Here’s a Bow quilt in Jetty and Kept that I’ve been eager to share with you. I actually started this one long before the CF Grid Group version, and I finally finished it recently. When projects have no deadline they don’t seem to get finished around here. Anyone else in that boat?
The Colors, Fabrics and Prints
I love this palette so much. Many times my fabric pulls are just color and print moods that strike my fancy. Here I liked the boldness of several prints–from Kept, Jetty and a gingham that I paired with a few solid Kona cottons.
The arcs in the design are so simple, and one of my favorite things about it is pairing boldness, i.e. print/color/texture, with the shapes and how they stand out in the different pieces after being cut up. To me it’s very satisfying to see little slivers of interesting things next to little slivers of other interesting things.
Fairly often I decide the background fabric last. I think that makes a lot of sense, especially if you are using many different types of fabrics or colors. It’s much easier to audition the different appliqué fabrics on a real background sample to get a good sense of what will work.
In this case, I went for a light-medium color (Kona Lt Parfait–a favorite) to give it just enough of a color to make the lighter appliqué fabrics pop and to set an overall tone for the project.
The Layout
This is the Baby layout in the pattern (or the smallest size). It only uses 9 blocks, and I advise you to cut the backgrounds just a bit larger than you would in the other two size options. I like how this gives more space to each appliquéd block and adds a pleasing lightness to the overall layout.
The appliqué shapes can be mixed and matched, and here I didn’t always use the outer-most arc. This gives even more variety to the shapes, the spaces between them and how you see them.
The Quilting
I love a diagonal grid. That’s how I quilted the first one, and I love how that compliments the shapes so nicely. I was curious to see how a straight, horizontal and vertical grid would work here. It’s definitely a different look, and it was enjoyable to hand quilt.
Taking inspiration from the colors in the appliqué, I used several different thread colors. That is always fun and entertaining.
Even though I’ve hand quilted my first two versions of Bow, I do dream about machine quilting a version. You could create beautiful, dense texture that brings the background the life in a new way while also highlighting the appliqué shapes in the design. Something to think about…
I’m having a lot of fun with this design, and I do anticipate more in the future. Hopefully this different direction gives you more to think about too!
Project Details
Pattern: Bow Quilt Pattern
Fabric: Jetty, Kept, Kona Cotton Solids, Gingham
Additional Resources: Bow in CF Grid Group, my favorite needle-turn appliqué tools, thread tips and tricks, hand quilting tools, supplies in the shop
Thanks for another interesting post and all the videos you posted w/the link. The photos turned out well and love these quilts. I wonder is there a special place where we can purchase the blush/pink thread you have featured. They are wrapped in a Japanese white wrap…..in the up-close photo…very pretty. thanks.
I would like to know where you bought those Japanese threads, too.
Great question! It’s from Brooklyn Haberdashery. Snuggly Monkey also has some great options too.
Thanks…I actually know you’ve written/talked about this before…and I tried to find it on my own, but didn’t have any luck. FYI I know you go out of your way to put links on the products you use etc….so, thanks for doing that.
Yeah, that’s a really fun one, right? It’s from Brooklyn Haberdashery. Snuggly Monkey also has some great options too.
Always so inspiring. Love the colours used, so happy. I am really enjoying how you mixed up the pattern for some of the blocks, adds a great visual appeal.
Thanks, Melanie!
Do you have templates for this pattern?
There are printed templates in the pattern which you can transfer onto template plastic if you’d like. 🙂