More Downton Modern: Two Tributes to Mary

 

Our Downton Abbey Modern Block Challenge continues until Jan. 5, 2o14, and as we Downton-philes await the start of Season 4, many of us getting our Crawley fix from Andover Fabrics’ collection celebrating this hit series. Except that with our DA Modern Block Challenge, we’re pushing you to merge the Downton era with today’s design influences. To whet your creative juices, we’re sharing  two  great original designs by Melissa Peda, www.100billionstars.com, and Susan Beal, www.westcoastcrafty.com.

Mary’s Cloche

By Melissa Peda

A hat imbues a woman with a heavy dose of je ne sais quoi. I love hats! I wish they were still fashionable. Of all the hat styles in the last century, the cloche is one of my favorites. It’s a bit coquettish with its small head hugging brim–the sort of hat that makes you wonder about what fills the pretty head underneath. It was a popular style in the teens and twenties of the 20^th century.

The cloche silhouette makes an easy applique. However, it’s really just a pretty canvas for your creative expression. It’s the band and decorative elements you add to the hat which make the statement. From refined and careful to bold and daring, the extras are open to your interpretation and style. Dare to dance to the spotlight or sit quietly by sipping and dreaming. It’s all up to you.

 materials:

• (3) fat quarters–1 each–Downton Abbey fabric of your choice  (Melissa used fabrics from Mary’s collection for Mary’s Cloche.)
• 14” square of background fabric
• button(s) for hat band embellishment

piecing instructions:

1. Trace the hat and hat band, and if you wish, use one of the fabrics for an embellishment. (Melissa cut the “feather” from one of Mary’s fabrics and appliqued it over the hat band.)
2. Appliqué by hand of machine. Hat first, then hat band, then any embellishments.
3. Add a button or two for added pizazz.

Melissa made over the ubiquious Sunbonnet Sue applique block for her design, Mary’s Cloche.

 

Lady Mary’s Necklace

By Susan Beal

I love vintage jewelry, so I was instantly taken with the beautiful jet bead necklace Lady Mary wore several times in Season 2 of Downton Abbey. I thought I might make myself a necklace like hers sometime, but when Michelle invited me to be part of the fantastic Downton Abbey Modern Block Challenge, I immediately thought of that lovely necklace design again, this time as inspiration for a simple, graphic quilt block!

 

 

I used two of my favorite prints from the Andover Lady Mary collection:

 

 materials:

• (1) fat eighth or scrap for the bead and necklace fabric
• (1) fat quarter for background fabric

piecing instructions:

1. Create (12) Flying Geese blocks, at 1 1/2″ X 2 1/2″ (finished size 1″ X 2″). Each bead is a pair of Geese with a narrow strip between them for the chain. (Susan used Erin Harris’ great tutorial  LINK HERE on her blog, House on Hill Road. Susan cut three bead fabric squares at 3 1/4” square and (12) background fabric squares at 1 7/8” to achieve this size, making (3) sets of (4) Geese to yield a total of 12). Press seams to corners. Each of Flying Geese will be half of a diamond-shaped bead, yielding (6) beads total.
2. Sew (3) Geese blocks together into a row along the shorter ends (as shown). This is one half of the first three beads. Repeat three more times with the other (9) Geese, totalling (4) sets of (3) Geese, each resembling half a set of beads.
3. Cut (8) pieces of background fabric, 3 1/2″ X 1 1/5″. Sew one background piece to each short 1 1/2” side of the (4) bead halves, for a total of (4) identical vertical strips, each measuring 12 1/2” X 1 1/2”, with beads centered vertically. Press.
4. Fro the chain, cut (2) strips at 12 1/2″ X 3/4″. Pin one long side of strip to a set of the bead halves, sewing along the wide end of the triangles so the points are facing away from chain. Repeat on other side of chain strip. Press. Repeat to add 3rd and 4th row of beads to chain.
5. Cut a 4″ X 12 1/2” of background fabric and sew each of the bead and chain sections to one side of it. This is the center of your block.
6. Cut (2) 2 1/4” X 12 1/2” of background fabric and sew one to each outside edge of each of the beads and chain sections. Press. 

now it’s your turn!

YOU can play along, too, in our Downtown Abbey Modern Block Challenge! If you have our November-December 2013 issue, you can find the full scoop on our challenge, beginning on page 28. If you don’t have that issue, follow this link for all the info needed.

In the coming weeks, we’ll share more blocks by our staff and some uber-talented designer friends. Start sketching. Between our Modern Block Challenge and Ebony Love’s Mystery Quilt Along, there’ll be plenty of Downton juice to keep us entertained until Season 4 starts.

And hey, if you’re playing along, grab our button and tell the world!