Alcott's 9-patch Quilt

Alcott's 9-Patch, finished

Every crafter has half-finished projects.  Sometimes, we let them go -- half-finished -- for someone else to play with. 

Last year, I acquired a bunch of fabric from someone else, which included twelve hand-sewn nine-patches.  The stitching was pretty close to the raw edges, only an eighth-inch seam allowance, which made me nervous about fraying in the wash!  But I was charmed by these sweet, lopsided nine-patches, and decided to set them in some brown scraps (leftover from another crafter's plundered kit).  

Assembling the top

First thing, I stabilize the nine-patches, so their scanty seam allowances will have a better chance of holding up in the wash.  To do this, I press them how I want them, then lay them atop the gluey side of some iron-on interfacing, and press again.  The interfacing adheres to the back of the nine-patch, holding its seam allowances down and making the whole unit act like one piece of fabric instead of a series of joints and intersections.  

BEFORE

INTERFACING

Next I frame two sides of the nine-patches, top and bottom, with slivers of green, and assemble strips of nine-patches and brown plaids and checks.  

My sashing will be some brown strips with antique ladies' heads on it.  They are already arranged in stripes, so I measure a quarter-inch from their borders, and trim, and then when I sew the strips together they are framed by the print.  Because the ladies make me think of Little Women, I call the project "Alcott's 9-patch".  

Some flannel borders and economy blocks (AKA "square in a square") in the corners, and the top is assembled.  

Because it's small, like a crib quilt or changing pad, I don't need much batting: I cobble together some scraps of batting and whip-stitch them together.  I back the quilt with more of the ladies' heads and scraps of plaid.  Then I sandwich it envelope-style (no need to bind).  

Big-stitch Quilting

For the quilting, I am not very inspired.  I pull out some perle cotton and pick a color (pink).  Then I do big-stitch quilting in straight lines.  Within the nine-patches, I also do a few ties.  In the ditches, I use brown all-purpose thread to hold things together.  

choosing thread color

ties

big-stitch quilting

Aesthetic Musings

The browns in this quilt remind me of the "country primitive" aesthetic that was popular in quilting in the 1990's: traditional patchwork and simple appliqué, rendered in chocolate browns, mustard yellows, and turkey reds, on a background of beige.  Slubby faux-homespun and fuzzy flannels were common.  This aesthetic is part imagination (actual pioneer women proudly appliquéd elegant and complex designs, not five-pointed stars with two long legs or disjointed snowmen with big-stitch arms), and part a genuine attempt to imitate history (look at the Quilt Index's records by time period).  The 1800's do look very brown... but were they?  Prior to the invention of synthetic and colorfast dyes in 1856, many things initially dyed bright colors with organic dyes would fade into other colors ("fugitive green"), or darken to brown.  So maybe the antique quilts were bright initially, and only look brown due to age.  People get inspiration from the past, but what they make is still 100% of their own time.  

My aunt, my dad's sister, has made and given my family several quilt or quilted pillows in the country primitive style.  One, a log-cabin quilt that she made for my parents, was suffused with love: every time she started a block (with the center "hearth" piece), she prayed for our family, and with each log she prayed for my parents marriage, or us kids.  My dad used that quilt in his recliner for years, until it absolutely fell to shreds, whereupon she made him a lap quilt (which he didn't get much use of before he passed).  So I have a warm feeling when I see brown quilts. ​

"Too Many Pieces", pieced by Marge McCanse & quilted by the First United Methodist Quilters.

As an artist, I am not drawn to the primitive look or  dark neutral tones, which is why  browns pile up in my stash: I get more pleasure from working with bright fabrics.  I want my work to elicit a smile, rather than a contented nuzzle.  So working on Alcott's 9-patch was a bit out of my norm.  In the end, I like the result: the browns become a wooden frame for colorful windows, like the non-religious stained glass in old houses.  

NOTE ON PHOTO
This quilt, pieced by Marge McCanse and hand-quilted by the First United Methodist Quilters, was exhibited in February 2024 at the Second Annual Oregon Quilt Festival, Salem, Oregon.  It is unrelated to mine in any way, but I was struck by their similarity of color and design!  Click to see full size; the hand-quilting is well-done.  

3rd Place Ribbon!

In March 2024, I exhibited Alcott's 9-patch at the Northwest Quilters' Festival of Quilts, in Hillsboro, Oregon.  I submitted it into the "small pieced" category, but the organizers decided it qualified as a miniature instead.  In the miniature category, it took third place!  So that is very cool!