Brave New Quilts. 12 Projects Inspired by 20th-Century Art. From Art Nouveau to Punk & Pop

164 Pages·2013·110.033 MB·English

by  Kathreen Ricketson

CRAFTS/Quiltmaking
K
a
An artistic approach t Ricketson expertly
h
r BRAVE
e
e guides you through the
to quilting. n

Learn about 20th-century art while creating R
i process of creating and
c
your own modern quilt design! k
e
t personalizing your own
s
Australian Kathreen Ricketson o
n
(1971–2013) started Whipup.net
 From well-known author and innovative quilt.
in 2006. The recipient of a
blogger of Whipup.net, Kathreen
visual arts degree, she wrote, Ricketson, come 12 quilts 12 Projects Inspired by 20th-Century Art
edited, and designed for inspired by 20th-century art
movements—from art nouveau and Bauhaus
publications as diverse as Treehugger.com and NEW
to pop and punk.
Women’s Day Australia, along with authoring
 The art-inspired quilt concepts are divided
Whip Up Mini Quilts and Little Bits Quilting Bee. B
into 4 chapters: Use of Line, Use of Color,
R
Use of Motif, and Use of Text. Each of these
A
chapters contains 3 projects and is generously V
outlined with illustrations and 2 alternate E
design options.
N
 Includes expert information on color, fabric E
W From Art Nouveau to Punk & Pop
selection, inspiration, and mood boards.

