your favorites in the comment sections here or here, on our Facebook page.
