How to Make an A.P.C. Quilt
From quilted cat cushions to pillows and iPhone cases, this month A.P.C. and collaborative designer Jessica Ogden are expanding the label’s signature line of quilts to include accessories and collectibles. The limited edition accessories and a select re-issue of existing quilt designs are part of an exhibit and for sale exclusively at the West 4th Street store in New York.
“It’s looking back at tradition,” Ogden tell us of the collaboration. “It’s very handcraft-inspired and pushes me to use things that I wouldn’t normally necessarily just pick up.”
Throughout A.P.C.’s nearly 30-year existence, the brand designed its own original fabrics, never using shelf-ready materials. This detailed process resulted in the clothing we have come to love, but also in the build up of one of a kind materials on warehouse floors. In 2010, A.P.C. Founder and Creative Director Jean Touitou found a solution: turn the excess into quilts. Thus, every year since then we have seen limited edition A.P.C. quilts. Although this month’s small exhibit honors A.P.C. quilt history while simultaneously expanding it, Ogden explains that designing the featured items was no easy feat.
“I’m working with 150-200 fabrics. It’s really diverse, [but] you’re working with what you have. It’s not me ordering fabrics,” she says. “It becomes a bit complex. When I draw, I’m in quite a zone because it starts to get really technical.”
Recreating the 20 original quilt designs in miniature versions of themselves required strict attention to detail and careful calculations to maintain proportions and properly use what fabric rations remained. But hanging in wooden frames throughout the store, the cat-sized quilts—and of course quilted accessories—beg us to take them home. As Ogden says with a laugh, “It was incredible. I’m obsessed.”
