I like adding texture to quilts and this is one of my favourite 3D blocks. This block is quick and easy to make. How to make a Windmill cathedral window block Learn in 2 minutes: If you enjoy my vi…
Close up Block type: 4-patch Block size: 10 1/2 inches Colour scheme: reds, greens and neutrals Texture/fabric manipulation: Canadian smocking Cut: one 6 1/4 in red square one 6 1/4 in pale green s…
On Saturday I attended a workshop at Midsomer Quilting in Chilcompton. The session was run by Bini Mistri and the object of the day was to produce samples using different fabric manipulation techn…
Closeup This block requires hand sewing. Block type: log cabin Block size: 11 inches Colour scheme: reds and neutrals Texture/fabric manipulation: star gathering Quilt size: The finished quilt is 5…
95% Polyester 5% Spandex Fabric: Made from high-quality Polyester Spandex blend, this fabric is soft, durable, and easy to work with. It is perfect for sewing, quilting, crafting, and home décor projects. Houndstooth Pattern: The fabric features a classic houndstooth pattern in black and white checkers. It is timeless and versatile, making it suitable for a wide range of styles and designs. The digital images we display have the most accurate color possible. However, due to differences in computer monitors, there may be variations in color between the actual product and your screen Easy to Use: This fabric is easy to sew and manipulate, making it perfect for beginners and experienced sewers alike. It can be used for a variety of projects, such as dresses, skirts, pillowcases, and more. Versatile: Houndstooth fabric can be used for a variety of projects, including clothing, home décor, and accessories. It can be used as a standalone fabric or combined with other fabrics to create unique and stylish designs. Multiple yards will be shipped in one continuous piece. Fabric is shipped folded Due to color variation, colors ordered at different times will be from a different dye lot and may not match exactly in colors This houndstooth check fabric is a classic and timeless pattern that is perfect for a wide range of sewing, quilting, crafting, and home décor projects. The black and white checkerboard pattern is versatile and can be used to create a variety of stylish and sophisticated designs. The fabric is made from high-quality Spandex and polyester blend, which is durable, soft, and easy to work with. It is also machine washable and wrinkle-resistant, making it a great choice for projects that will be used frequently. Whether you are creating a dress, a pillowcase, or a tablecloth, this houndstooth check fabric is a great choice for adding a touch of sophistication and style to your project.
Create Stunning Results with More Complex Designs! Strips of fabric woven together were used to create the top for this mini quilt. It’s a fun technique that’s well worth learning, as it can be used many different ways. Part of the fun of the process is not knowing just what the final results will be …
Are you looking for ideas on how to manipulate fabric? In this tutorial I introduce a whole bunch of different types of tucks for you to choose from.
4-patch textured quilt Textured quilt You can buy the quilt tutorials in one single PDF document. The document contains a step by step instructions with colour photos in a 60+ page booklet each. F…
This week we were using acrylic paint on fabric to create different effects. We started by stippling some calico with a dry brush using 2 colours - blue and yellow in my case, resulting in lots of green and looking like a flowery meadow! Then we moved on to using a diffuser and thin paint to give an effect like airbrushing, holding a piece of ripped paper in front of the fabric to act as a mask so that some parts stayed white. Then we moved on to a way of making monoprints on glass. We put blobs of paint on a sheet of glass. Some of the paint was special acrylic interference paint that produces a shimmery effect when printed. We then put another sheet of glass in top and pressed hard and twisted the glass to get the paint to mix at the edges. When the sheets of glass are prised apart, you get feathery patterns in the paint. We places pieces of fabric on, pressed lightly and printed off the image. These are some of the prints I made from 2 different attempts. As with all these things, it is the choice of colours that is most important for a pleasing result. The paint dries quite quickly but it can be easily scrubbed off the glass to do further prints. I then chose one of my prints to quilt. I made a sandwich with the printed fabric, cotton wadding and calico. Then I sewed round the edge of the feathery edges using free-machining to produce the quilted effect. It took a long time to do all the 'fingers' of paint but the final piece is very appealing. Next we had to choose another print and try out a quilting technique called Trapunto. Here you have the printed fabric and a backing fabric and outline your shapes. I chose a more 'blobby' print and outlined the islands of colour using free-machining again. Then you stuff selected blobs from the back with wadding. This shows part of the back of it. You cut a slit with sharp scissors, poke the wadding in with a bodkin and then sew the slit back up with herringbone stitch. I don't know if I have over-stuffed mine as the final piece is now quite wrinkled. Another learning point is not to use this kind of furnishing fabric as a backing fabric again as it seemed very hard to sew using free-machining - the needle seemed to get caught in the jacquard pattern. I have been working on my manipulated calico sampler this week too. Once I had decided what size to go for (about 32cm square) and laid out the pieces I had already made I