This quilt was made for a retired 2-star USAF general who served our country for over 3 decades. Based on old movies, I knew pilots used to wear white scarves while flying but I never realized that in later years the squadrons and other units had scarves designed specifically for their organizations.
I was presented with a big box of aviator scarves. The vast majority were silk or a poly/silk blend. Two scarves from Guam were made from barkcloth. Most of the scarves had crests on the end with a repeating pattern in the middle. I ended up arranging the crests into blocks and bordering them with the middle sections. There were so many different pieces that I made a spreadsheet to keep things organized. There were 65 lines of 8 columns detailing color, direction, unit, size of deconstructed scarf, crest quantities, crest design, crest size, block assignment.
The polka dots were from the recipient's very first unit. This was more of bib than a scarf as the original garment was about 18 by 18 with a longer strip with snaps fastened at the back of the neck. Most of the scarves were long, thin rectangles.
The fabrics of the scarves were very slippery, stretchy, and thin. Some of the satin blends were shiny . I backed everything with fusible interfacing,
Two of the scarves were made from barkcloth. Not surprisingly these were both from Guam, as barkcloth originated in the Polynesian islands.
I really enjoyed the mathematical challenge of designing this quilt. Trying to incorporate as many of the different designs into a prescribed parameter while still being visually pleasing was a lot of fun.
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