Working on the dreaded Y-seams
January 22, 2024
This project has been a challenge since I first started thinking about a quilt-as-you-go project with y-seams. I’ve done a number of exceptionally large quilts that were quilted on a Bernina 330 then stitched together with long straight seams. The first time I ever saw this done was when Katie Pasquini-Masopust was at our local guild and was piecing together large swaths of quilted parts and making them into a whole image.
Katie was teaching a 2-day workshop, and while we were sewing away and learning new techniques of shadow piecing, she would pull her own project from her bag and stitch while we practiced. Honestly, it was the first time I thought of using that technique – a variation on quilt-as-you-go, and thought it was brilliant since I only pieced and quilted on a small machine. A year or two later I was able to attend the first Alegre Retreat, organized and run by Katie PM, and where I spoke at length with her and a number of other quilters who use this same process.
Let’s just say, in summary, there was some trial-and-error compensating for y-seams which were already quilted, but all in all, I would do this again. The fact that the Rail Fence blocks are varied sizes and different combinations rather than being laid out in a grid pattern, makes this quilt more interesting. It’s really a riff on a Rail Fence, and I like it!
A quilter asked me recently why I just don’t go back to making traditional patterns all the time… picking fabrics that “match” or going a “little wild” and totally scrappy? Picking a pattern where I know exactly what the end result would look like? Always being sure you know precisely what you’ll have? While I love traditional patterns… Isn’t it the joy of creating art that keeps artists constantly pushing the boundaries? While I genuinely have an abiding, deep love of the traditional quilt patterns, I also have a thrilling and addictive love of adventurous textile possibilities.
Try new things, and make something good today,
Beth
