Anyone who was into quilting in the last decade has seen a stacked and whacked quilt - they've delighted (and occasionally hurt) our eyes. Bethany Reynolds published the original, now classic, book on the technique, Magic Stack-n-Whack Quilts in 1998, and unleashed a stack and whack mania in the quilting world that seems to have passed, but the technique remains amazing, and amazingly easy. If you are a newbie, you may have missed this spectacular technique, and perhaps think that it sounds a bit vulgar, so I'll explain.
All printed fabrics have a repeat - in other words, the pattern will start again somewhere along the way, so the exact same flower, for instance, will appear again along the length of the material - it could appear every nine inches, or once every 12, 24, or even 30 inches. The goal of a stacked and whacked quilt is to use the same exact bit of the print, fanned out and sewn together, creating wonderful, swirling, kaleidoscopic effects.
Fabric choice is essential for a stack and whacked quilt - it must be an interesting fabric, with a repeat of at least 9 inches. Small prints don't show off the fascinating effects well, and since this technique is all about the fascinating effects, finding the right fabrics is essential. Luckily, this can include asian scenics, bold graphic prints, elegant florals, and much more. My first stack and whack was an old Alexander Henry fabric, featuring the Virgin de Guadelupe and an assortment of cherubs. I was fortunate to be taking a class at the Northgate Pacific Fabrics store taught by Sara Nephew, who wrote the amazing Serendipity Quilts book and invented the Super 60 tool, one of my favorite templates ever. When Sara saw my fabric, she looked a bit doubtful - she cautioned me to be careful of "body parts."
Once your fabric is selected, you will be finding a place where you will mark the repeat. In some fabrics, such as my Virgin de Guadelupe, the beginning and end of the print were starkly clear, but for most florals and graphics, you will need to arbitrarily choose a spot. You can find a distinctive stem, the beak of a bird, or the edge of a shape. Depending on the pattern you have chosen, you may need four, six, or eight repeats (there are a few out there using as many as twelve, but I'm just not to that level of stacking yet!) You will cut the fabric apart at the place you have chosen as your repeat and stack the identical pieces you have created upon each other, making sure that the design elements line up exactly.
Now that you've stacked, you might have guessed that it's time to whack! There are an amazing variety of patterns available. You may be cutting triangles, squares, wedges, or diamonds. You'll slice through the layers of fabric, using a rotary cutter and ruler or template. While I have sometimes thought carefully about my chosen bit of material, selecting the exact design element that I wish to see repeated (there are really cool little mirrors made for this, so you can preview what your block might look like) often I find that the results are just as stunning when I use whatever happens to be next. Despite Sara's caution, I thought my Virgin de Guadelupe quilt came out magnificent.
Now that you have both stacked and whacked, all that's left is to sew! With all quilt blocks, there's a certain thrill to seeing your vision come together into a completed block, but there's a special excitement to unfolding a stack and whack block - it's like a present that you were expecting, but it turns out to be nicer than you had pictured.
If you have not tried this technique, you might start with a class - The Bellevue and Bremerton Pacific Fabrics & Crafts stores will be offering classes in Stack 'n' Whack, and Bremerton is also offering a class in the "One Block Wonder", a simple stack and whack block for beginners. (The Winter/Spring class schedule will be available on December 26th.) If you can't make it to a class, we have several great books available on the subject. Bethany Reynolds has just released Stack'n'Whackipedia, a 10th anniversary celebration of her technique. One Block Wonder: Encore! is also new, and has many fun ideas for using just a few blocks to stunning effects. I'm very fond of Serendipity Quilts, which we still have a few copies of in our stores, and at $27.95, it's a bargain: the book is out of print, and when I checked Amazon.com, there are only a few copies available - the least expensive, used, is over $50! You'll probably want to pick up a Super 60 tool, too - it makes diamonds, hexagons, parallellograms and equilateral triangles a cinch to cut perfectly.
Have fun stacking and whacking - you'll look at fabric a whole new way!
- Anna-Beth
