Plaid "Convergence"

 

by Linda Theil

I'm a bit obsessed with trompe l'oeil "plaid" quilt tops; so, when my GAAQG study group investigated Ricki Timm's "Convergence" quilts, I wondered if there was a way tomake a "Convergence" quilt that looked like a woven plaid.

I found several YouTube videos describing various iterations of the "Convergence" process, including a video by Timms himself, but the video I found most helpful was a very short and simplified "Basic Convergence Technique" by Sonny DeWitt.

All of the "Convergence" quilts had a woven appearance, and they all used four different fabrics to create the convergent look, but I didn't know how to translate the directions to create an actual, faux woven-plaid. The DeWitt video paired four fabrics into two strips sets of two fabrics each. 

This was the same process used in the "Buffalo chex patchwork" and the "The white buffalo" faux-plaid quilt tops I made previously, so I looked at those posts to see how they paired the fabrics to create the woven appearance. I discovered that I would need strips that alternated dark/medium and light/medium fabrics described in the "White buffalo" post meaning I would need to cut one dark set, one light set, and two medium sets -- as shown in the White Buffalo photo below -- to test the theory on my "Convergence" quilt-top.

White-buffalo check quilt-top

To simplify the experiment I chose black and white for my dark and light strips, and gray for my medium strips. So I cut the strips as described in the video and paired them as described in the buffalo-check posts shown above.

I didn't follow the sizes described in the DeWitt video, instead I cut my strips from 22-inch squares of fabric two each in the following widths: 1.5-inch, 2-inches, 2.5-inches, 3-inches, and one 3.5-inch. I paired them white with gray, and black with gray as the video described. And, yes, a lighter shade of gray would have been a better choice.

White and black strips for "Convergence" quilt-top

White and gray strips for "Convergence" quilt-top

After sewing the strips together as described in the DeWitt video and shown in photos above, the two strip sets were then cut into two each 1.5-inch,  2-inches, 2.5-inches, 3-inches, and one 3.5-inch strips as before. The resulting strips were then configured according to the DeWitt video to produce the "Convergence" design. And guess what! The faux "woven" pattern emerged!

Strips laid out for "Convergence" quilt-top design

And it's a good thing because I have never in my life worked with a bigger mess. If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see there are errors in the strip placement, meaning I had to go back and pull the stips apart to correct the piecing. Several times I "corrected" wrong and had to do it all again. Putting the top together was a horror front to back.

I eventually got it all stitched together and added a two-inch border of grays from the "On the Dot" collection by 40 Karet Gems for Wilmington. The quilt will finish up at around 42-inches square -- so, baby size. Alisa says geometric black and white quilts are very good for babies! See her beautiful example in her post "High contrast baby quilt".

Despite the difficulties, I really am pleased to add another fool-the-eye plaid to my repertoire! I found some gray-striped flannel for a backing and plan to hand quilt my faux-plaid "Convergence" effort. Will post a photo when finished. 

Note: For another of my faux-woven efforts see "Plaid quilt top" post.