Making a College Quilt: Get In the School Spirit
It’s college season! By the end of August, most students will be back on campus and ready to dive into the year. And before the beloved student in your life settles into school, you have a job to do. As a quilter, your first step is to find the right school colors, and get working on that dorm quilt! First thing to note, dorm mattresses are typically twin-sized or extra long twin, whereas college apartments may have a full mattress. Keep in mind, though, this dorm quilt will be used for more than dorm life—outdoor studying, football games, and, let’s be honest, you’re probably going to make one for the guest room for when your brother, who went to the rival college, visits.
Hawk Fan by Angie Milligan
Designed by Angie Milligan, Hawk Fan at 84” x 108” (featured in the Easy Quilts Summer 2018 issue) would fit most situations splendidly. And with those colors, is THE quilt to make for any student who has made the choice to be an Iowa University Hawkeye. When I first moved to Iowa to join Fons & Porter, I was told: “Make the choice now, and stick with it—The University of Iowa or Iowa State University.”
Angie Milligan, Fons & Porter graphic designer and quilter, is very firmly in the University of Iowa camp, and was delighted to find the fresh yellowy gold and textured black hues of Moda’s Fragile collection. The text print and molecular designs have a scientifically studious feel — and the collection is quite pretty, too!
Honoring School Spirit & School History
I love that the colors of the University of Iowa, old gold and black, were selected by the students themselves, at a mass meeting in the spring of 1887. The gold was obvious—the Old Capitol at the heart of campus had a distinctive gold dome—and a woman pulled an old gold ribbon from her hair, tearing it up into pieces to pass the samples around. The colors of gold and black were heartily approved by all.
The simple Hawk Fan quilt pattern works really well for other college colors. And so does School Spirit by Theresa Eisinger! As a University of Cincinnati graduate, I could easily pop in red for the yellow (Go Bearcats!). Or if you’re an alumna of University of Michigan (Why would you…? Never mind; let’s move beyond it), swap blue for the black, and maybe a lighter blue for the gray. Or shades of purple with pops of orange for that Clemson-bound student!
Get to Stitchin’
Some school colors are so interesting, you may find yourself coaching that nephew to go to University of Miami, because when else will you get to make a quilt with shades of green and orange? Wherever the students in your life may be bound, or the alumni in your acquaintance may have gone, be ready to quilt them some school spirit! If you decide to dive into making a college quilt, we hope you’ll share with us on Instagram, Facebook, or the comments below.
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Is the hawk fan pattern in the summer 2018 edition?