didn't have that much more to do. I have still got to mount it onto card, which is why the corners are still hanging out. The end result is going to be quite impressive. The techniques used are (clockwise from top left): Furrowing (see post from Week 13) Pleating Stuffed pyramid Fabric strips folded alternately like a paper jack-in-a-box spring Frayed edge strips gathered and sewn in rows Selvedge strip gathered to form a rose Random tucks sewn horizontally and vertically Stuffed sausage shape decorated with a strip of gathered frayed fabric Frayed strip gathered to form a rose Circle gathered round a piece of card and topped with another one and a frayed gathered strip Various circles gathered and stuffed, the large one quilted through in places Thin strips pulled through a square of Binca fabric (in centre of sausage circle) Thick wool wrapped in calico Strips of folded fabric woven Raw edge circles gathered and pulled up, large one round card and small one stuffed Fabric gathered by hand in both directions, ruched up and sewn down round the edge only Fabric gathered round chick peas 2 circles gathered up round card, one with snipped edge and one with turned edge Various fabric 'nipples' made by sewing a running stitch in a spiral and pulling up Evenly spaced tucks pressed and then sewn across at right-angles in alternate directions Today is it my daughter's 16th birthday so I wanted to make her a special card. I chose co-ordinating papers and decorated them in various ways, dragging the edges across a black ink pad to give a vintage look. I was very pleased to find a sheet of paper featuring a rabbit that looks similar to hers, except for the colour! I also made a Valentine's Day card for my husband using a square of red heart plastic bag behind a silver Angelina fibre heart, topped off with a red heart cut from a Quality Street wrapper! The hearts are suspended across the window on very thin wire wrapped round tiny red brads. It looked really good for not much effort and lots of recycling!
Learn unique techniques that will enhance your next quilt! These vintage sewing techniques will raise the surface of your quilt and truly impress. We’ll learn heirloom smocking techniques, t…
Learn how to sew this patchwork heart baby quilt pattern.
This is a quilt series inspired by tree bark. Each quilt represents a differnt type of tree bark. Click through to see which one you like.
A Textile Designers guide to the art of Fabric Manipulation to use in simple craft projects
Have you wondered how to square up fabric for sewing projects? This is an important step you don't want to skip before cutting. This tutorial will show you different ways to square up fabric.
The main thing I want to make in 2015 is quilts - lots of quilts. I've started the year right with our national Quilt Symposium that's been right here in Palmerston North. I am full up with inspiration and thought I'd share some of it here with you over a few posts. First up, I attended some great lectures. The artists I saw are all very talented in quite different ways and I took something away from hearing each one. I have provided links to their sites and photos of the quilt they had in the tutors' exhibition :: Sue Benner creates original dyed and painted fabrics which she combines with recycled textiles. She fuses and then cuts her fabrics to create detailed quilts. Her quilt on show was one of her cellular structures : click on any photo in this post to make it larger "Cellular Structure V" by Sue Benner She shared some of her landscape quilts in her talk - tiny detailed pieces and wonderful colour - see her gallery HERE. Betty Busby works with all kinds of fabrics and uses a layered approach to her work. It was really interesting to see her work inspired by the natural world through a microscope in contrast to Sue Benner's work above - go HERE to see her gallery of that work. Her tutor's exhibition quilt was one of her waterscapes - see similar work HERE. But what I'm sharing is a piece from one of the other exhibitions in town since I far prefer flowers to fish : "Buffalo Gourd" by Betty Busby Linda Beach creates all her quilts with piecing and commercial fabrics. It was fascinating to see her take on landscapes in contrast to Sue Benner above. "Evening Wall Shadows" by Linda Beach Go HERE for her gallery of quilts which includes many trees and lots of colour - the one above is much more muted than most of her pieces. Helen Godden is an Australian quilter. Her work is predominantly pictorial, with strong design and colour. Lots of free motion quilting is a feature of her work. "Rainbow Lorikeet" by Helen Godden Click HERE to see her gallery of art quilts. Here are a few of my favourites from the Tutor's exhibition which might inspire quilts from me this year : Sheena Norquay's lovely quilt pair inspires me to make a seascape quilt : "Summer and Winter island strips with oystercatchers" by Sheena Norquay Jo Dixey is a New Zealand quilter - I love the way she uses fabric. It was hard to get a good angle of this quilt because it is quite large, so see it and more of her work in her gallery HERE. "Watching" by Jo Dixey I think I might have to make 1 abstract quilt this year - I just love the colour and composition of this one by Deborah Louie from Australia. "Medallion #8" by Deborah Louie I am very lucky that at the end of January I'll be spending 2 days with Karen Stone - love her work and a good way to start the year with fabric and colour design ideas. This is her tutor's quilt, but not one of the classes I will be doing. "Reptile wisdom" by Karen K. Stone I particularly love the circles in the border There will be more posts about Symposium so I can share other exhibition quilts. I also shopped!...More soon.
