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?