When Star Wars Meets Popeye
A Millennium Falcon Quilt
Fall 2021. This is one of the most unique quilts I’ve ever had the pleasure of making.
First, we meet Popeye. My Mom found this vintage (circa 1960s/70s) Popeye bedspread (a simple sheet with a fun fringe) in an old storage building of my Grandpa’s.
My Dad remembered that my Grandpa used to use this bedspread on his bed while my Dad was growing up. My Mom wanted some way for my Dad to have it and use it too. After washing it and seeing that is was in incredible shape, she thought it would be fun to use in a quilt for my Dad.
Next, Star Wars. My Dad is a Star Wars fan. He told me that as a boy when the first movie came out, Episode IV, he went with his Dad to see it in the theaters 8 times! Star Wars was a special bond that he shared with his Dad. That passion for Star Wars has continued into adulthood, although he only goes to see the movies once now. :)
How do these two seemingly un-related elements combine? Well, knowing two parts of my Dad’s childhood were the memory of the bedspread and Star Wars, my mom decided to combine the two into a unique, one-of-a-kind quilt!
I was in charge of executing her vision!
It started with a trip to a local quilt shop to pull fabrics for the ship. We pulled bolt after bolt, trying to achieve the right look. Is the ship grey? Is it tan? Both? I think we had 15 bolts pulled before we started making cuts. For the Millennium Falcon, we needed 5 colors. After much deliberation and bolt shuffling, we found our five! Some of the fabrics have a metallic element which works great because the ship is metal.
All that was left was a background fabric. The shop had a grey version of our final choice, but my mom wanted something deeper, so I looked and sure enough, there was a black version of this grey fabric. It was the perfect choice! It gives that galaxy feel of the opening credits in Star Wars.
Next came my part of the project: the piecing! My mom found this paper pieced Millennium Falcon pattern online, but it was a 12” finished piece, not nearly big enough for a whole quilt, so I scaled up the pattern by 300% to give us one giant Millennium Falcon. It was perfect!! Shout-out to Nicole at Sew Much Moore for the basis of this quilt.
For the quilting, we chose Diagonal Plaid - Bias Cut. It’s a great geometric design that plays off the angles in the Millennium Falcon well!
The quilt is 60”x70” and is already well-loved in our house!
Oh I can’t believe I forgot the best part of the story!
This was a surprise Christmas gift from my Mom to my Dad. It was SO HARD keeping this one a secret! Not only was I excited about it, but I had to hide all evidence of a 36” ship in my studio! It was totally worth it though when he opened it on Christmas morning. I’m pretty sure we all got a little teary over this special quilt.
Quilt finished: December 22, 2021. Pattern drafted by me. I used the Millennium Falcon Foundation Paper Piecing pattern by Nicole at Sew Much Moore. Quilted with the Diagonal Plaid - Bias Cut pantograph by Patricia Ritter.