An art quilt pattern for a flower filled vintage pickup truck built from fused fabric collage, finished at 44 1/2 x 41 1/2 inches. On the cover sample, the truck body is pieced from eight different teal prints, with rust patches and a chrome grille, while fussy cut flowers, leaves, and vines pour over the hood, spill from the truck bed, and climb past the windshield, where the words OLD BLUE float in pieced letters. Behind it all sit seven quiet background prints, from a cow pasture with fence posts to plaid, toile, and a ditsy floral border strip down the right side. Those fabrics were one set of choices. The pattern provides the truck and the process; every fabric decision belongs to the maker, so each finished Old Blue is one of a kind.

What the Pattern Includes

This listing is for the instructions and printed paper pattern. Fabric, fusible web, and notions are not included.

The package contains the full sized pattern, so there is no enlarging at the copy shop, plus complete step by step instructions in color.

Here's How it Works

Trace the design from the full sized pattern onto a sheer foundation, then build the truck right on top of your tracing. Back your fabrics with Steam a Seam 2, which stays repositionable until it is pressed, so you can place each piece, step back, and move it until it sits right. The truck itself goes together from big, simple shapes cut from your teal prints, with the rust, mirror, and grille details layered on top, and then the flower load grows one fussy cut bloom at a time until the bed overflows. Fill shapes first with low contrast underlay pieces so no gaps show through, use a dab of Fabric Fuse glue for any piece that wants to wander, and keep a pressing sheet between the work and your iron. One final press fuses everything permanently. Attach the finished collage to your background, sandwich, and quilt closely to secure all the raw edges for good.

New to collage? Laura's Little Book of Collage covers the technique in more depth, from fabric selection through quilting, and the printed supply list names it as an optional companion.

What You'll Need

The back cover sizes each fabric for the quilt shown on the cover; if you are picking your own fabrics, the Key inside the pattern shows what goes where. Plan on seven background fabrics in cuts from 22 x 5 to 22 x 27 inches plus a 5 inch by width of fabric strip for the side border, fat quarters of 8 different teal fabrics for the truck, fat eighths of 3 fabrics for the rust and detail areas with scraps for the remaining truck parts, many small bits of cuttable flowers, leaves, vines, and other motifs in greens, teal, white, grey, pink, and peach, and a word or letter fabric. The list also calls for 6 yards of 24 inch wide Steam a Seam 2, a black Sharpie pen, a 27 x 42 inch piece of cotton voile or Pattern Ease, Fabric Fuse glue, an applique pressing sheet, 1 1/2 yards of backing, and 1/4 yard of binding.

Four packages of Steam a Seam 2 Double Stick Fusible Web 12in x 3yds cover the pattern's fusible requirement; the narrower width simply butts edge to edge on the back of larger pieces. The Laura Heine Collage Mat set and Sew Tites Magnetic Flowers make the process easier: the mat gives the layering a portable, iron safe surface, the magnets hold the pattern and mat in place, and the mat set includes both the silicone mat and a teflon pressing sheet, which covers the applique pressing sheet on the supply list. Without the mat set, a separate applique pressing sheet is needed.

Perfect For

• Farmhouse, cabin, and vintage decor walls that need a statement piece
• Anyone who has ever loved an old truck
• Working through large scale florals and novelty prints too pretty to cut into squares
• A larger collage project after a first smaller one

Why You'll Love This Pattern

Collage is forgiving in ways patchwork cannot be. Nothing has to line up, no points need to match, and small imperfections disappear into the density of the design. There is no needle turn and no blanket stitch. The work is closer to arranging a bouquet than to sewing a seam.

The instructions assume no collage experience, and the truck's big shapes make the layering easy to see as it builds. Raid your stash for floral prints, audition blooms, and stop when the truck can't hold any more.

Product Details

• Brand: Fiberworks
• Item #: LHFWOB
• Designer: Laura Heine
• Category: Quilting Pattern
• Skill Level: All levels (no collage experience assumed)
• Technique: Fused Fabric Collage (raw edge fusible applique)
• Finished Size: 44 1/2" x 41 1/2" wall quilt
• Format: Printed Paper Pattern
• Made in the United States