Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint & Stitch
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About this ebook
Deborah Boschert
Deborah Boschert’s award-winning art quilts are shown in museums, quilt shows, and publications. She regularly shares her process in programs and workshops for quilt guilds and visual arts groups. Deborah and her family live outside of Dallas, Texas. deborahsstudio.com
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Reviews for Art Quilt Collage
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tremendously inspiring and non-prescriptive, full of all kinds of ideas for themes, composition, techniqques for printing, stamping, sewing. Great illustrations throughout.
Book preview
Art Quilt Collage - Deborah Boschert
Benjamin.
introduction
J ust recently I spent over an hour searching my studio for one specific piece of fabric. It was a short length of printed burlap from a beautiful Asian import store in Wiscasset, Maine; I remember splurging on it while visiting friends. Nine years later, I hadn’t used the fabric, but I knew it was tucked away in one of my drawers. I was forced to clean the floor of my studio closet in order to find the proper drawer, but when I found the burlap it was exactly as I remembered it. I was designing a new art quilt and the burlap was the perfect addition. The quilt is on my design wall, and I am loving what’s happening with the combination of fabrics, shapes, and stitching so far. Plus I am loving remembering that trip to Maine: coffee with my friends, the collection of treasures on the porch outside the shop, and the beautiful drive along the coast. (I am also loving the bonus of the newly cleaned studio closet!)
When you create artwork, you bring your whole self to the process. All your favorite colors and textures, your memories, and your experiences. The skills you’ve mastered and the skills you’re still working on. The materials you purchased just yesterday or years before.
After years of creating art quilts, I’ve settled into a process of building layers of design with fabric, paint, and stitching. It allows room for all those experiences and memories, plus favorite techniques and materials. I am delighted to share this process with you. It’s a formula for creating a captivating composition and then adding details with layers of paint and stitching. Along the way, you’ll make small and large changes. You’ll consider options for adding your own personal symbols and unique details. The formula is completely flexible and encourages you to find a way to create original work that you love.
SEE WHAT HAPPENS
Some of the chapters include short exercises called See What Happens.
This is the mantra I always bring into the studio with me. It suggests that every part of the creative process has potential for discovery.
Whether you are cutting, sketching, stitching, layering, stamping, painting, writing, or just exploring, the outcome of every creative effort is full of possibility. The end result may not become a great piece of art, but it may lead to a new idea that leads to the best work you’ve ever created!
After each of the See What Happens exercises, there are several questions to consider. The questions may point toward fresh possibilities. They can help identify what’s exciting and what’s drudgery—which is different for everyone. Your answers can point toward new ideas and take you to the next step in the creative process.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
We all approach reading a new book differently. Some sit down and read from cover to cover. Some flip through and look at the pictures for inspiration. Others jump around, picking and choosing what they want to do. What you do depends on your personality, and some of it depends on where you are on your art quilting journey.
Take a look at the list that follows and see how you might want to use this book.
■Read through the chapters to get a sense of the process of building a quilt with layers of fabric, paint, and stitching.
■Do the See What Happens exercises to ... well, see what happens.
■Review the supplies and materials needed for creating a layered art quilt. Maybe you need to visit a quilt shop or art supply store (not that you need an excuse to go shopping). Maybe you’ll just need to gather the supplies from your drawers and cabinets.
■Discover new ways to look for inspiration and learn how to apply it directly to your creative process.
■Study individual sections for the techniques that are most interesting to you, such as printing with found objects, new embroidery stitches, ideas for chopping up fabric, or creating texture with machine stitching.
■Put a sticky note on The Eight Design Guides and the Design Checklist so you can easily refer to them.
■Maybe even make a copy of the design checklist and put it up on your wall to refer to during your current creative endeavor.
■Check out Personal Symbols to explore the very personal possibility of including symbols in your artwork.
■Gather lots of tips for working with fusible web, including cleaning it off your iron (don’t tell me you’ve never gotten fusible on your iron; we all have).
■Learn techniques for finishing the edges of an art quilt.
■Check out innovative suggestions for titling your art quilts.
■Read through the five parts of the Practice Exercise to get a sense of the process of creating a layered art quilt.
■Create your own art quilt by working through the five-part Practice Exercise.
■Take bits and pieces and make them your own. The ideas and techniques in this book translate easily to mixed media and other types of fiber art.
■Keep it on the bookshelf to refer to later. I hope you’ll find new inspiration each time you open it.
■Share it with your friends.
supplies
Hibiscus, 12 x 12
This quilt includes commercial prints and fabrics, plus painting with stamps and stencils. It is stitched with both thread and embroidery floss using free-motion quilting and hand embroidery. A well- supplied studio ensures endless possibilities.
in this chapter
Learn about supplies for art quilts, including typical items such as fabric and thread, plus unexpected supplies such as sponges and spray bottles.
Begin to envision how layers of fabric, paint, and stitching come together to create an art quilt.
Consider when to use what you have and when to upgrade your supplies.
Remember that the most important tools are your imagination and the world around you.
A fter years of creating art quilts and developing my own personal style, I’ve found my favorite materials, tools, and techniques. They help me work efficiently and make the process enjoyable. (Enjoyable is important!) There are many ways to create art quilts, but the following are the supplies I use regularly.
When choosing and gathering supplies, don’t get overwhelmed. There are so many fabrics— with variations in color, pattern, quality, fiber content, price, and availability. It’s the same for paint, thread, embroidery floss, and every possible notion in the sewing aisle at the fabric store, not to mention all the options online. Don’t worry about it. Just go with what you have, or make the best, easiest choice, and then spend the rest of the time creating.
DON’T MELT YOUR FELT!
If you are using unusual materials such as organza, tulle, polyester felt or other delicate fabrics, be sure to test how they react to your iron. Some fibers melt or burn. Adjust your iron temperature accordingly and/or use a protective cloth over those fabrics when pressing.
FABRIC AND BATTING
Quilting cottons are great for art quilts. In addition to cotton, any fabric is fine as long as it’s interesting and fits the concept of the art quilt you’re creating. Sheer fabrics, upcycled clothing, vintage linens, lace, and home decorator fabrics are all possibilities.
For small art quilts, felt works great as batting. It’s stiff, firm, flat, and easy to stitch through. Wool-blend felt is lovely, but polyester felt is fine. For larger quilts, an 80/20-blend batting is a good choice. Hobbs makes my favorite battings.
developing your fabric stash
Art quilters have access to an enormous variety of fabric. A painter buys a tube of red paint and it’s just red; if a quilter needs red, she can choose from strips solids,