So Much Has Changed

I taught myself how to quilt decades go. I never took a quilting class but I am one of those weird people who think that if you can learn how to do something, it's probably in a book somewhere. I already knew how to sew. By the time I started quilting I had been making my own clothes and my boys' clothes and even some of my husband's clothes. My mother in law sent me some Ultra Suede when it first came out because she wanted me to make my husband an Ultra Suede blazer. This is funny on multiple different levels because my husband was definitely not Dapper Dan. He didn't care what he looked like and he certainly didn't care if what he wore was the current style. My father in law was the Dapper Dan who had a closet full of expensive clothes and followed style trends even into his dotage. He was the only person I ever knew who owned his own morning suit and he had several sets of formal clothes complete with all of the cufflinks and other accoutrements. Our youngest son even had one of his grandfather's tuxedos altered and restyled for his wedding a year ago and it still looked great. I think he had to purchase a dress shirt though because his neck and his arms are not the same size as his grandfather's. I didn't make my father in law an Ultra Suede sportcoat but I did make him a Norfolk jacket in a nice tweed and I did knit him some very nice sweaters.

Anyway, I resurrected  an old pattern for my current project now that Fuss 'N Feathers is done (see What?). This pattern was published in 1998 and the instructions begin with, "Trace around the patterns below..." Not only is that not how anyone does this anymore (although there are probably some who do), but there weren't even numbers to make anything easier. There were no indications of what finished size was intended or how to quick piece or how to cut to avoid bias on edges. So I measured everything that was given in the pattern and figured out how to quick piece the half-square triangle pieces integral to the Delectable Mountains and did some experimenting to make sure my measurements were correct.

But those initial issues are done and I am nearly done with the piecing part of the pattern and will be able to move on to the applique part. I am still trying to use fabric I already own as much as possible so this one has a variety of old fabrics in primarily blues and browns but the applique will be a wider variety of colors though still delving into the stash.

The changes in instructions made me wonder how I ever learned how to make a quilt in the first place. Did we really mark everything with a pencil and measure before cutting with regular scissors? That's seems so labor intensive now that I can't believe I did that with young boys in the house.