All I Wanted Was a Quilted Jacket…
Although slow to warm to the quilted jacket trend, somehow this year I succumbed.
It was Springtime and I remember the very moment I began to want one: I was sitting in the local park, on a bench beside a flower bed, when I noticed a scattering of multi-coloured petals. In my mind’s eye, I saw the petals take the form of a quilted fabric… resting cozily upon my shoulders as I sat on that very park bench.
I could visualise distinctly what I wanted the jacket to look like: cropped, oversized, with a stand-up collar, the patchwork consisting of colours low in contrast to each other - so that up close the fabric is confetti-like, but from a distance it ‘reads’ as neutral. I was quite certain there were plenty of jackets exactly like this. But when I looked for one to purchase, I could not find it.
Retail, vintage, pre-owned, handmade… I searched again and again with no luck. Either the cut, the colour, or the fit were wrong. And naturally, flawed human being that I am, the more elusive the jacket began to seem, the more I wanted it.
’Perhaps I just need to make it myself!’ I joked to a friend.
But the joke was on me. Because here I am a month later …addicted to EPP.
It may sound like a new synthetic street drug. And in fairness, its seductive powers are similar.
English Paper Piecing is a quilting technique that involves wrapping fabric squares around small hexagonal paper templates, then sewing them together. Compared to other quilting methods, EPP is more modular, more mobile, and more hand-sewing friendly. It is also conducive to garment construction: Since the individual pieces are quite small, they are easier to arrange into pattern forms.
Frankly though, I do not even know how I got to the point where I know all this. Of all the fibre arts, I have never been drawn to quilting in any form. But something about seeing the little hexagons drew me in, and then once I went down the rabbit hole of reading about how it’s done… I was intrigued.
Before I knew what was happening, I purchased a starter kit for me and my daughter to try together. Though not yet 5, she swiftly mastered the practice of wrapping fabric around cardboard. We then spent hours lost in the fun of making and assembling the hexagonal quilt pieces. We made a tapestry. And now we’ve moved on to making a pencil case.
Is a jacket next, or is it delusion to believe that I can make such a leap?
Probably yes. And yes.
When I think of my other creative pursuits over the years, they all started like this. Not so much out of interest in the art or craft in of itself, but out of wanting something, and seeing making it as the most logical and accomplishable path to getting it.
As a child I began knitting, because my dolls needed clothing. As a teen I started painting, because I wanted some cool art for my walls. As a young(ish) adult obsessed with cycling, I wanted a very specific bicycle - and learned framebuilding in order to make one from scratch. Now that I have a daughter who wants me to tell her stories, I find it easier to write (and illustrate) them myself than to look for books with the kinds of stories she likes.
Now that I’ve become aware of this goal-oriented approach, it does make me question the validity of my creativity. Is my creative drive fuelled essentially by materialism, rather than a devotion to the pursuit itself? Its a strange question to be asking myself. And it’s a question I feel like I need to answer… as soon as I master EPP and make that quilted jacket!
