My fractured image is complete but before I show it to you, take a look at the original floral design:
Isn’t that gorgeous? It’s the focus fabric from Jason Yenter’s “Unusual Garden” line for In the Beginning Fabrics dating back to 2017.
Now look at my fractured image:
You’re getting the full ripples-in-a-pond effect that fracturing an image creates.
As I was looking at this on my design wall, I wondered what it would look like turned on its side:
Wow! I really like the look of that. Most floral designs have a definite top and bottom but Jason Yenter’s design is more versatile than that. Maybe that’s why he named it “Unusual Garden.”
Just for fun, I gave my image another quarter turn:
And then another:
I must say I like them all, even though I do have a favorite. (Do you?) Since this is going to be a wall hanging, I don’t really have to choose, do I? I could hang it any one of four ways. As my twin sister Diane (visiting from Georgia) pointed out, “You can’t lose!”
Following the lead of my friend Lynn, who fractured the very same image, I’m going to add a very narrow flange of mossy green and finish it with a narrow solid black border. Since this is so small I’ll quilt it myself. The next big decisions are what color thread to use and what quilt design to employ. Stay tuned!
A couple of weeks ago I was digging through a dresser drawer in my sewing room looking for a scrap of fusible interfacing to use in making a quilt label. In the process I pulled out a mysterious bundle, which turned out to be a folded piece of gridded flannel onto which I had pinned 143 — count’ em! — 3-inch squares:
Apparently I set this project aside in 2019 — the year I taught a Fractured Image class at Montavilla Sewing — and promptly forgot about it. Don’t you think it’s high time I finished it?
I started sewing rows together from the bottom up (for the simple reason they were easier to get to). Here’s how far I’ve gotten:
Can you see how the rather abstract medley of blossoms, leaves, and ferns is coming together to form a striking ripples-in-a-pond effect? It starts with an image cut from four repeats of fabric, and the magic is in the cutting and arranging of squares. Unlike a four-patch kaleidoscope block in which four layers are stacked on top of each other and cut into squares, a fractured image is created by trimming the second, third, and fourth repeats a certain way before cutting them into squares. When the squares are sewn back together, the result is a fractured image. It sounds complicated but it’s very easy.
Here’s a better shot of the rows I’ve finished so far:
If you look carefully at some of the squares, you should be able to see how any two squares viewed side-by-side or top-to-bottom share design elements.
I first learned about fractured images in a class I took in the summer of 2010 from Johanna Gibson in Sisters, Oregon. After getting back to the project you see above, I rummaged around in my sewing room closet and unearthed several projects I had fractured in the past, including some I had completely forgotten about.
Here is the result of that first class with Johanna:
No doubt the Kaffe Fassett fans reading this will recognize the fabric immediately. Using 3″ squares, my first fractured image measures 28½” x 34″. This could easily be transformed into a wall hanging by quilting and binding it as is. Or I could add a narrow border and finish it. Or it could be the centerpiece of a larger quilt. So many options!
With Johanna’s permission, I taught her method several times in classes at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego (now home to Montavilla Sewing). A blog post from 2012 shows a few more examples of images I fractured. You can see those images and read the post at this link.
Among the images I fractured (and forgot about) was this sweet one. . .
. . . featuring the pink colorway of “Hydrangeas and Raspberries” by Lakehouse Fabrics that was used in my 4-Patch Wonder quilt Framboise. This fracture started with 2″ squares and measures 20″ x 17″. I’m thinking it would make a lovely pillow to complement my Framboise quilt.
I’m also thinking it might be time to teach another Fractured Image class. What do you think?
I’m scheduled to teach a class on Fractured Images in a couple of weeks so this seems like a good time to update my class notes and look over my class samples.
Fractured images are created when four identical layers of fabric are cut into squares and sewn together. Three of the four repeats are trimmed different ways before being cut into squares. When the four sets of squares are arranged in a grid and sewn together, a striking ripples-in-a-pond effect emerges. Squares can be cut in many different sizes but 2” and 3” squares are the most common. Bold floral designs with secondary motifs in the background and lots of contrast fracture especially well.
When I taught this class last spring at the Pine Needle, the shop had just received some fabrics in the Hickory House line by Faye Burgos for Marcus Brothers Fabrics. I was curious to see how one of the florals in that line would fracture and whether it would be more striking made from 2” or 3” squares. Here is the image before fracturing . . .
Hickory House floral, unfractured
. . . and here are the two fractured images side by side:
Fractured Images made from 2″ and 3″ Squares
The image on the left, which measures 13″ square, contains 81 squares, each square finishing at 1½”. The image on the right, which measures 14″ square, contains 25 squares, each square finishing at 2½”. Which one do you like better?
One way of cutting the fabric for a fracture is to pin the layers together, matching design elements, and then cut only the image intended for the fracture. What to do with the remaining fabric that’s already layered and pinned? Why, cut it into 4-Patch Wonder blocks, of course. (“4-Patch Wonder” is my name for a block made of four identical layers of fabric that are cut in squares and then rotated to make a pleasing symmetrical design. If you’ve looked at the quilts in my Gallery, you know that I’m a big fan of this faux-kaleido block, as well as its more sophisticated cousin, the kaleidoscope block.)
Look how dramatic these 4-Patch Wonder blocks are that were made with leftover Hickory House fabric:
These 4-Patch Wonder blocks are 5″ squareThese blocks are 6½” square
Let me show you another fractured image made from a beautiful tropical floral fabric a friend brought me from Hawaii. Here is the image before fracturing. . .
Tropical Flowers, Unfractured
. . . and after:
Tropical Flowers, Fractured
This one was made a little differently. Instead of sewing the squares together, I arranged them on a piece of featherweight fusible interfacing and fused them in place. Then I covered the raw edges with grosgrain ribbon held in place with ¼”-wide Steam-a-Seam-2. I added a pink polkadot flange and a wide black border. The squares were cut 3″, by the way, and the piece is 21″ square including the border.
I haven’t decided what to do with this fractured image. I think it could hold its own as a finished piece, but it looks so good set on point that I can also see it as a center medallion in a larger quilt . . .
On Point
. . . perhaps accompanied by some of these 4-Patch Wonder blocks made from the leftover fabric:
4-Patch Wonder Blocks (6½” Square)
If you’ve never fractured an image before, I recommend that you try it. It’s a lot of fun, and I predict that it will forever change the way you look at fabric!
Isn’t that gorgeous? It’s the focus fabric from Jason Yenter’s “Unusual Garden” line for In the Beginning Fabrics dating back to 2017.
And then another:
