Ahead of the curve

Sometimes as a designer I have really great ideas....I just don't know it until later.

A few years ago (2011!) I designed a quilt pattern called Clambake. I wanted a giant clam shell quilt and I developed a way that was easy enough to do it (NO CURVED PIECING!). In fact I published a tutorial to show the way. (Sorry, I've taken it down since then)
The next year I debuted my fabric collection Shore Thing at Quilt Market and made a Clambake quilt to show off the prints. I received quite a bit of interest and decided to offer it as a paper pattern.

Last fall my friend and fellow Michael Miller Fabrics designer, Patty Sloniger, released a new fabric collection called Into the Deep. As soon as I saw this collection I knew it had to be CLAMBAKE! Those sea horses! Unfortunately I haven't had the time to actually make one but the fabric is patiently waiting for me. And since I made the digital mock up below it's been calling to me even more.

Clambake has always been one of my favorites. I've seen dozens over the years that people have made and have yet to see one that hasn't turned out stunning. You don't have to use beach or ocean themed fabric for Clambake, it looks great in any fabrics. The quilt on my pattern cover was made with Emily Taylor's Felicity fabric- not coastal at all and it looks fabulous!

The quilt below was made by the gals at SewMod. If you are thinking of making Clambake (and I think you should!) take a moment to read this blog post they wrote about Clambake. They have several tips and tricks they've discovered to help make Clambake even easier. I love it! They are ALL useful tips that I will be implementing when I make my next one. 

My favorite of their tips is to glue baste instead of pin. Glue basting is very popular right now. People use glue for all kinds of things- even to place their binding before stitching it down. I mention in the pattern to use pins on each curve, but gluing them down is GENIUS! You better believe it's going to go so much faster this way without the danger of getting poked and scratched. My favorite quilting glue is Jillily Studios Appli-Glue. It has been formulated for use on fabric with years of testing and is amazing. There's a lot of glues out there to choose from and I've tried a ton of them- Appli-Glue is the best.

You may have noticed a trend on social media this last year. Lots of Clambake style quilts have come out. Some require curved piecing while others are completely pieced. Even die cut companies are making large clam shell dies. This often happens in the quilting community, as soon as the trend hits multiple variations of a similar design come out. On occasion a variation will come out and the designer will have used the same name for her pattern even though the design is different. Although slightly frustrating, it's just part of the industry. 

Regardless of name and technique, my Clambake pattern has been around long before the others. Perhaps if I had waited a few years to design Clambake it might have been more popular. But sometimes I'm just ahead of the curve.

Purchase a Clambake Pattern HERE.

HAPPY SEWING!