Q
QUILTS
U
I
L If you’re a modern design enthusiast and love
T
S to sew, Brave New Quilts is perfectly suited to
you. Inside, you’ll find 12 projects derived from
20th-century art movements. To set the context,
each project begins with an engaging overview
of its historical period. Ricketson then expertly
guides you through the process of creating and
Kathreen Ricketson
personalizing your own innovative quilt using
4 aesthetic elements: line, color, motif, and text.
A comprehensive appendix and in-depth
s
information on tools and finishing techniques
round out this inspiring book.
stash
BOOKS
BRAVE
12 Projects Inspired by 20th-Century Art
NEW
From Art Nouveau to Punk & Pop
QUILTS
Kathreen Ricketson
Text copyright © 2013 by Kathreen Ricketson
Photography and Artwork copyright © 2013 by C&T Publishing, Inc.
Publisher: Amy Marson Production Editors: Joanna Burgarino and
Katie Van Amburg
Creative Director: Gailen Runge
Illustrator: Robert Shugg
Art Director / Book Designer: Kristy Zacharias
Style Photography: Lee Grant, unless otherwise noted
Editor: Liz Aneloski
Quilt Photography: Mark Heriot, unless otherwise
Technical Editors: Julie Waldman and Gailen Runge
noted
Production Coordinator: Jenny Davis
Inspiration Boards and Fabrics: Kathreen Ricketson,
unless otherwise noted
Published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be used in any form or
reproduced by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without written permission from the publisher.
The copyrights on individual artworks are retained by the artists as noted in Brave New Quilts. These
designs may be used to make items only for personal use. Donations to nonprofit groups, items for
sale, or items for display only at events require the following credit on a conspicuous label: Designs
copyright © 2013 by Kathreen Ricketson from the book Brave New Quilts from C&T Publishing, Inc.
Permission for all other purposes must be requested in writing from C&T Publishing, Inc.
Attention Copy Shops: Please note the following exception—publisher and author give permission to
photocopy pages 157 and 158 for personal use only.
Attention Teachers: C&T Publishing, Inc., encourages you to use this book as a text for teaching.
Contact us at 800-284-1114 or www.ctpub.com for lesson plans and information about the
C&T Creative Troupe.
We take great care to ensure that the information included in our products is accurate and presented in
good faith, but no warranty is provided nor are results guaranteed. Having no control over the choices
of materials or procedures used, neither the author nor C&T Publishing, Inc., shall have any liability
to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the informa-
tion contained in this book. For your convenience, we post an up-to-date listing of corrections on our
website (www.ctpub.com). If a correction is not already noted, please contact our customer service
department at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549.
Trademark (™) and registered trademark (®) names are used throughout this book. Rather than use
the symbols with every occurrence of a trademark or registered trademark name, we are using the
names only in the editorial fashion and to the benefit of the owner, with no intention of infringement.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ricketson, Kathreen.
Brave new quilts : 12 projects inspired by 20th-century art - from art nouveau to punk & pop /
Kathreen Ricketson.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-60705-719-2 (soft cover)
1. Quilting--Patterns. 2. Art, Modern--20th century--Influence. I. Title.
TT835.R5363 2013
746.46--dc23
2012046259
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedication
For my family—I love you guys—always and forever.
Clear Cut—Bauhaus 3
CONTENTS
4 Brave New Quilts
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6
FOREWORD 7
INTRODUCTION 9
Design Principles 12
Space • Proportion • Pattern and texture • Line and shape 
• Balance and symmetry • Color
Design Your Own 16
Color • Fabric • Design tools • Design inspiration • Take the plunge
S ÎÎUse of Line 39 ÎÎUse of Motif 87
T Intersections—Russian Constructivism 40 Bright Future—Art Deco 88
C Weave—Bauhaus 48 Peacock Blue—Art Nouveau 98
E Rhythm—Art Deco / Cubist 56 Seedpod—Midcentury Modern 106
J
ÎÎUse of Color 63 ÎÎUse of Text 113
O
Sublime Triangle—Abstract Expressionism 64 Frothy Nothing—Dada 114
R
Clear Cut—Bauhaus 72 Break the Rules—Punk 122
P
Gray Play—Bauhaus 80 So What—Pop Art 132
Your Toolbox 142
The basics • More gadgets
Finishing the Quilt 145
Assembling the quilt • Quilting • Binding • Washing and storing
APPENDIX 157
Calculating yardage • Metric conversion
PATTERNS 157
RESOURCES 159
Quilt blogs and websites • General craft blogs 
• Art and design blogs • Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 160
Clear Cut—Bauhaus 5
Acknowledgments
Big giant kisses and hugs to my husband and best to play with and use in some of the quilts here
friend, Rob Shugg—he keeps me on track, gives and there.
me space and time to create, and supports all my
Thanks to the team at Stash Books for believing
schemes and ideas. For this book in particular,
in this book and to my agent, Courtney Miller-
he acted as technical assistant to my longarm
Callihan, for her continued advice and for
quilting machine, studio helper in cutting strips
helping to make it all happen. Lovely thanks
of fabric, and illustrator in creating all the illus-
to Mark Heriot for his help with the flat shots
trations for this book (on top of taking on extra
of the quilts. Big thanks to Lee Grant, who
kid and cooking duties, too—he is a star!).
