Quiltmaking Classroom
Welcome to the Quiltmaking classroom. We’re probably best known for our quilts which have been exhibited all over the world and featured in numerous books and magazines. We love stitch and the format that a quilt offers, there’s so much exciting potential to work with!
Quiltmaking is a huge topic – piecing, appliqué, machine stitching, hand techniques, quilt construction, design, and that’s before we’ve even talked about cross over techniques such as embroidery, surface decoration techniques and fabric dyeing and painting. Phew!
To try to guide you through this exciting maze of creativity, we’ve divided the workshops into six main categories. Please explore and don’t forget how one technique and process often works beautifully with another. Lots of our quilts layer process and method and we’d encourage you to work that way too.
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Some detailed subject matter can be daunting to draw from scratch. In this workshop Linda will show you how it’s possible to use a subtle stamped shape as the base for your drawing. Take all the guesswork out of getting the shapes right and instead enjoy creating a design and drawing the details. Then building on the sketchbook work that Linda did using stamps and drawing, she demonstrates how it’s easily possible to translate those ideas to fabric to make a stitched piece.
Inspired by the stitch and repair notion of Boro and other textile traditions from around the world, Linda is constructing a textile using scraps and lots of hand stitching. To make the process her own, she’s chosen to needle-felt the fabrics making a strong fabric that’s a pleasure to stitch. In the second video see how she turns that fabric into a stylish and practical tote bag.
There’s much inspiration to be found in architectural sources. In this three part workshop join Linda to see how she worked from windows, grilles and other architectural features from a nearby church to create pages in her sketchbook filled with pattern and design information before interpreting the ideas into a stencilled and printed design on fabric.
Take inspiration from traditional patchwork designs to make a quilt with Laura. Instead of piecing the design, we’ll bring some contemporary style by hand printing the design to fabric before adding machine quilting to complete the project.
Learn how to add a decorative beaded edge to your bindings. This beautiful finishing touch is ideal for quilts, cushions, brooches and bags!
Don’t throw away those precious scraps, make them into beautiful embroidered brooches instead. They are quick to make and are perfect as gifts.
Inspiration is all around us, but we love to look to some of our favourite paintings to help guide our choices when selecting colours for our textile work. In this class Linda will show you how a colour scheme can be established by studying paintings and how she’s begun to select fabrics and embark on a new pieced quilt.
Learn about the different templates for English paper piecing and how you can easily make your own.
We love working with English Paper Piecing. Is it a technique that you’d like to know more about? In this article Linda answers lots of commonly asked questions.
See how Laura’s finished bookwrap for the Summer Stitch Along turned out!
It’s the final week of the Summer Stitch Along. It’s time to finish off the bookwrap, bind the edges and get it fitted onto your book!
Quilt the pieced area of your bookwrap using embellishments with either tufts or beads!
Laura’s starting hand quilting her book wrap, take a look at the threads she’s chosen and how the stitching is looking so far.
Laura’s moved on to the printing stage of the project. In this post see how she’s made her print block and blended her printing with the appliqué.
This week let’s do some stitching – we challenge you to quilt or embroider your bookwrap with two stitches of your choice.
See how Laura’s approached the appliqué stage of her bookwrap for the Stitch-Along.
Choose a shape and work it three ways! This week on the Stitch-Along we’ll be using English Paper Piecing, Applique and Print. Today, it’s time for the English Paper Piecing, so grab your thimble and let’s begin!
Linda’s freehand quilting a recent drawing on fabric made using Derwent Inktense pencils.
Choose a shape and work it three ways! This week on the Stitch-Along we’ll be using English Paper Piecing, Applique and Print. Today, it’s time for the English Paper Piecing, so grab your thimble and let’s begin!
Choose a shape and work it three ways! This week on the Stitch-Along we’ll be using English Paper Piecing, Applique and Print. Today, it’s time for the English Paper Piecing, so grab your thimble and let’s begin!
Join us for our free Summer Stitch-Along to make a fantastic bookwrap. Let’s get started with sorting some fabrics for the bookwrap. We’ve intended this project to be a scrap buster and we hope you’ll be able to source everything you need from your stash.
Join us for our free Summer Stitch-Along to make a fantastic bookwrap. It’s week two and Linda shows you her starting point and colour choices for her bookwrap.
Join us for our free Summer Stitch-Along to make a fantastic bookwrap. It’s week two and it’s time to establish a colour scheme for your project. See how we’ve started to find a collection of colours that work and follow our steps to do the same with your own inspirational source.
Join us for our free Summer Stitch-Along to make a fantastic bookwrap. It’s week one, time to choose the book you’ll be making your wrap cover for, take some measurements and make a pattern.
