I love to paint on fabric!
I do everything from painting my own art quilts to teach five year olds how to paint their own design on a t-shirt.
But do I necessarily use the same fabric paint for every project?

Of course not!
There are lots of different fabric paints on the market these days.  You can find everything from inexpensive squeeze bottles of puffy paint to high-end designer paints that can cost more than a meal.  I recommend playing around with different products to see what you like the best.
And don’t forget that by mixing in a fabric paint or textile medium …read more

I’d like to share one of my favorite books from my own studio bookshelf with you today.
“Color Harmony for Quilts – A Quilt Makers Guide to Exploring Color” by Weeks Ringle & Bill Kerr is a fantastic addition to the fiber artist’s bookshelf.  It’s not an instruction manual, more of a guide to using colors more effectively in your quilts, either art or traditional.

The book begins with a discussion of basic color concepts like the color wheel, how color affects our perceptions and even how to find inspiration in the real world.
The authors use traditional and modern quilt blocks in …read more

There’s going to be an amazing exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England beginning next March!
They’re hosting a retrospective of 300 years of British quilts, from 1700 right up to the present day.

The exhibit will begin in March 20th,  2010, and continue through until July 4th, 2010.  They’re going to be showing quilts from their archives that have never been shown before.  You’ll have a chance to see heavily embroidered silk & velvet bed quilts from the 1700s, as well as some of the best in contemporary British art quilting.
There are 65 quilts in the show, divided …read more

Quilting Arts magazine has issued a new reader challenge – for their 2011 calendar!
The new calendar will feature the theme “Flavor of the Month” and they want you to use fiber art to express your creative take on the theme.

Think about the different “flavors” you could incorporate into your art quilt or mixed media artwork.  How would you express the crispness of snow?  What about the feel of autumn – apples, falling leaves – I can think of lots of flavors that could be used!  How would  summer taste – would you go for the salty tang of the beach …read more

Applique is a great way to add more images, motifs or even dimension to a piece of fiber art or a quilt.
Do you find all the different options confusing though?  Needle turn?  Raw edge?  Satin stitch?  What’s a fiber-aholic to do?
Each techique has it’s benefits (and disadvantages) and some of them work better for certain uses than others.  Is your project strictly art or for decorative use only?  Or is this something that’s going to get used well and washed frequently?

For instance, I’ve cut these cute little motifs out of another piece of fabric and want to applique them onto …read more

I started talking about recreating or interpreting textures from nature into fiber art yesterday, but due to a nasty storm system moving through – had to cut things short.
I’ve got two more photos to share today, and as long as today’s thunderstorm holds off – we’ll get to them!
I mentioned yesterday that one of my favorite creativity building exercises is to think about how I would interpret an image as fiber art.  What kind of fabric would I use?  Do I use mixed media or raw fiber elements?  How about machine or hand embroidery?

These leaves were covered in a soft …read more

The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (or AAQI) is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization that raises funds through fiber art.
They have two different projects on the go right now, the first is a traveling quilt show the acknowledges the impact of Alzheimer’s.  It’s currently touring through the USA until 2010.

The project is currently in the call for entries stage.  “Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts” is for quilts that measure 9″ by 12″ – a very do-able size!  The quilts will be auctioned off to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.  You can even donate multiple quilts to help the cause.
There are several rules that must …read more

Make Art Monday!
I got on a fabric kick recently, and took a couple of days to whip up some painted fabrics that I could use as backgrounds for other projects. Part of the fabric piece shown below ended up as a small beaded quilt.   For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some fabric painting techniques with you.  To get ready, gather up some plain muslin, acrylic paints (they don’t have to be fabric paints), sponges and brushes, and some stencils or stamps.  Tomorrow, we’ll look at how to paint fabric in a plastic bag!

Okay, fabric itself can’t rust, but you can use rusty metal to print on fabric – and get some really incredible effects.
The basic technique involves wetting the fabric either with water, vinegar (for a faster process) or a combination of both.  The wet fabric is used to wrap around rusting iron pieces, covered and then left to work.  Of course, the sky is the limit for what kind of effects you can get – think about all the different interesting metal shapes are out there!
Rust-Tex wants to encourage the use of rusted fabric in fiber art and has put together …read more

I’ve found that many mixed media artists become inspired to try art quilting, but do not have a traditional quilting background, thus, some of the basics of design, assembly, and finishing may be unknown to them.  If you’ve ever wanted to just dive in and start, this is a good book for you to check out.
The Quilting Arts Book
Patricia Bolton, editor
I really enjoyed reading through the collected articles in this book: the tagline is “Techniques and inspiration for creating one-of-a-kind quilts”, and this book is full of exactly that.  From composition to piecing, applique, embellishing, machine or hand stitching, The …read more