took the beautiful styled photographs; to Tania,
More kisses and more hugs to my two creative Donna, and Jill, who lent us their homes; and
munchkins, Otilija and Orlando—their sponta- to the beautiful Ella and Otilija, the handsome
neous creativity keeps me energized. They offer Orlando, and the patient pets who appear in
advice on color and design and are incredibly the book.
understanding of my deadlines that involve my
Thank you heaps to Susan Boden for writing
spending more time with my sewing machine
such a thoughtful foreword for this book and
than with them.
to all my blog readers, newsletter subscribers,
I also must thank my friend Julie MacMahon Twitter followers, Facebook fans, Flickr groupies,
for acting as studio helper and design consul- and fellow bloggers and online crafty pals. You
tant; she is also the sewing star who sewed the all raise me up and make me a better crafter,
Bright Future (page 88) quilt top. Thank you better writer, better photographer, and all-around
to my quilty neighbor Chris Hayes for letting better person. I would not have found crafting as
me rummage in her fabric stash, and thank you a career if were not for you!
to Moda for sending me a few fabric samples
6 Brave New Quilts
Foreword
No one single English word describes Kathreen Ricketson. Her
art, her work, her life, her home—these all make her. But how-
ever important each word is, Kathreen cannot be reduced to a
few English vowels and consonants. Part urban homesteader,
part Web 2.0 creator, and fully herself, Kathreen always has
her eye on experimentation and pushing the expression of
her art. To describe her properly, we need a language that
makes a single word from butting other words against each
other. Stand back and you see how the fragments connect and
morph to form a unified whole of complex, interacting parts.
Gesamtkunstwerk is such a word and describes Kathreen and
this new book, Brave New Quilts.
Formed from three German words—Gesamt (the whole),
Kunst (fine art), and Werk (work)—Gesamtkunstwerk literally
means a total work of art. At first, the word was used to
describe the supernatural and mystical nature of art that came
as creators worked their abstract imagination and formed a
piece of art. By the mid-twentieth century—and especially in
architecture—the word described a unity of creation where
the architect controlled the building, interior, landscape, and
furnishings. Nature, industry, and art, it was argued, should
be expressed in a unified harmony. The architect should have
the capacities of artist, technician, and artisan.
Foreword 7
It is no coincidence that this book focuses as punk and Dada did at opposite ends of the
on modern art movements as an imaginative twentieth century. Like the movements that
springboard to Kathreen’s textiles. The German inspire this book, Kathreen wants you to free
Bauhaus is the natural twentieth-century your inventiveness and embrace the integrity and
home for this very-twenty-first-century maker. clarity you have as a maker of a work of art.
Founded in 1919, the Bauhaus rose from the
Just as you think carefully about your materials
shards of World War I as a reaction to the
and techniques, wondering how your hands
romanticism and excessive ornament of the
and machines can work your imagination into
previous age. Instead, a “new objectivity” was
reality, Kathreen is doing the same. If you strive
encouraged, where function related to the
to create a continuity between the many versions
designed form. The machine age had begun,
of yourself that modernity imposes, Kathreen is
and like the manager who controlled the new
walking that road too. Just like the architects of
industrial production lines, the architect was the
the Bauhaus, Kathreen is designing, reflecting,
omnipotent creator, skilled in design, materials,
and experimenting and, through her books, blog,
and construction.
and textiles, is in dialogue with us all.
The quilts in this book draw on a breadth of
And even if that long German word and the
modern art movements. Some, like Peacock Blue
cultural history it carries seem a little off-
(page 98) and Seedpod (page 106), are close to
putting, just imagine it in a different way—a
their original inspiration in nature. Others, like
bold appliqué stretching across one of Kathreen’s
Bright Future (page 88) and Rhythm (page 56),
quilts. The curves of the S, the vigor of the
capture the energy and hope of an age urgent
K, the harmony of the U. Gesamtkunstwerk—
for its future. And Break the Rules (page 122)
this word alone tells you the value of Brave
and Frothy Nothing (page 114) free words just
New Quilts.
Dr. Susan Boden
Quilter, Whipup Fan, Landscape Architect
Canberra, Australia, July 2012
8 Brave New Quilts
INTRO-
DUCTION
My own personal aesthetic is
hard to pin down–modern/
retro perhaps or contem-
porary/traditional–and that
fusion of opposites is what I
love when designing.
I am deeply attracted to the natural world, organic
shapes, and interesting motifs, which is probably why
I love midcentury textiles so much. At the same time
I admire clean lines and unusual color combinations
(punk and pop culture can teach us a lot about new
ways of looking at color). I am interested in pattern—
intersections of shapes, grids, and linear design (one
of the reasons I love Russian constructivist fabrics).
This book challenged me to bring these different
ideas, elements, and artistic concepts together and
to set them within the boundaries of a beautiful and
cohesive design. Combing through all of my designs,
you will notice a little spark of quirkiness as I show
my love of the unusual, clever, and fun.
Introduction 9