Read here to discover how Linda has started a quilt using scraps and a screen print she ‘found’ in her studio. A totally unplanned piece out of the blue.
See how Laura sews up the Broken Dishes piecing into cushion covers with a pompom trim.
Grids can provide you with an excellent basis for your quilting. Linda will show you how to quilt grids with a walking foot and shares her tips for success with this method. Next, with that grid in place, you’ll see how you can work within it using freehand quilting to add beautiful patterns.
Laura’s piecing her indigo fabrics with white to make Broken Dishes blocks.
Work along with Linda to make a fabric art diary. During the project she’ll demonstrate a wide variety of techniques you can use to record daily events and inspiration including stamping, stencilling, appliqué and drawing.
See how one of Laura’s samples from the recent Bonded Appliqué video workshop turned out.
Up-cycle quilted fabric to make beautiful vase wraps and wall pockets. These easy to create items make perfect gifts.
Discover how to sew geometric designs with English paper piecing. Laura guides you through the simple steps for this satisfying method of patchwork that works beautifully for piecing even small shapes with accuracy.
Join Linda to use stencilling techniques on fabric to create a beautiful floral wall quilt. She’ll show you how to use paint sticks such as Markal to stencil your design to fabric for a painterly effect. Next she’ll talk you through how to approach the stitching to add detail and interest. There are two workshops in this collection.
Learn how to create a circular opening that can be cleverly sewn into a patchwork project, think funky porthole that enables layering of colour with glimpses through to underneath layers, or a circular feature that can be added to a garment as a decorative or functional pocket. There is lots of creative potential with this fun method. There are three workshops in this collection.
Whether you’re new to patchwork or an avid piecer, we think you’ll find these three fast methods are essential. Learn how to quickly and efficiently sew some of the most useful blocks in patchwork and you’ll speed up your quiltmaking time no end! In this archive collection of three video workshops we’ll show you how to fast piece Half Square Triangles, Flying Geese and Tumbling Blocks with our favourite machine sewn methods.
In this archive collection of 2 video workshops join Laura to design and piece and quilt your own millefiore or mosaic patchwork. This project is beautifully intricate, but surprisingly easy to design and sew following Laura’s simple steps.
Work with Laura to create a Drunkard’s Path design using faux piecing. She’ll show you how to use your own hand dyed fabrics (maybe you dyed some using her Exchange Dyeing video workshop), but you can use any of your favourite fabrics from commercial cottons to hand painted cloth.
In this archive collection of 3 videos Linda demonstrates a wide variety of creative techniques using stencilling to produce beautiful and unique designs. She describes her favourite products and explains every step of the process to make a really attractive wallhanging. Finally she explains the hows and whys of completing the work with machine quilting. Linda proves that you can achieve lots of very different results using just one stencil. All of the techniques she includes could be used in many different projects.
In this collection of four videos you’ll discover some of the techniques Linda and Laura use to introduce fascinating texture, colour and pattern to their quilts. You’ll see how they use basic utility stitches on their sewing machines in innovative and unpredictable ways and how hand worked embroidery stitches can be used to bring exciting, painterly colour effects to an art quilt. Forget free motion machine quilting and simple running stitches for a while – this is an unmissable collection of creative ideas that will increase your repertoire of art quilting techniques!
Work along with Linda to sew a traditional Attic Window patchwork quilt with a twist! Add your own applique shapes, quilt and add details with acrylic painting. Along the way, take a look at her quilt Precious Things.
Don’t bin those greetings cards. Re-purpose them for English paper piecing.
Sort your fabric stash and get through those scraps!
Discover Kantha style quilting and make a beautiful decorative item for your home.
I’ve finished quilting my Fast Flying Geese and made them into a cushion.
We just love hand dyed fabrics, there’s no better way to create just the colours and colour combinations that we want for our work. In this video collection we’ll show you how to dye your own fabrics and then use them in painterly appliqué and patchwork projects.
Linda looks to the traditional textiles of the Banjara for inspiration. Join her to look at some examples and to study the colours, techniques and patterns of these decorative and heavily stitched cloths. Using them as inspiration, Linda demonstrates how you can start your own stitched cloth in the Banjara style.
In Archive 3 you’ll find a lively mix of some of the very first shows we taped for DMTV. Ranging from discharge printing, through altered books and free motion quilting, there’s lots to inspire.
Work along with Linda in this two-part workshop to create a fabric collage seascape.
I love to quilt by hand and have finally got a grip on using a hoop and a thimble. I don’t think there are any rules, this is just what works for me. For this quilt I’m using cotton poplin front and back. That’s perhaps not the best choice, poplin has a high thread count so it’s not the easiest …
A quick guide to how we hang our wall quilts.