Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Regency Mini

I FINALLY finished my Jane Austen mini quilt for an amazingly patient Suzanne. When she first suggested a private swap I was totally excited as I was already lucky enough to have her as a partner in a previous flickr swap when I got this little beauty.

rainy daze

But when she suggested a Jane Austen swap AND introduced me to the world of Pintrest I was ecstatic.  She made me the little beauty I shared with y'all on this weeks Inspiring Monday post and I made her this little regency mini.


I took the real silhouette of Jane Austen, inversed the color, and after downloading Jane Austen's actual handwriting digitized from her letters, put the first paragraph of Pride and Prejudice within the silhouette.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, hat a single man in possession of a large fortune, must be in a want of a wife.  However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering the neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of someone or other of their daughters."
- Jane Austen

Suzanne teaches English and is going to be using the book Pride and Prejudice in her classroom so I chose this passage.  Plus it is one of my favorite passages from the entire book due to the duality it reveals about the society at the time.  Men ran the world, women the house, and marriage was everything.  Yet, as seen here, women could also control men in times of courtship - at least in the minds of themselves and their mothers. 


Then I decided on a black binding to act like a frame, and a large satin ribbon to hang it instead of a back hanging piece.


I embroidered a scallop edge to mimic lace, and the bow was a sublime stitching pattern.  For the scallop's I made them by using notebook paper hole reinforcement stickers. I stuck the stickers to the quilt and then just embroidered around it. I thought it was one of my more resourceful moments!


For the quilting I knew it needed a lot of dense quilting but due to the oval shape would need different quilting styles on the different sections, thus the crosshatching and the straight lines on the outside border.

And I am so glad I rebinded this little baby. It still curves ever so slightly but I LOVE the effect of the pin dot. The idea was to mimic a frame while executing a traditional idea (the silhouette) with a modern flare (the colors and polka dots). I hope this makes a wonderful addition to Suzanne's mini quilt collection!

Told you guys I was a Jane Austen nerd.

Also, keep your eyes open for a giveaway to celebrate the blogs 1 year anniversary!
*hint hint wink wink*

6 comments:

  1. Just lovely! You know, I'm a true book nerd (I reread several of Shakespeare's plays last summer), but I have never actually READ any of Jane Austen's novels. Aren't I bad? I have seen some movies based on her books but never read any. Your depiction of her is so graceful though. I love the words within the silhouette!

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  2. I'm in awe of this mini quilt. I'm a big Jane Austen fan and I looove Pride and Prejudice. I re-read it last summer then watched the BBC miniseries. Divine!

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  3. What an AMAZING mini quilt is this!! I LOVE it:) I love everything about it!! I'm sure she'll be amazed too!:D
    Can you believe I've never read Pride and Prejudice, or watched a movie from the book ;)
    Hope you have a great week:D
    xoxo
    eleni

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  4. Wow, wow, wow. This looks well worth the wait (and I am waiting patiently to leave work this afternoon and hopefully find it in my mailbox). This is gorgeous and I love reading about how you made it--paper hole reinforcers as a pattern, brilliant!

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  5. your mini quilt is amazing, every detail works so well together, really nice job! On the Jane Austen note, what an incredible woman aside from writer - especially for that time in history. simple wonderful all around!

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  6. this is so cool. you worked on some amazing details to complete the whole look. great job.

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