This was my first try at using exclusively thrifted fabrics for a quilt top. It’s made of men’s wool suits and silk ties, with cotton batting and a plain white cotton backing (both purchased new).

The silks are not fused, so some were pretty slithery. A few ties had to be tossed because they were too fragile. And of course I had to deal with huge differences in thickness, even though I stuck with the thinner wools. Seam allowances varied, blocks were slightly skewed, and my mantra throughout was “It’s okay, it’s okay.” It HAD to be okay—there was really no other alternative. Going with the log cabin (courthouse steps) construction was a good choice—it really made the accuracy issue less important.

The color placement has three separate aspects: light (the “smaller” diamonds) and dark (“larger” diamonds), blue/gray stripes alternating with tan/brown stripes, and what I hoped was a pleasing balance of individual brights. The machine quilting is simply in the ditch.

You may notice that there’s no binding visible on the front. I couldn’t easily make a good-looking binding from the wools. I was tempted to do an envelope finish, but there was no way it would come out flat and neat. So, I did a facing of pieced wools, after the quilting was done. It’s kind of bulky, and if I do this sort of thing again, I think I’ll use backing fabric instead.