BEHIND THE QUILT
A TRIBUTE TO ZARAFA
“I can’t believe it’s been 35 years since I fell in love with a gorgeous glazed chintz fabric made by Pierre Frey. At the time, I was working for David and Annemarie Leather in their lovely interior shop, Inscape, and was drawn to the fabric’s beautiful blue colour and the adorable giraffes.
“More recently, I learnt about the interesting true story of Zarafa the giraffe, who was walked from Africa all the way to the Winter Gardens in Paris (my friend has promised to lend me the book soon and I look forward to finding out more). I have named my quilt ‘The Zarafa’ to honour the tale of this legendary giraffe.
“Furthermore, a couple of years ago, I included a beautiful strippy quilt belonging to Christopher Wilson-Tate and dating all the way back to 1860 in our summer exhibition, which ultimately inspired me to make this quilt.
“This is actually the second time I have used this fabric (which has been reproduced by Moda Fabrics). I previously made a strippy quilt for my goddaughter that she absolutely loved! Although this quilt may seem a little daunting – it really isn’t! You just need to make sure you measure everything carefully. I did all the embroidered stitching using the triple stitch on my Bernina. It’s a very basic stitch and saves a lot of time – I would never have finished the quilt if I’d done all the stitching by hand! In addition, I used a Sulky 30 thread.” – Jo Colwill
You will need
■ Cream pin-dots (background) – 1¼yds
■ Zarafa red spot (“fillets”, narrow border and appliqué) – 1¼yds
■ Zarafa cream dots (background) – 3⅓yds
■ Zarafa giraffe and flower striped print – 2¼yds
■ Blue linen
