I challenged myself to make an improv quilt block just by looking at a “regular” quilt block, and it worked!
I love improv. No rules. Just play. Figure it out as you go. Always be surprised by the final outcome.
My last post you saw I detailed how I made a stack of orphaned sailboat quilt blocks I found in an antique store into a quilt. I made uneven sashing so the boats looked like the were rocking. It was so fun. Then I forgot to take pictures as I went along. Sigh. 🤦🏻♀️ So just imagine varying cutting sashing strips from 1.5″ at the bottom to 2.5″ at the top.
After finishing the quilt, I thought it would be fun to make an improv sailboat mimicing the original antique blocks. See below.
On the left is a leftover antique block that didn’t make it into the quilt. I used it as my example for eyeballing how to make one from scratch – the one on the left.
No measurements, no pattern, just my ruler and a rotary cutter.
Then, I forgot to take pictures for this blog post as I made it. Again. BUT – I did take video. Better, right? Click below to see the YouTube video I made of the process.
Though I love improv, this is my first time challenging myself to create a block by looking at another. Fun, right? I’m going to be doing much more of this with other traditional blocks.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Ever done this before? How’d it go?