Quilter’s Name: Frances Kopp Krupka
Name of Pattern: Original Designs
Featured Date: 10-23-24
I live in northern MIchigan about half the year, and in Hawaii the other half. I have been sewing for well over 60 years, mostly as a clothing sewer. I discovered quilting in the mid-80’s.
I gained a local reputation as “the tie lady” when I created a dress from recycled silk neckties for the Bernina Fashion Show in 2003. My latest necktie effort is this wall quilt “Wild and Crazy 2: Still Life” (43″ x 53″). All the fabrics are recycled silk neckties. The background (photo with empty vase) is comprised of 3″ finished 9-patch blocks. The blocks were pieced by machine a few at a time over a period of several months until I had more than enough. The background was assembled and quilted first. Then the bouquet was designed on-the-fly and appliqued by hand.


I’ve been asked how long this took to complete. Since I know my original “Wild & Crazy” was completed in 2019, I probably started piecing 9-patches for #2 off and on in 2020 or 2021 and finished “Wild & Crazy 2: Still Life” in June of 2024, with the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show as my goal. The quilt was accepted into the show, though it won no prizes.

The original “Wild & Crazy” is a blazer-style jacket, with one of my own patterns as the base. That jacket took multiple months to complete, as I hand embroidered and beaded strips of solid-color silks between patches of silk neckties (all “J. Garcia” brand). This was juried into the Pacific International Quilt Fest, Wearable Art, in 2019.

I’ve also been asked about the difficulty of working with silk ties. Because they are cut on the bias and most are slippery besides, it can be a challenge. When I use them in patchwork, I stabilize each by fusing a very light-weight iron-on interfacing to the wrong side of the parts of the ties I want to use before I start cutting. The pieces are still a bit stretchy, but then are manageable. The ties I used for the leaves and flowers in the quilt were generally not stabilized to allow more flexibility, but all of the applique was done by hand. I have in the past tried doing my piecing to a muslin foundation, but that can be limiting.
For Wild & Crazy”, I stabilized parts of the ties (the “Wild”), then basted them to a muslin foundation and covered the raw edges with the strips of silk that I embellished Crazy quilt style. Each jacket part was made individually before assembling the jacket.
Not all ties have a full lining – in fact not many of them do. Unless I plan to use the tie as a whole piece, I don’t remove the lining carefully – I just cut it away so I can access the printed fabric that is the tie. The only parts I keep intact are the tips – they are perfect as prairie points or triangles and are already lined!
The dress for the Bernina Fashion show in 2003 was called “Black Tie Affair”. I was inspired by a photo of a Jean Paul Gaultier dress that appeared in the Style section of the London Times a couple of years before. When I got the invitation to design for the Bernina show, I scoured the local charity shops for black and white ties in good condition to fit the theme of “Fantasy”. I cut the ties to a shaped “gore” that used most of the ties. Part of the narrow end was cut off and used to make a small bag (including “prairie points”} to accompany the outfit. The photo is courtesy of Quilts, Inc. and Bernina.
What else can I tell you? I’m pondering ideas for the next tie quilt but am not committed enough yet to start. I am planning a sweatshirt jacket to recycle an old hoodie and will use recycled ties as the fabric.
Thank you!
Frances

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Speechless….I am. When I look at work like this, it reaffirms my amateur status. And inspires me as well. Such talent!
All I can say is WOW! Totally amazing.