Maps: London 1572

Looking at maps sets me to dreaming of adventures, so for this prompt I looked for one that epitomizes that feeling.  This one has beautiful soft colors, and so many details you feel like you could jump in and time travel.

Londinium feracissimi Angliae regni metropolis, 1572.

I found it in The Map Book, edited by Peter Barber, ISBN 0-8027-1474-9.  His credits are very small and abbreviated, so I think the original is at the British Library, but I haven't been able to find it online.

First I chose just part of the map where I really liked the shapes of the neighborhoods, and then I placed the Thames directly beneath them, editing away whole areas of the real London. And of course once I got working on it, very few of the shapes matched the originals.

I made big panels of scraps and then cut them into the shapes I needed.  Originally I thought about using textile paint over all to give a more antique feel, but I ended up liking the colors of the scraps and kept them as they were.

For the city areas, I outlined the shapes with piping and other trims; for the rural areas, I did free motion "scribbling" to evoke the hedges in the original map.  (I wish I had remembered the technique of mounting those shapes on black felt to create a nice outline.  Next time.)

Detail of the "neighborhoods."

The hardest decision for me was what to use for the border!  I tried so many things, but when I picked up this English ivy green fabric, I knew it was perfect.  Although the border kind of blends into my yard in this picture.

I could definitely go back in and free-motion stitch little cobbles in all the pathways, and stitch little boats in the Thames, and I could add some more shapes to the white space, but overall I do like this quilt.  It's got a sort of kids'-storybook vibe to it, I think. Looking at it reminds me of the time I spent perusing the original and enjoying all the details.