Patchworked Clothing - Bog Blouse jackets
I am not sure why or how I got into making Bog Blouse Jackets, also known as Picnic Kimonos. They are cut from one piece of 45 “wide channel-quilted fabric approximately 1 ½ yards long. There are only three cuts (other than the mandarin collar) in the fabric, and all edges are bound with bias tape. They are constructed without seams of any kind and are meant to be held together with series of carefully placed ties. According to my inspiration - Quilted Clothing by Jean Ray Laury, it was to be worn as a jacket to a picnic, taken off, untied, and used as the picnic blanket. My first jacket, with a printed quilt block design, followed the pattern requirements exactly. I later embroidered my name in the centers of the Album blocks.
Never content to leave well enough alone, I decided that I did not like the fourteen sets of hanging ties and decided to replace them with short jacket zippers that would open when necessary but stay hidden in the bias tape when the jacket was worn. The next trip to the fabric store turned up a quilted black calico fabric, so a red and black Chinese jacket was born. I used flaming red bias tape for the edges and four red zippers. I found four red Chinese frogs to be the closures. Having read Celtic Quilt Designs by Philomena Wiechec which used bias tape to create Celtic designs, I borrowed one of her large designs (#19) for the center back of the jacket and created four smaller designs for the sleeves and sides out of red bias tape.
You learn a lot about appliqué and working with bias tape with a project like this. I even purchased bias tape makers to fold my own bias tape from my own fabrics and not rely on packaged bias tape selections. I decided the jacket needed some pizzazz and added the white fabric under the bias in the back medallion to liven the jacket up.
This jacket gets a lot of attention whenever I wear it.
The Blue jacket is currently owned by the maker.
The Chinese jacket was acquired by the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in 2015.
Two of these jackets were made for my grandmother while she resided in a convalescent home, and they were buried with her when she died. {Who wants to be cold?}
Chinese Jacket Exhibitions & Prizes:
1983 – Mad River Fair –Second Prize
1985 – CT Agricultural Fair – First Prize and Best of Show
Magazine Pictures and/or Articles:
1984- Patchwork Patter August 1984, p 32-33 “Quilted Jacket’ and ‘Quilted Clothing Trends” – double article with B/W photos of red & black bog blouse jacket
Quilt World December 1984, p 20-21 ‘Quilted Men’s Clothing,” color pictures ofseveral Bog Blouse jackets and how-to article
1989 - Quilting Today October 1989, p 63 “Man with a Needle” autobiographical article that includes excellent B/W of author, color picture of red & black jacket
1991 – “Wonderful Wearables – A Celebration of Creative Clothing” by Virginia Avery, The American Quilters Society. The Chinese jacket appears in color on page 27.
