Lucy Boston’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Lucy Boston started by mending old quilts but eventually created masterpieces that inspire us today. She was an artist through and through.

The Patchworks of Lucy Boston by Diana Boston

Diana Boston’s wonderful book, The Patchworks of Lucy Boston, includes descriptions and photos of more than 20 patchworks, but Double Wedding Ring is NOT one of them.

 

Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses

Lucy Boston used simple shapes and home-made templates for hexagons and squares in her brilliant Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC, above). (Photo used with permission. Please do not pin or copy.)

The patchworks of Lucy Boston are compelling because of the way she challenges us to look at fabric with the most ordinary shapes.

 

POTC by Lucy Boston
(Photo used with permission. Please do not pin or copy.)

As you can see in this example of Lucy Boston’s work, she did not cut with mechanical precision. Little variances are part of her appeal. I especially like the variations in the squares on the inside cover of the book.

 

Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses POTC

She did it all with the limited fabrics available in post-war Britain and she did not settle for the obvious.

LUCY BOSTON’S DOUBLE WEDDING RING QUILT?

I cannot help but wonder what Lucy Boston could have done with the amazing fabrics we have today and a tool like Inklingo!

All those hours that she spent tracing templates, basting, and whip-stitching could have been spent hand sewing fabulous designs. It’s as if Picasso had to collect animal hair to make his own brushes before he could paint his vision.

If Lucy Boston had been able to print shapes on a wider selection of fabric with an ordinary Inkjet printer and Inklingo and sewn with a running stitch (or even by machine), what would she have made?

I photographed some of my favorite fabrics and Photoshopped a few ideas for a Lucy Boston style DWR.

 

Timeless Treasures Kabuki

I have used this for No Waste Fussy Cutting LeMoyne Stars too. (Examples here.)

 

Lucy Boston Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Do you think Lucy Boston would approve?

 

Lucy Boston style Double Wedding Ring Quilt

This fabric works well for Ìnklingo No Waste Fussy Cutting, but I prefer a fabric design with more movement and less background. With No Waste Fussy Cutting, the designs in the fabric shapes are identical but random, similar to Stack n Whack™.

Cutting flowers or stripes with mechanical precision may not create the same magical effect. Random adds excitement and wonderful little surprises.

*

Robert Kaufman Esmeralda

This is another one of my favorites—an oldie but goodie. I have used it for several Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) blocks too. It was in my stash for a long time before I found the perfect use for it. (Examples here.)

 

"Lucy Boston" style Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Do you think Lucy Boston would fussy cut the corner squares of DWR?

 

Lucy Boston style Double Wedding Ring Quilt

 

Traditional Double Wedding Ring Quilts put more emphasis on the rings but the other shapes are interesting too!

In these examples, I have kept the other elements of DWR as simple as possible.

 

Kona Bay 1999

I bought this fabric in 1999. I wish I had bolts of it for more Kaleidoscope Stars. (Examples here.)

This is my idea of the perfect fabric for fussy cutting.

 

"Lucy Boston" style Double Wedding Ring Quilt

The variety of effects with this fabric is astonishing.

 

Lucy Boston style Double Wedding Ring Quilt

 

All of the corner shapes are from that one Kona Bay fabric!

Lucy Boston pointed us in the right direction and taught us that an artist is not limited by the circumstances of time and place.

The limited selection of cotton fabrics available in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s did not stop her from creating works of art.

Her long, creative old age is an inspiration to us all.

Lucy Boston worked alone and the only sewing method she knew was English Paper Piecing.

We have every advantage—the best selection of fabric in the whole history of the world, better methods, better books and online groups—plus her example to follow!

 

Video with 50 Inklingo Double Wedding Ring Designs

50 designs in only 2 minutes! Click on the video to play.

MORE INSPIRATION FOR DOUBLE WEDDING RING DESIGNS?

Double Wedding Ring is the design I featured in the Electric Quilt Christmas Countdown.

Even if you have watched this 2 minute video before, I think you might see the designs differently if you approach it with the idea of fussy cutting.

The video includes examples with fussy cut centers, but as you know now, you can fussy cut the corners or the rings or the arc ends or the melon shapes.

Let Lucy Boston inspire you to go beyond the obvious!

 

  (Click for a larger view)

The shapes for all of the designs in the video can be printed on fabric with Inklingo!

No templates, no measuring.

The sewing is so much easier than it was in Lucy Boston’s day that you can play with a complicated design like DWR and get beautiful results with the cutting and stitching lines printed on the fabric with Inklingo.

