Helix: a DNA paper piecing pattern!

I am, of course, fond of all of my quilts and quilt patterns, but you guys, I am really especially pleased with this one. Introducing Helix, a paper piecing pattern for wallhangings in two sizes featuring DNA, the fundamental molecule of life on Earth!

Helix

I have been thinking about a DNA quilt for a very long time—not long after I started thinking a lot about science quilts, which was not long after I started thinking a lot about quilts in general, but somehow it never got made. I got hung up on the curves and the thought that I needed to include curved piecing. I don’t mind curved piecing, but somehow the designs that I came up with always felt too stylized.

Enter Jackie Kunkel’s new collection of science-themed batiks, “Blinded by Science!” When she invited me to play with them, I knew that it was time for the DNA quilt of my dreams, and somehow this time I had paper piecing on the brain. It took a couple of tries to get these blocks just right, but in the end each twist of the DNA strand is one block so it’s easy to add or subtract blocks if the wallhangings aren’t your cup of tea (how about a bed or table runner?!).

Here are some gorgeous blocks by my testers, to show the possibilities of color!

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CMnc6GFnGye/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMZoDz8nTRR/

(By the way, keep an eye on Hartland Quilt Shop up above—they’ll be offering kits in two colorways!)

The pattern includes a bunch of extras: tips on fabric selection, an alternate piecing option for those of you who want to take the scientific accuracy to the next level and want paired base pairs, quilting templates, and more.

I felt like the only way I was going to be happy with my finished quilt was by quilting more DNA in the negative space, so I traced the blocks onto the quilt with a water-soluble fabric marker.

I filled around the DNA with pebbles and some squiggly lines, which I think always ends up looking really microscopic!

I hope you will try this pattern and will share your results! I’m super excited to enter this in a few quilt shows—online for now, of course, but hopefully in-person shows soon!

You can use code DNA10 to get 10% off through Sunday, April 4!