SWN2910 Transcript
Weeks Ringle:

Modern quilting is the buzz word in the sewing and quilting field and with me today is Weeks Ringle, author, publisher, designer, teacher, lecturer, fabric designer—

Yes. 

of all things quilting, and, primarily, modern quilts. Weeks, why don't you explain to our viewers, what you think of as modern quilting? 

Well, you know, my husband Bill Kerr and I, began, in 1999 wanting to have a new option for quilters to look at motifs and inspiration from technology and new types of fabric and tools that were available to quilters. So, we wanted to develop designs that were different from traditional designs that were motifs of the time in which we live. So, we wanted to have new patterns and new techniques and new ways of thinking about quilting that were reflective of our current day. 

I think a great example is right behind us and it's a design called, "Swatches." Explain how your terminology is reflected in this fabric. 

Well, this is "Swatch" right behind us and it's all about transparency and it looks like the fabrics are actually translucent and you can see through them. It's actually very simply done with overlaying two colors and looking at the medium value between a dark and a light. So, it's only really possible with modern day fabrics where you can get that perfect color work from the variety of fabrics available to us. 

And it's not a traditional pattern. It's not a tumbler, it's not a hexagon, it-- 

Churn dash or something, right. 

And I have this beautiful quilt on my lap. And it has an interesting name. 

It's called "Glyphs" and it-- As in hieroglyphs or as in pictograms. And this was inspired by-- I lived in Japan for almost eight years out of college and studied Japanese in college and became interested in the Chinese characters and the derivations of them because they were pictograms inspired by daily life. 

And this really isn't a pattern. It's an improvisational process. 

Exactly. Exactly. So, each one is different. 

In modern quilting, in that "loose term," there's a lot of use of solids. 

Yes, Yes. And importance of the background fabric. 

You know, I think a lot of people-- my theory is that women learn about color getting dressed and decorating their houses. And so they grow up thinking that everything should match but I think in actuality sometimes having the background color not match anything else in the blocks sets them off a little bit more. 

It gives it an automatic frame even though you don't have a frame. 

And we also love the combination of drabs and color. Because the drabs make the color look so much more luminous. 

It really pops. The pop of color. And your stitching is also sometimes more linear than.. Mmm... a traditionalist form? 

Well, I think, you know, in this case this is a technique that we developed called... labyrinth quilting. You can see that there's a labyrinth. It's all one continuous line throughout the entire quilt, but you can see that the-- it doesn't overlap the exact block. It's an entirely different design layer. 

So you're not shadowing, radiating out... 

Echo quilting, feathers. 

It's a design on top of a design. 

Exactly. It's a different design layer. If it's a complex quilt like this we go for a simple pattern. And if it's a simple quilt, we go for a complex pattern. 

Well, Weeks, this is inspirational to see... Oh, good! ...beautiful fabric color combinations. Interesting quilting designs, and that, really, there are no rules that you can't break. 

Other than good craftsmanship. 

Which you certainly have. Well, thank you for being our guest! 

It's my pleasure. Thanks for coming in. 

You're welcome.

Thanks!