Military Uniform and More Quilt

I made a quilt from military uniforms and more.  It is commonly known as "Erik's Quilt".  It has everything to do with what he wanted and who he is.  That is his story and I am not going in to that here.  First I am posting a photo of the finished quilt, then I will elaborate, a bit, on how I did it.

The planning for the quilt started a wee tick over one and one-half years ago.  Erik was a photographer in the U.S. Army.  He is still a photographer.  He grew up in Germany and his brother served in the German military in Afghanistan. 

The clothing Erik gave me, to include in the quilt, is in the upper photo. It includes a t-shirt, which I pieced into the back of the quilt.  I failed to photograph the back of the quilt, but I do have photos of those blocks, just prior to them becoming part of the backing.

This is the early stage where I just wanted to get a feel for the colors and possible combinations.  I dulled my seam ripper ripping those desert storm fabrics apart.  Later, I quit ripping and just used scissors to cut away the seams.  I did not want seams in the quilt, to reduce bulk and weight.  I chose one pocket to include and I cut the inside of it down and surged what was left closed before I pieced it into the quilt.  I removed the buttons, then sewed them back on, after the quilt was quilted.

I absolutely wanted a half-square triangle border in the quilt. I wanted a framed focus on the military fabrics in the center.  Then I worked my way out.  I already had the black and white film fabric in my stash, so that made a dynamic border, as well.

When it came to cutting into his brother's uniform shirt, it was difficult to make that first cut.  This shirt is amazingly well constructed, and with great design.  I made sure I only cut what I needed.  I have another project in mind, as a gift to his brother.  I made sure I got the German flag from the right arm included in one of the pieced blocks in the quilt.

All the clothing Erik gave me has meaning, so I wanted to include it all and the other things he wanted in the quilt.  The other things were mostly in the fabrics I chose to go with the clothing fabric, including a nice smattering of Hawaiian fabrics (chickens, Army men, and Scotty dogs, oh my!).  The dark red with eagles actually looks a little cammo-ish from a distance, so I really like that effect.  The black is not solid black.

I wanted the German and American flags in the quilt.  Piecing the German flag was easy, but the American flag is another story.  I went into my patriotic fabric stash and settled on the eagle carrying the flag, and another piece for the center of the balance "flag" top border.  I did not want the binding to cover the edges of those pieces, thus the red strip at the top.  There are three different red fabrics that pulled the whole quilt together.   This includes the Hawaiian shirting fabric on the outer side borders.  Another reason for the Hawaiian red fabric is it has yellow and black in it, to add more color to go with the German flag.  I made Erik's name and the year in the bottom border using the red and yellow, so it is carried throughout the quilt.  I knew all along that I wanted the browns and sands to be in the outer border.  It grew so much that it was not as much in the outer border, as I had predicted.

My long-arm quilter told me I could not get everything on the front, and he was right!  When my daughter came to visit in May, we went on a spree to The Gathering Place in Rupert, ID, where I found some awesome llama fabric that needed to go in.  My daughter found the unicorn fabric at Sally's Back Porch in Shoshone (on the way back from Rupert), that had to go in . . . so I made blocks for the back of the quilt, too!  It was a nice balance on Erik's sister's t-shirt.

Yes, the quilt back is predominately pineapples and plaid. It has a nice ring to it!  And it looks good, too!  I may have to ask Erik for a photo of the back of the quilt.

In front of the main hospital building at the Boise VA Medical Center.

He loves it and I got the reaction I was hoping for, when I gave it to him.

Remember: if you click on the photos it makes them bigger, so you can see the details.