Etienne 1868 – 1924

My maternal family tree will be my inspiration for my Time series.

I will choose six people and highlight their origins or character in the quilt reserved for them. Each quilt will bear the first name of the person chosen.

The first quilt is dedicated to my great-grandfather. He was originally from Brittany, and I have in my possession the breastplate of a traditional costume that belonged to him. He probably wore it on his wedding day, like his father and grandfather before him.

Made of black or navy blue woolen cloth, or sometimes ecru, traditional costumes were entirely hand-embroidered with golden yellow or orange pearl cotton.

Because of the thickness of the wool fabric, it was the men who did the embroidery in the past when they were ashore during the winter.

That is why I chose these colors for this quilt. After making a pieced background, I reproduced a fragment of a traditional embroidery pattern using free-motion quilting. I then painted it with metallic fabric paint.

I used a mixture of dyed and commercial fabrics. I kept simple piecing and quilting patterns to enhance the embroidery.