Improv for Planners

How do you feel about Improv Quilting? Is this something you embrace and enjoy, or does it make you feel uncomfortable, or overwhelmed?

I'm definitely in the "uncomfortable" camp. I used to always joke that "improv gives me hives" because the chaos of what I thought improv quilting was supposed to be, did not work for me. It's one thing to sew together crumbs of the same colour to make a larger patch of fabric for a project (like I did for the SewPink blog hop recently), but to just throw caution, and any plans, to the wind and dive in without a ruler made me shudder.

Over the last year and a half of so I have been playing around with some improvisation ideas for quilts that work for me and my planner brain, but still let me play and have the fun of an unexpected result at the end.

What is Improv?

I wanted to find out how improvisational quilting was actually defined, and I realized very quickly that there isn't one single definition as to what it is, or isn't. Or rather, there is a definition of what some people call "pure improv" which is picking fabrics blindly, not measuring anything, and not using a ruler to cut. This makes for super wonky quilts.

But it's far from the only way to make an improv quilt. Changing up a traditional block, sewing some things together and then cutting them up again, adding random bits here and there, sewing crumb blocks, putting together leftovers and bonus triangles from a previous quilt in a way that makes for a pleasing look.... these are all ways to improvise a quilt design.

Some people say you can't use a ruler. Some say that fabric choice must be random, but the use of rulers is fine. And yet others have a combination of that, or insist that only solids be used, or only a limited colour palette, etc. etc.

But in the end, it boiled down to this for me: improv is meant to be a way to play with fabric and have fun. There is no pattern, no predetermined "this fabric in this particular size must go in this particular spot", and the end result will be a surprise. It's about starting, without knowing what the quilt will look like in the end. But most of all, it should be an enjoyable experience and a way to explore colour, play with fabric, and have fun.

Improv for Planners

So I came up with a pattern for myself that I named Improv For Planners. And yes, I do see the irony of a pattern for a quilt that is not supposed to have a pattern ;-). It's actually a system more than a pattern, but it was a way for me to dip my toes into improvisation without diving in head first.

Improv for Planners has a predetermined layout of block sizes that I know works to sew together. There are no partial seams, or bits that need to be filled in because a block wasn't big enough etc. 

Then I set to designing a bunch of simple, modern-looking quilt blocks that would fit into those block sizes on the layout, picked two ombre sets of colour that looked good together, and went about making a quilt.

I just went ahead and made blocks, picking my fabrics for each block on the fly, not worrying about which spot the blocks would fit in the end, and which other blocks would sit beside it. I figured that as long as I applied some basic design principles to each block, then they would automatically fit together at the end, and they did.

The most fun part was putting the layout together after I had made all my blocks. I just started putting blocks on the design wall as per my layout, and watched a quilt emerge.

And the results were the two quilts pictured throughout this post. The yellow one is a mini quilt, and the pink one is a small throw size. I love how they turned out, and I loved the process of making them. They are very different from my usual patterns and style, yet at the same time still very much "on brand" as the kids say. I still used bright colours and made a modern quilt that is actually based on traditional designs. Just like all my other quilts.

Even the back of one of the quilts got the improv treatment with leftover blocks from the quilt top.

Improv for Planners workshop

I'm excited to announce that Improv for Planners is also a workshop!

I am teaching it at guilds and shops (if you think your local shop or guild should offer this workshop, have them contact me to book a date), and will soon be offering a select few dates where you can take the workshop directly with me, via zoom, for all those people who don't have a local guild or shop offering it.

If you're interested, you can get on the waitlist here to be the first to find out when registration opens. Just fill in your info in the form below.