Fans Galore!!!

Many years ago an industrious quilter used her scrap bag and a cardboard template to cut out LOTS of wedges.  

The wedges were cut the exact size of the template.  They were then hand-pieced together with a narrow seam allowance.  

The notes on the template say to piece 7 of the wedges together to form a fan.  LOTS of wedges were pieced into fans containing 7 wedges.  I have almost 100 of them!

I do not remember how I obtained this newspaper bag filled with fans, but I think I know why this project was abandoned by the quilter...the fans will not fit neatly onto a square background block.

She even pieced 8 wedges together for a fan and tried to make that into a square block.  No luck with that, either.

 

The fabrics are an interesting mixture of "eras"...mostly from the 50s and 60s, and very colorful.  If they would not work into a fan quilt, what else could be done with them?

As a child, I loved paper dolls.  I was always designing new dresses for them and I remember telling my grandma that I was going to be a dress designer when I grew up.  The more I looked at these fans, the more I thought they looked like "skirts".    

I designed a simple bodice that would fit the small arc of the fans.  I selected a variety of vintage solid fabrics from my collection and chose a number of fans to work with.  Each fan was machine stitched 1/4" from the raw edge, all the way around, not only to hold the seams in place, but also to give a guideline for needleturn applique.

The skirt was appliqued to the bottom edge of the bodice; the entire piece centered on a
9 1/2" square of "dotted swiss" white on white cotton fabric, and appliqued in place. 

This is a crazy-quilt type of project because each bodice is to be "fancied" with embroidery and beads, buttons, etc.  I have my crazy quilt stitch books out for ideas, but it takes time to ponder what to do on each dress.  Twelve blocks have been appliqued so far; 3 have been "fancied".  This is definitely a Project In Progress!

 

 

 

 

After I make at least 12 more blocks for my ' "Fan"cy Dresses' quilt, LOTS of fans will remain.  Perhaps they can be used for a version of Snake Trail?   Time will tell...