Seams So Easy

Japanese Puzzles: 2003  (Started: 1999)

Japanese Puzzles

Started on 30^th May 1999 at a workshop with some of the Randwick Girls at Hearts & Hands store located in Station Street, Wentworth Falls in the beautiful Blue Mountains.  Sadly, this store is no longer open. Jan Ingall Walker was our tutor for the class. 

Jan had taken the idea for her quilt from a pattern in a Japanese quilt magazine (with all directions in Japanese, of course!) and was fascinated by the complex piecing required to complete this sampler quilt.  She finished her own quilt in indigos using Japanese fabrics.  Rather than work in a traditional palette, I chose lighter shades of blue and added a pumpkin yellow for contrast.

A quote hides an additional border to adjust
my block to the right size 

Each block required meticulous attention to detail, machine seams needed to be perfect.  Even our experienced seamstresses found the going tricky; many blocks were sewn and re-sewn.  Finally we each had a top pieced from 6 finished blocks.

Some of the blocks refused to settle nicely and there were many seams, so rather than quilt, I chose a combination of tying and a bold stitch called Crows Foot using a Perle #8 thread.  This stitch is recommended by Hopkins & Martin and not only did I really enjoy the stitching process but also found it complemented the busy quilt design rather nicely.  I machine stabilised the blocks before tying though.

Crows Foot close-up

At the time I was reading about Lady Murasaki (c 973 – c1014 or 1025) who had written “Tales of the Genji” based on court manners during that particular Japanese dynasty.  The complexity of the puzzles seemed a suitable representation of the remarkable haiku from the Edo Period.  I added a quote from the book to a finished block using a Pigma Micron 0.1 brown pen.  I was starting to tune into various inspirations around me (in particular the textiles I had seen at the exhibition of Choson Dynasty Korean texiles), yet adding something of my own style to workshop projects.  I must admit that this is one of my favourites...

This is a much nicer photo taken at the
Australia Day Exhibition 2010

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 155x 155cm
Block Size: 36cm
Cut in: 1999
Pieced & Basted: Machine 2001
Quilted: Hand tied 2003
Quilt Type: Workshop
Quilt Finished: 2003
Exhibited:  Australia Day 2010
Collection: Home# 032
Pattern Name: Japanese Sampler
Pattern Source: Workshop with Jan Ingall Walker
Fabrics Purchased: 1995
Fabric Design: Floral
Fabric Style: US Cottons
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Cotton
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
Constructing this pattern really brought home the importance of keeping seams as accurate as possible!   Sometimes over the course of constructing a quilt I might piece on two machines (my Bernina and Elna).  It’s also not unusual to have a lighter workshop or travelling machine.  However just a slight variation in seam width made a huge difference over the entirety of each block.  I felt a huge sense of achievement in finally getting this top pieced.

And the other important lesson was not to panic when your blocks balloon madly.  Quilting really does “pull everything together” in more ways than one!