Making the Sri Yantra quilt is truly an exercise in EXTREME PIECING so I thought I would put up a little preliminary information for those of you brave enough to try it.
First: Paper Piecing
This quilt is almost entirely paper pieced. If you want to learn this technique I highly recommend “Show Me How to Paper Piece” by Carol Doak. Look for it at your local quilt store or you can find it here. If you already know how to paper piece, the difficulty in this quilt will be joining all your paper backed pieces together. Don’t worry I will show you all my tricks.
Second: Circular Construction
Once we are done piecing the center and the outer triangles together it’s a little tricky getting things to line up. The appliqué petals around the center serve as our coping strips (if you’re new to this term think fudge factor for quilters) so it’s best to leave that part for last.
Third: Fabric Choices
Part of what gives this quilt the effect of dimension is the variety of shades of the triangles spiraling toward the center. When I made the first Sri Yantra I literally spent weeks searching for shadings of golden brown. This time I’m planning on using a gradation set by Janet A. Smith from textileart.com. I’m hoping that this cuts down on the frustration. My advice is: if you are not going to use a gradation set pick a color that is easy to find. Color in fabric goes in and out of style so go to your local quilt shop and look for what is in style in the tone on tone solid category.
Fourth: Special Paper
There are literally hundreds of four triangle units that will need to be sewn together in this project. To make this easier in the sewing and tracing department I used this paper
Which I bought here. This is freezer paper that you can use with a copier. Believe me it will save you a ton of time if you can copy your patterns with a copier.
Fifth: Color Selection
My method for coming up with a color scheme for my first Sri Yantra and this one was to start with a multi colored batik. The first one I made as a commission (I know, I know, CRAZY) so I told my friends to pick out a batik they loved; that’s the fabric in the border and the petals. This one is going to be almost the opposite side of the color wheel and I am starting with the purple,blue and green sunflower batik you see in the picture. These are my go to colors when doing an analogous colorway.
So, that’s all for now, pick fabric you love because you will be spending a lot of time with it
