Mrs. March

Mrs. March? Like the mother, Marmee,  in Little Women? No, not exactly . .  .

But, changing the subject--Here's a question for you. What's the best batting to use for little quilts? This is a question I get asked at almost EVERY single workshop or lecture I give. What kind of batting do I use to make my quilts look so soft and have that antique look, like they've been played with often? There are so many battings to choose from it gets downright confusing. Thick or thin, cotton or polyester? Silk or bamboo? Batting comes in a variety of thicknesses (thickness = loft).  For my small quilts, I prefer a flat look, the kind you see in antique quilts. They've been washed and worn so much it almost looks as if they contain no batting at all.

So I like to use a thin cotton batting (low-loft) and think it's particularly great for small quilts because of the way the quilts drape (or hang). Thin batting is also very light and easy to hand quilt. I hate it when I choose a batting for my small quilt and it turns out puffy--some of my early quilts were like that because I was inexperienced at the batting thing. I didn't know that's how a quilt turned out if you used polyester batting. So I tried a lot of different cotton battings instead, and found that some were so thick that I couldn't get a needle through when I tried to hand quilt my quilts. And the quilt didn't drape well when I placed it on a doll bed, just stuck straight out. After a little bit of trial and error, I eventually found a batting I liked--Fairfield's 100% natural, all cotton batting. PERFECT for my doll quilts! I use it all the time and tell others about it when they ask what I use.

Fairfield 100 % natural cotton batting

Bonus:  If you go to the Fairfield website home page (below), you'll notice that yours truly is the Fairfield Designer of the Month for MARCH! (Mrs. March, you could say, get it?) All this month, because I love their batting and want everyone to know about it, there will be a free pattern on their website for a doll quilt I made for them, using their batting of course. You can see it there all month, to download and print out.

Here's the link to the free doll quilt pattern  on their website.

So, sorry to disappoint--No, I will not be playing Marmee (Mrs. March) in a new Broadway version of Little Women or anything like that.

Although I have loved the book since childhood (and own a very old copy a friend gave to me years and years ago), have seen both movies many times, plus the live musical, and once dragged my husband and kids to visit Louisa May Alcott's house in Concord, MA when we vacationed out east, that's about as far as it goes.

Although, now that I think about it, I have to say that maybe there ARE some similarities between me and the author or her characters.

I must thank About.com for the following info on Louisa and her book to help me realize the similarities:

"In Little Women, Marmee offers moral guidance and unconditional love to her girls: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy."

(Me:  I have one girl and one girl dog--my girls--I give moral guidance and uncondtional love to them on a daily basis. I give guidance to one of them to make sure she doesn't pee in the house. But I still give her unconditional love if she does. And paper towels to the other one to clean up the mess.)

"Louisa May Alcott drew from her own childhood experiences to dramatize the joys and sorrows of the March family."

(Me: I draw from my childhood experiences and my children's experiences ALL THE TIME  in making my quilts and writing my books, remember?)

 "In the novel, the sisters come of age, with the Civil War in the background."

(Me: I have 4 sisters who are aging and I like reading about the Civil War and collecting Civil War reproduction fabrics. Just kidding, if any of them are reading this . . . )

"Louisa May Alcott was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and took walks with Thoreau."

(Me: I was an English major and I love Emerson and Thoreau too! Quote them often. Visited Walden Pond  twice! Even bought a t-shirt that says: "Member of the Thoreau Sauntering Society." Sadly, the t-shirt no longer fits, probably because I sauntered a little too much for my own good when I should have  been jogging . . . . )

"Marmee is always there for the girls--to oversee their antics, allay their fears, and heal their troubled hearts."

(Me: I work at home so I am ALWAYS there, ALWAYS watching over my kids' antics and ALWAYS asking about their troubled hearts, so much that they wish I'd just give it a rest sometimes. And throw the camera away while I'm at it . . . )

                                            

"Louisa May Alcott's own mother, Abigail May (Abba) Alcott, was the basis for Marmee in her novel, Little Women. Alcott once wrote of her mother: 'A great heart that was home for all.' Like Marmee, Abba was passionate and caring, with special attention to women's rights, temperance, and abolition. She also wrote in her journal:  'All the philosophy in our house is not in the study; a good deal is in the kitchen, where a fine old lady thinks high thoughts and does kind deeds while she cooks and scrubs.' "

(Me: I'm just like Marmee, a great mom, always in the kitchen, cooking and scrubbing, thinking higher thoughts, forever doing kind deeds, taking in strays. Sure. Whatever.)

So there you have it. More like Mrs. March than I thought. Enjoy the pattern.