Sunny Solfest!

3x3m Backdrop

Along with my friend and colleague Helen Tuck I was asked to make a stage backdrop and 12 music stand covers for Solfest this year. It sounded like a fun project so we said yes. Unfortunately due to timing and fabric issues it ended up being a little more stressful then we intended but it was still a lot of fun. We spent Sunday, along with the lovely Susan, dying and colouring the fabric, Monday I spent screen printing with a couple of the guys we support at The Heathlands Project and then Helen, Susan and I spent last night and today pinning and sewing like demons to get the backdrop finished. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. It's one of those rare projects where I've had a vision of how something is going to look and it's actually turned out that way. If I say so myself it's rather marvellous. So, if you're at Solfest this weekend keep an eye out for all our hard work!

Dyed Fabrics

Screen printed logo

Pinning the first piece. We projected the image onto the cloth so we knew where to pin!

Building up the layers

Detail

Almost there...

Pinning at height

Fully pinned and partially sewn!

Detail of finished banner

Magik Quilt 2012 Complete!

The finished Quilt

I'm so proud of my textile group at The Heathlands Project for all the work they've put into this years quilt. It's fantastic to see how far they've come, their level of skill and patience has improved dramatically over the last year and we've produced a really beautiful piece of work. The quilt has been a great opportunity for me to teach lots of different textile processes and I'm really impressed with the finished project. A special thank you to Susan for all her help sewing all the patches together!

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Method of quilting-Cross stitches

Stitch detail

Star stitch detail

Stitch detail

Magik Quilt 2012

Some of the patches

Last year I made a quilt with my textiles group at The Heathlands Project. It was a really great project but very hard work and quite stressful for me so I when I asked the group earlier in the year if they wanted to do the Festival of Quilts again or if they wanted a break for a year I was kind of hoping they'd say have a break! However, they didn't. They were adamant that they wanted to make another quilt so since March we have been working away on a patchwork quilt. Our theme is 'Magik' and I have taught tie-dye, batik, block printing and hand embroidery. Because we chose to make a patchwork quilt this year we wanted to make sure that even though each patch would be made by different individuals the quilt would still work as a whole so we chose a limited colour scheme of blue, purple and green. We tie-dyed our base fabric these colours and then made print blocks which we used to print on top of the tie dye. We've then used hand stitch to complete the patches.

Adding stitch to dyed and printed fabric

It is all starting to come together now and I'm really proud of all my students, they've produced some fantastic work and it's great to see the progression and improvement since last year. We're currently finishing the last few patches and starting to get it all sewn up, then it will be down to me to construct it and get the quilting done!

Learning to couch

Block print with embroidery and sequins

Block print and hand stitch

Work in progress

More patches