Scrap Attack {Scrap Republic with Emily Cier}
That was some amazing progress last week at the link party! If this is a Scrap Attack, I think we're winning. Are your scraps sitting idle? You're welcome to join our quilt-along at any time. Find all the details here and remember that we're working towards a Festival of Scrappiness in March with lots of random prizes for those with finished quilt tops of any size!
Ok, so I'm definitely feeling the itch to start a new scrappy quilt project, this time using strings. I'm not sure that classic strings blocks are the right thing for me (they're so darn repetitive!), so I'm letting that thought marinate. Meanwhile, let's interview Emily Cier of Carolina Patchwork, author of Scrap Republic
Rachel: Your book is all about quilting from scrap, so it's a great fit for those of us Scrap Attacking right now. But before we get to the content, tell us a bit of the behind the scenes view. What spurred the "aha" moment that you'd write about scrap quilting? How long did it take you to finish the projects and what was the book-writing and editing process like?
Emily: Well, that's an easy one. I had to try scrap quilting or I would've run out of space for the actual sewing machine. I mean, you can't just throw away scraps (that's a capital offense in some states, isn't it?), and they're so beautiful, you gotta do something with them, so... there you are.
Emily sorting scraps for Scrap Republic projects
As to finishing up the projects -- well, do you gauge that by when I used up all my scraps or when I ran out of ideas I wanted to try? Because, well, I'll let you know when I get there, either way. But eventually, I had enough designs for a book -- more than enough, really, I had to pick my favourites, then cut out half of those -- so I started in on that.
Emily's Mrs. Roy G. Biv Quilt Pattern, which inspired her book
The writing process matched how I make patterns: design (in Illustrator usually), write up, revise, make a test quilt, revise. The differences from my pattern making process were that I made two finished quilts for most of the designs, to show it in different fabrics and/or sizes; and that I worked with a technical editor and graphic designer for final revisions and editing. Oh, and waited a lot. The book-writing process, beyond that "final draft", involves a *lot* of waiting, punctuated by frantic work to hit tight deadlines and move the process along. In the end, I was pretty pleased with the projects that did make it through to the final stages.
Rachel: Scrap Republic seems to be getting the best kind of buzz - the real honest kind where bloggers are showing creations actually inspired from your book. What is your favorite pattern in this book and has anyone else made it yet?
Emily: Volume is my favourite!
The only versions I made are the two in the book. I was so tickled with the way it came together. Some quilts need to be re-made, but this one seemed perfect the first time around. Here is another version from the Scrap Republic Flickr group:
by Pam of Mad About Patchwork - the Canadian fabric shop!
Rachel: Volume is one that definitely caught my eye as well. Looks like a complete pleasure to make! Ok, so my favorite part of the book is your "Piecing Ideas" on page 7.
You really gave us a lot here, on one little page. When I take the time to think through how to morph your quilt designs (or most any scrappy quilt design) by changing the piecing style, I see a world of possibilities. Have you made any of your Scrap Republic designs in a different piecing style? Or, is there one design/piecing combo that you're dying to make?
Emily: Our moving truck showed up - no joke - the week after mailing the quilts and manuscript off for the book. Since the move, life has been filled with many deadlines leaving little time to play. Over the past few months I've had some time to play with scraps once again which have resulted in:
I've just started up drawing/sewing the Spring '12 patterns and Fall will be right on its heels. I hope to get some scrap time squished in all of that somewhere. For one example of something I've been wanting to try the Volume idea illustrated on page 8. There's always lots more on my wish list, but you'll just have to wait and see. I'm curious to see, myself...
Rachel: Besides Scrap Republic, you've also published Quilt Remix and so many quilt patterns. Lots of my readers are interested in pattern designing. Do you have any advice for them? And, what is your experience with publishing individual patterns vs. books. Where do you prefer to invest your time?
Emily: I don't write patterns because I enjoy it, I write patterns because they give me no choice. The designs, that is. A random visual idea will bubble up while working on some unrelated quilt (or while washing dishes, doing laundry, mowing grass, etc), and I'll just let it lay and try to ignore it, but try as I might, within a few days three more variations have popped up, and then a half-dozen by the end of the week, and they just keep multiplying and laughing at my attempts to ignore them until they force me to write them down, sobbing while they laugh maniacally, or they'll never let me have any peace. And from that point, my perfectionism takes over, and I can't leave the sketches be until they've been massaged and perfected and laid out and tweaked and made into completed patterns. Which, at that point, I might as well sell, right? But if I had any choice in the matter, I assure you, I'd just spend all my time making quilts rather than writing patterns.
Books are just another version of the same thing... I will say, though, that once I decide to package patterns into a book, then all of the process that goes along with publishing a polished book ends up taking much more time than I tend to expect, so it's gotta be a pretty strong idea to warrant all that.
Rachel: Thanks for letting us peek into your brain, Emily. It's a whole wide scrappy world out there and there are just SO man possibilities for our humble bins of scrap. I've enjoyed your book and do appreciate all you contribute to the quilting scene.
Hey, guess what, folks? Emily also comes bearing gifts!
Add a comment for your chance to win. We'll be gifting one US resident a copy of Scrap Republic and one "anywhere" commenter with a copy of the Mrs. Roy G. Biv quilt pattern. Cool! I'll draw our random winners Thursday afternoon!
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Our winners have been notified! ELNM won the Roy G. Biv pattern and Ebeth won the book. Congrats you two!