September already. The tell-tale signs of early autumn have definitely been in evidence this week: a nip in the air, the sky a little darker a little earlier, a definite urge to buy new shoes, and it also feels like the perfect time for something to begin.
One of my earliest blog posts told of my excitement about Nanna's sewing cupboard, and her enthusiasm to give so much of it to me. Boxes and drawers and old sweetie tins full of threads, lace and beautiful fabrics from way back when. Among the fabrics were several cut out hexagons for patchwork, some already basted and paper-pieced. These came from her sister, and it's difficult to date them, but it must have started more than 40 years ago. I'll never know if these are the remains of a bigger project or the beginnings of a fledgling one, but I have thought about doing something with them since I first set eyes on them. And last weekend, I finally made a start.
On a shopping trip to Liberty this summer, I bought this beautiful book about patchwork. It's the one that went with the V&A quilt exhibition last year, and it's a lovely thing in it's own right, with well chosen photographs, illustrations and ephemera to illustrate its notes on technique, and some of the patterns with different fabrics are amazing. I started by sorting through the different pre-cut hexagons to see which ones went together best.
Then I drew round one of the pre-basted ones to make templates, and based a few more. And still with no clear idea of quite what it was going to be, I found some matching thread and started stitching them together.
So the red basting was done by my great-aunt Hilda, and the blue by me. Looking at the back of it, you can immediately tell that her hexagon is very much neater than mine! I think she must have ironed hers before stitching it, which is what you are meant to do. She seems to have used a bit of an old dress pattern as a paper template for hers, mine are a very light card. I have already learned that paper would be very much easier to baste through (and is probably easier to take out at the end too).
I love this small flower and polka-dot print, the colours are so vivid. I know patchwork is meant to be thrifty, but I am already planning a post-payday trip to Liberty to try to match another print to it, because nothing I have is quite right. I may not know yet exactly what the finished article is going to be, but I have an idea what kind of pattern it will have and (whisper it) I'm seeing it as a training ground for a quilt. But this will be hand stitched, rather than machine stitched. There is something very relaxing about hand stitching, and I think mine can only improve with practice.
So, a combination of something old and something new; it's really inspiring to be bringing these hexagons back into the light of day so they can be made into something that can be enjoyed, rather than hidden away in a box. I like the sense of continuation in a family of creative women two generations later too. I'm also excited to be working without knowing exactly what it will become, those projects are my very favourite kind. I only hope I can do justice to something that will be very much a joint creation when it's finished.
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