When you make a quilt, at some point you will have to consider the quilt binding. You may opt for an elaborate binding that makes an impact on the overall design, a simple and subtle binding, or no binding at all.
Last year about this time, I was inspired by a group dyeing adventure at the Interweave offices to host my own dyeing party at home.
The more closely I watch birds, the more fascinated I have become with trying to capture their colors and textures using fabric and stitchery. I have developed a design and sewing technique for "capturing the moment" in cloth and quilting stitches.
In The Art of Thread Sketching: Free Thread Drawing and Thread Painting Techniques, five quilt artists show you how to turn machine stitching into drawings with thread. Depending on the style and density of the stitching, thread sketching and thread painting can stand on its own or be combined with other techniques to give your quilt motifs dimension and life.
I'm an equal-opportunity fabric monger: I drool just as much over hand surface-designed fabrics. I gobble up every new technique and have even tried some fabric stamping, ice dyeing, resist dyeing, and fabric painting. I love it.
Dimensional flowers lend beauty and texture to a piece of fiber art, but they are not easily accomplished. When I saw Barb Forrister's demonstration of how to make realistic looking flowers with a combination of machine embroidery and surface design techniques, however, I was intrigued and wanted to share the process with you.
Here's a little exercise that gives you a chance to flex your mixed-media stitch muscles and produce a little piece of fabric art.
Last year when Pantone announced its Color of the Year—Tangerine Tango—I was a fan. I like cheerful, sunny colors, and this one hit the spot for me. I could see using it in different modes, from fabric to embroidery, to surface design techniques.
Usually when we hear the word shibori, we think of dyeing. Shibori dyeing come from the Japanese term for several methods of resist dyeing using binding or tying, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing it, or capping to create patterns.
When I returned to New England from QuiltCon in Austin, Texas, this week, I couldn't help but notice: it snowed again while I was gone. Yes, while I was in the climate-controlled comfort of the exhibit halls surrounded by colorful quilts--and quilters--Mother Nature had thrown another heavy blanket of snow over my region.
In the April/May issue of Quilting Arts I have an interview with artist Kate Themel, and I'm so excited by her painterly machine quilting and our conversation, I decided to give you a sneak peek.
I've been playing with screen printing for fiber art a lot lately, in preparation for a surprise the Quilting Arts team has in store for you. (Trust me, you will love it.)
Here's a way to practice your free-motion stitching skills and add a mixed-media element to your machine quilting. In honor of Valentine's Day, it's heart art from our sister publication Cloth Paper Scissors, one of my favorite sources of fiber art inspiration.
I've found that setting aside 15-20 minutes a day of "play time" works for me. Whether it is spent hand quilting, making a patchwork quilt for a friend, or spreading paints or inks on fabric in my studio for some surface design fun—it doesn't matter to me as long as I am tapping into my creativity.
Last week I shared a pillow project by Candy Glendening, noting how the simplicity of the design allowed her hand-dyed fabrics to take center stage. Today I thought give you some insight into Candy's fabric dyeing process.
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