Weaving Your Story Into Your Quilts

I first encountered the idea of hiding meaning in design (or as I like to call it, subtle significance) while playing around with a Tartan design platform online. In tartan design, the thread count of a particular colour can represent the years a couple has been married or the thread colour has a meaning, for example blue thread symbolizes September (blue for the sapphire birthstone). Ever since then, I've enjoyed hiding meaning in my designs whether it's quilts or repeating patterns.

The example below is a pattern that I call Mighty. If you're on our email list, you'll probably recognize this pattern. I've got it in cream and beige as the header for our emails! I designed this while reading through the book of Exodus some years ago. I was inspired by the descriptions of the tapestries made for the tabernacle. However, it wouldn't necessarily be obvious to anyone what the source of inspiration was. This same principle can be applied to designing a quilt!

There are times when you want to give somebody something that's dripping in the thing they love. My cousin loves purple and she loves butterflies. We made her a purple butterfly quilt. But what about the times when you don't want to be so on the nose? When you want to pay tribute to something, say the beach without actually making a seashell quilt? 

The fabric bundle below (it's no longer available in case you're wondering, sorry!) is called Smuggler's Cove. It was inspired by a beach near my childhood home in Barbados. You could use this colour palette in almost any quilt pattern, it would pay homage to a beach vacation or a favourite seaside location and you wouldn't have to use lighthouses, sailboats or seashells! Of course, there's nothing wrong with lighthouses, sailboats or seashells, but sometimes you aren't going for the Nantucket vibe. You just want a subtle reminder of a favourite time or place.

The take away here? You can create a colour palette for your quilts by drawing inspiration from a photograph you've taken! Grab a favourite photo and look at some of the colours that jump out at you. Try pulling together some solid fabrics in those colours and see how they look together!

Yes, those are hot dogs on that backing fabric of this Memory Wall quilt. And yes, that is my Dad's favourite food. Or one of his favourite foods anyway. 😂 We made this quilt for him using the Pond Tales collection from FIGO fabrics. The colours in the hot dog print matched the colours in the Pond Tales fabrics perfectly. We knew it was meant to be! It's fun and goofy, but you don't see the hot dogs on the front so it feels like a little silent ode to one of his favourite foods!

If I were making a quilt for a Gilmore Girls fan, I wouldn't want licensed fabrics. I'm not even sure if there's such a thing as Gilmore Girls fabrics anyway! I'd probably go with something like Lo and Behold's Upscale Plaid quilt. Why? Plaid is a big part of the Gilmore Girls show. Think Luke’s shirts, Rory’s Chilton uniform, and according to everyone on the internet, it’s a fall show and we all know plaid and fall go hand in hand. To take the Gilmore theme further, I'd then add a favourite quote from the show to the tag on the back.

There are so many ways to include the things we love in our quilts! What about you? How would you weave or hide meaning into your quilt? Let us know in the comments below!