Spend the amount of time you want to spend making a quilt—and make something extra-special in less time than it would take with other methods.

There are several articles about Double Wedding Ring listed on the Main Double Wedding Ring Page on the website. (This is the blog.)

Print shapes on fabric with your Inkjet

As promised, we have a winner!

By random drawing, 16 luscious red and green fat quarters from Northcott will be mailed to Jane S, who wrote

Thank you for the pattern and for the Wedding Ring instruction book!  I’m a big fan of Inklingo because it is a great way to achieve precision in hand and machine piecing both, and your blog and emails are full of helpful hints, too.   🙂

 

Lucy Boston Double Wedding Ring Quilt

$50 INKLINGO GIFT CERTIFICATE

$50 buys a lot of Inklingo! Even the fabulous Double Wedding Ring 12 inch shape collection is only $40. Many others are only $20 or $25.

If you have already left a comment on my last EQ article, you are already in the draw.

All comments there or here will be in the draw. Comment by Sunday midnight, December 21, to enter to win.

The winner will be announced on Monday, December 22.

 

Lucy Boston Double Wedding Ring Quilt

I post fresh photos on Facebook every day. There is more about Double Wedding Ring to come, so I hope you will Like Inklingo on Facebook and choose Get Notifications.

By the way, just because you have “liked” Inklingo on Facebook does NOT mean you will see my photos in your Newsfeed, so please visit directly when you can. I hope you LIKE and SHARE too.

 

Lucy Boston Double Wedding Ring Quilt

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Linda & Monkey

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27 thoughts on “Lucy Boston’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt”

  1. I adore the double wedding ring! And Pickle Dish goes with it too..so beautiful.. I have both these collections and will make a whole quilt with them one day!
    Missy in Missouri

    Reply
  2. I just purchased the wedding ring designs, hopefully I will be able to figure it out. My first foray into this method. I have my first grand daughter getting married this spring, right after she receives her PHD in medical engineering. Two milestones within days of each other. I am planning to start on it right after the first of the year. sieglinde

    Reply
  3. I love Inklingo and the quilts that I can now make, instead of enjoying them from a distance, just wishing I could make them.

    I simply adore the double wedding ring quilt. My plan is to start one right after the holidays are over.

    Thank you, Linda and Monkey, for giving me the ability to finally make a double wedding ring quilt.

    Thank you for all you do for us.

    Brenda

    Reply
  4. I love these posts Linda. I really like the kaleidoscope ends on the rings.

    I’m currently working on a holiday double wedding ring for my bed. I never would have done this without Inklingo. It makes it really easy to put it all together. Thanks for all you do Linda. Merry Christmas.

    Reply
  5. I do not ordinarily think outside the box. So, I love how you and Lucy continue to gently push us to see something we didn’t realize could be there. I have always wanted to make a Double Wedding Ring quilt; maybe this could be the year. Nancy

    Reply
  6. I’ve always concentrated on the rings in the double wedding ring pattern. You have opened my eyes to many more variations that can be made by fussy cutting those corners or arc end pieces! Oh the possibilities! Happy holidays to you!

    Reply
  7. Lucy Boston’s work with English paper piecing is an inspiration decades later, and Linda, you have inspired us all with Inklingo and all the possibilities! Thank you for all that you do to help us create our own masterpieces! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    Reply
  8. It is just amazing to me how you can see so many variations on a block, Linda. I do not have that skill and I so appreciate your generosity in sharing.
    Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  9. The double wedding ring has always been one of my favourite patterns. I can’t imagine making one without Inklingo, there is just so little waste when you print on the fabric. With fussy cutting the possibilities are endless!

    Reply
  10. My hubby bought me Lucy’s book for Christmas. Thanks for carrying it Linda. I have not opened it yet as I wanted to wait until Dec 25. I can’t wait to read it and start fussy cutting fabric.

    Merry Christmas Linda

    Reply
  11. The Patchworks of Lucy Boston is one of my most favourite quilt books. I have read it cover to cover so many times and just love looking at her creations. Definitely a must have for any quilter’s library, I think.
    I love the effect you got with fussy cutting the DWR corners — what a fabulous idea!
    Congratulations to Jane S. who won that luscious bundle of fabrics!

    Reply
  12. I LOVE the fussy-cut corner stones in the Wedding Ring Quilt designs you have posted. The Inklinkgo site is always a font of inspiration…and dreams of quilts to make! Merry Christmas to you and Monkey, and a very Inklingo New Year… Sue

    Reply

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