May/June 2018 - Issue 167
Containing a wealth of inspiration for any textile artist, Small Art Quilts shows you how to create gorgeous textured pieces of textile art.
Using colour and an intriguing mix of surface techniques, layers, piecing, and simple stitching, Deborah O'Hare's beautiful small art quilts capture the magic of her themes and subjects. In her unusual, whimsical interpretations of nature and the landscape, she builds up torn and cut layers of coloured cloth with stitch to create beautiful works of textile art. With her fresh, innovative approach, Deborah provides inspiration and step-by-step instruction on all the techniques she uses and shows the reader how to create moonlit scenes, seas, flowers, meadows, mountains, moors, animals, and birds.
* Be Creative With Workbox *
Quilts can involve more than sewing fabric sandwiches. According to South Wales-based artist O'Hare, one of the more versatile and artistic methods is to create a picturelike textile, using plain-Jane white cotton sheets as the foundation and embellishing them with paint, embroidery, and other stitchery techniques. There's no guesswork involved; O'Hare is deliberate about her methods, often using step-by-step color photographs and captions to lead practitioners through the specific how-to's. She covers the simple stuff, beginning with preparing paint and mixing colors, and moves to more complicated tactics, such as crafting landscapes using rotary-cut fabrics and applying applique and decorative stitches. Almost every page highlights at least one of her small creations (each about 17 by 17 centimeters), adding real results to what can sometimes seem like stand-alone instructions. All directions and tips come together in the two included projects, Autumn Sunlight and Moon Hare, followed by seven pages of templates. When straight stitches take on an aesthetic all their own
-- Barbara Jacobs * Booklist *
This is the newest title in the inspiring Textile Artist series. Introductory chapters covering materials and equipment are followed by very detailed explanations of colour theory and many ideas on how to apply various colour mediums to a range of different fabrics. Deborah then presents highly detailed step-by-step instructions and suggestions covering a multitude of different techniques, including the embellishing and finishing processes, enabling the reader to create her own small quilt. An exciting and inspiring book, bursting with beautiful colour photographs of Deborah's work, suitable for both those new to the craft and also the more experienced quilter.
-- Embroiderers Guild * Embroiderers Guild *
This book is ideal for those looking to make their own art quilts, giving you the skills you need to create your own designs plus a couple of projects to practice with building your confidence and skills. It is bursting with ideas, inspiration and useful advice. I'm looking forward to creating my first art quilt.
-- Fiona Pullen * The Sewing Directory *
Subtitled 'Explorations in Paint & Stitch', this book explores the flourishing textile art quilt movement. This is 'art quilt' as in creating pictures on fabric and using wadding as a sandwich, not the Art Quilt Movement that uses quilting to make a statement. It explains techniques by hand and machine to guide you through the process. Step-by-step instructions reveal the techniques offering guidance for every level of skill. Close-up photography shows the detail wonderfully. Find out all about the materials for art quilting, inspiration, using photos, design, colour, painting on fabric and creating small art quilts then embellishing them. Finishing techniques and some templates are included. Another good addition to the Textile Artist series.
-- Karen Platt * www.karenplatt.co.uk *
The book covers each topic in turn in the order you would need them to make the quilt, from painting your background to binding and hanging your quilt. There are also useful sections on sources of inspiration and colour to help you plan your quilt before you start to make it. Each of the techniques are well explained and come with plenty of photos to help guide you.
This book is ideal for those looking to make their own art quilts, giving you the skills you need to create your own designs plus a couple of projects to practice with building your confidence and skills. It is bursting with ideas, inspiration and useful advice. I'm looking forward to creating my first art quilt.
-- Fiona Pullen * The Sewing Directory *
We love the concept of this book which illustrates how instead of creating large quilts you apply the same principles to smaller projects. There are beautiful examples of quilts of all shapes, colours and sizes, and detailed guidance on how to create and embellish your own quilt.
-- Hot Brands, Cool Places Magazine * Hot Brands, Cool Places Magazine *
April 2018
Texture is at the heart of this charming book. Whether it's creating texture through paint techniques or by cutting and layering pieces of cloth to produce an inspiring piece of textile art, Deborah's book will be your perfect guide. Culminating in two stunning design projects: Autumn Sunrise and Moon Hare, you'll learn plenty along the way from gathering ideas for your designs, selecting colours and using paints, to adding focal points and decorative stitching and embellishments to your finished piece. Creating small quilts offers the opportunity for experimentation and Deborah often uses her small quilt adventures as a way of trying out new techniques or products before committing to large-scale projects. A sizable section of the book focuses on painting onto fabric and is what sets this book apart from others on art quilting. Deborah's other main area of interest is the natural world and many of her inspirations take in landscapes and wildlife in particular. At 144 pages long, this is a book that's jam-packed with technique and inspiration and offers layer upon layer of new skills.
* Popular Patchwork *
This book is part of 'The Textile Artist', an excellent series by Search Press. It would be ideal for a newcomer with its clear instructions and well thought through projects. The author also makes the design process look straightforward with her ideas on using photographs to make small, pleasing quilts. She also shows completed quilts and discusses their design elements.
Colour is well explained through an example of two identical quilts but with very different colour schemes. Simple but effective fabric colouring techniques would inspire confidence while the section on art cloths adds sophistication without becoming too technical.
Piecing, Quilting, Whole Cloth and themed quilts are shown in detail and I liked the section on display and finish. Templates are included for two projects, along with step-by-step instructions. The 'Moon Hare' is particularly appealing and could be used for many applications when mastered.
All in all, a great book for beginners but with plenty for those needing ideas for adding a bit of 'oomph' to their work, whatever their skill level.
* Workshop on the Web *
