Trailing vines and abundant leaves bring a lively charm to our Secret Garden. Get lost in the gorgeous display of undulating colors and prints, inspired by the beauty of nature and her seasonal changes. This perfectly-tangled landscape creates a Secret Garden that is both captivating and wonderfully inviting.
Quilt Inspiration
Secret Garden initially launched in 2022, after a year of planning and design. Lesley's vision was to create a whimsical, colorful garden with fluttering insects peeking out from within the foliage.
Did you know that Family Game Nights can spark quilt inspiration? The key to the design for Secret Garden came together during a riveting game of Hisss, where the goal is to use your playing cards to build both the most and the longest snakes. The simple but elegant curves displayed in the card-constructed snakes resonated with Lesley, and she immediately knew it could be wonderfully mimicked by the lush climbing vines of colorful leaves in her own Secret Garden.
Design Process
The Fabrics. Secret Garden was designed to display a full spectrum of color. The size and proximity of individual leaves and stems created a perfect foundation for a beautiful color gradient. Lesley dug deep into the library of Liberty fabrics for inspiration - the quilt includes approximately 200 different Tana Lawn® fabrics!
It is hard to believe that Secret Garden was the reason why we started carrying Liberty Solid Colombo Chambray and including it as a standard option for many of our BOMs. Lesley laughs when she talks about why she selected chambray as the background fabric, "Because chambray is like jeans, it just goes with everything!" She further explains that the warp and weft of chambray are different colors, so it has a sheen to it which gives the appearance of movement in the quilt. Chambray also provides a beautiful contrast to the Tana Lawn® and allows the fabric prints to really pop. Since Colombo Chambray is manufactured by Liberty, the fabric maintains the characteristic beautiful drape and is lovely to work with.
The Block. Lesley wanted to keep the format of Secret Garden simple: A single repeated unit that could be turned or rotated to create a subtle but elegant meandering vine. With a dozen or so leaves per stem and two stem segments per block, the effect of piecing the blocks together creates the big reveal.
Most Challenging and Rewarding Parts of the Process
The Appliqué Method. The work that goes into designing a BOM is not just about creating a beautiful product, but also about providing an experience that is enjoyable, educational, and sewist-friendly. Lesley had done some appliqué before embarking on Secret Garden but wanted to learn more about different methods of appliqué and to trial them before the quilt made its debut. For the most recent release of Secret Garden, Lesley incorporated an interface-turned appliqué method, which not only creates a beautiful polished finish but is also very beginner friendly.
Fabric Selection and Layout. Part of the intrigue of Secret Garden is discovering how a single or series of rotations or replacements can create a strikingly different quilt design. Lesley recalls:
Landing on a final layout was challenging, but so much fun. By rotating and moving the blocks, different patterns in the vines are created. In the end, I decided on a layout that shows several vines trailing across the quilt. The meandering vines create a dynamic element, helping your eye move around the design and discovering colorful insects along the way.
Advice for Secret Garden Subscribers
The beauty in the simplicity of Secret Garden is that it allows you to master appliqué and the art of making and working with bias tape. Adding these transferable techniques to your sewing repertoire provides a wonderful opportunity to incorporate them into future projects with confidence and ease.
Get lost in the beauty of Secret Garden
