The Gretchen Quilt

Today's quilters are just not that excited to work with funky templates. I think the reason why my senior editor named me her Special Projects Editor was because she discovered early on that I love shortcuts and easy ways to otherwise difficult traditional quilts. The Gretchen is a case in point. Here is a page from the Kansas City Star, 1932. What do you think of those templates? Yikes, right!?

Inside that "Debby Kratovil Issue" was my updated version of the Gretchen Quilt. I used a black and red and white collection by Blank Fabrics.

The Gretchen Quilt (61" x 70")

I was able to create some little tricks with a rotary cutter and the blocks go together so quickly with just simple squares and triangles. This has always been a popular workshop and I actually taught it to a guild via Zoom a few months ago. And it worked!

Here are a few other versions (ie, different colors). This one was made with a fabric collection by Red Rooster. It was published the next year in one of our magazines. The blocks finish to 9". And don't you just love how they tilt back and forth? The mix of prints and solid reading fabrics gives such good contrast.

The Gretchen Quilt

Then I pulled out my precious red and blue Shwe Shwe African fabrics and made one. Here's a set of 4 blocks in blue and white.

4 Gretchen Blocks in my precious blue African Shwe Shwe

And some in red:

And all put together in this quilt with a 45" x 54" center. Some of that blue border fabric was also from Africa 45+ years ago!!

Blue and red and white African prints

I have at least 3 more quilts made using this pattern. There is very little waste in the cutting and the piecing is quick and very rewarding. You can see my other quilts in the Etsy listing.

See you soon for another quilt from that famous "Debby Kratovil Issue."