April 2024
Are you looking for ideas on how to manipulate fabric? In this tutorial I introduce a whole bunch of different types of tucks for you to choose from.
How to sew Trapunto and shadow trapunto quilts-tutorials, tips and tricks and 3 free designs.
Chapter Eight requires that five paper relief surfaces made for Chapter 3 are each translated into two different ways in fabric . For an ...
I found a vintage jacket at the thrift shop recently with this great trim, and decided that I wanted to figure out how to do it.
Ready for another packed day of stitching and fabric manipulation?? OK! Here we go! I'm grateful to Wil for all her contribution to this ...
Make a Big Impression with This Beautiful Quilt! This pattern is very popular and it’s easy to see why. The finished quilt is simply stunning, no matter what colors you choose. Plus, it’s a joy to make. Construction is much easier than it looks. The quilt pattern was brought to our attention by visitors to …
One of my samples based on Ruth's book One of my greatest pleasures in life, alongside art, is reading. Books have always played an important role in my life and I doubt there has been a day in almost 40 years when I haven’t had at least one book on the go. Actually these days I’m finding it harder and harder to finish books, so I think I currently have about ten on the go... Part of the joy of having children has been re-reading my old favourites with them and discovering new ones written more recently. As a child, my dream job was to be a second-hand bookshop owner or a librarian, but somewhere that got lost along the route and I became an accountant and finally a very happy artist. I wouldn’t swap my job now! Given I read so many books on art and textiles and occasionally, technique, I thought I would share some with you on this blog now and again. I hope you like my choices and if you have any others you think I should be reading, do let me know – I always love hearing about good books! Fabric Manipulation, 150 creative sewing techniques by Ruth Singer This book is only just out, published by David and Charles. It is amazingly comprehensive, dividing techniques into ‘Pleat & Fold’, ‘Stitch & Gather’ and ‘Apply & Layer’, along with a basic introduction to fabric, threads, tools and stitch techniques. Ruth encourages readers to experiment and make the techniques their own. Although there are some small projects in the book, its aim is definitely to impart some of Ruth’s huge technical ability to start readers on their fabric manipulation journey. That implies it is a book for beginners, it is, but there is also lots for more experienced stitchers as there cannot be many people with all these techniques in their repertoire. Many of the techniques come with ideas for further experimentation. In her samples, some have drawn illustrations to show how to make them as well as photographs and Ruth also gives advice of the fabrics she has used and what she thinks works well for that particular technique. Another of my samples using folding techniques from the book I had fun making some samples based on the book and it is also good for reminding you of things you have tried in the past but have forgotten. It is certainly a book I will return to many times, which, in my view, makes it a very good book indeed. Ruth runs workshops in Leicester and around the country and exhibits her work across the world. I think it is only fair to say that I have known Ruth for a number of years and it has been a great joy to watch her work develop and take off. She is a very hard working and talented stitch artist and teacher. But even if I didn’t know her, this book would be high on my wish list as it is so comprehensive.
Learn how to sew this patchwork heart baby quilt pattern.
While Graham worked on the chicken coop this weekend and the girls insisted on being indoors, I stared at their unfinished quilts looming on my sewing table. I need to get started on the third
This is the 12th in our series of staff project posts created for the Spoonflower Staff Quilt Challenge. Danielle, Kim and I (Kate) weren’t really sure where to start with […]
Block type: log cabin Block size: 11 inches Colour scheme: reds and neutrals Texture/fabric manipulation: cross tucking Quilt size: The finished quilt is 52 ½ x 52 ½. Needs: one 10 in x 10 in squar…
Learn four simple methods forto created textured fabric for your quilt
In an unprecedented act of blogging fanciness I decided to make a video documenting how I create the woodgrain texture (so thoroughly p...
After stumbling into a passion for painted cheesecloth for use in her art quilts, Julie Booth became hooked in just making the colorful stuff.
Learn how to make a quilt using cheesecloth fabric. Heather Thomas shows you how and gives you tips for finding, preparing and working with this fabric.
Follow along and learn how to manipulate color to create optical illusions in your quilts with fabric choices with MJ Kinman.
Quilt Sunday the workroom Toronto, ON February 23, 2014
