One of the elements of the art quilt that has always been an issue for me is the edge finishing.  Personally, I don’t usually like borders or bindings, although I do use them on certain pieces where they look right.  So over the years I have experimented with several methods of finishing the edges of my work, most of which you are probably already familiar with but this might just get you to focus on how you are currently finishing your pieces and if that is the best way for you.

1.  The binding: 

This is a quilt classic, and makes a nice clean edge on a quilt, whether traditional or art.  It serves a secondary function of protecting the edges from wear, important for a traditional quilt, maybe not so much for an art quilt.  The binding can be a contrasting “frame” for the work like this one:

or it can be pieced so that it blends in with the quilt edges:

Pros:  looks clean and neat; attached after quilting so it allows for squaring up.

Cons:  I only like the way it looks when handsewn to the back, which is time consuming; draws attention to the edges.

2.  The pillowcase back

This one is the right sides together, sew around the edges and flip it right side out method.  I add an additional step, when creating the back I use a strip at the top which is sewn to the rest of the back leaving an opening of about 5″ in the center.  This way I can sew all the way around the edges and use that opening to flip it, making cleaner edges and avoiding that step of closing up a small section of the edge by hand.  This opening is covered by the rod pocket and all that is visible is a small seam on either side of the rod pocket–worth it.

Pros:  clean and neat, no handsewing

Cons: must be done before the quilting, which means a lot of quilt stitching on the surface may distort the entire quilt.

3.  The Facing:

A facing is essentially no different from a binding except that it is pulled all the way to the back and hand sewn, leaving nothing visible on the front.  This allows for quilting before finishing, but still allows for squaring off if distortion occurs.

from the front this looks just like a pillowcase back…

from the back it falls flat and the corners are mitered.  Some people do a facing using a piece of fabric as large as the quilt, sew around the edges like a pillowcase, cut out part of the interior, flip to the back and secure by hand.  In my opinion, a huge waste of fabric.

Pros:  finished edge which can be done after quilting

Cons: the edges are a bit thick and require steam pressing to lie nice and flat.  Still needs to be hand finished.

4.  The zig zag edge:

I use this one a lot.  After quilting, the edges are cut with a rotary ruler and rotary cutter so they are nice and crisp.  A clear thread in the upper part of the machine and a white (or color that matches your quilt back) in the bobbin, a zig zag stitch around all edges and you are done.

Pros:  fast, no fuss, easy for irregular shaped edges.

Cons:  all my quilts with this sort of edge require “haircuts” before they ship to shows.  Little threads start to fray at the edges.  I don’t mind this, it is fabric, after all.  But some people don’t care for fray.

5.  Canvas stretchers:

In this method (don’t have a photo to show you) the quilt top is made about four inches wider on each side and pulled over canvas stretchers.  These stretchers come in various sizes from art supply stores, and are pretty cheap.  Buy every size in pairs, and keep several sizes on hand.  Pull the fabric to the back and staple, carefully pulling it opposing directions to prevent distortion and stapling to hold it firm.  The corners of the back are folded and mitered before stapling.

Pros:  More art-like finish

Cons: Takes a while to get used to doing the corners correctly.

6.  Fold and attach before stretching:

This is the method I have been using for the past several months now, I like the way it looks and it isn’t too fussy or labor intensive.  When I do my quilt stitching, I have batting on the back but no backing fabric.  The batting is cut to exactly the finished size and the top is cut to about an inch extra all the way around.  Before I begin to quilt, I carefully fold the top over the edges of the batting, leaving a nice clean folded edge.  When I do the quilting, this edge is secured and that is the finished edge.

In this particular case (as is often what I do lately) the folded edged quilt is placed onto another fabric and stitched on using a clear thread and blanket stitch.  The backing fabric is then stretched over canvas stretchers.

Pros:  Nice clean edge without much fuss; stretchers make a clean, more art-like finish.

Cons:  Sometimes just folding it under and getting it flat is harder than it would seem it should be; stitching shows when attached to backing fabric.

Just a few things to think about.  How are you finishing your quilt edges?  Are you happy with it?  Remember, there are no rules, this is the art world now, not the quilt world.

For those of you in the area of Alexandra,  Louisiana, the SAQA Sightlines Exhibition will be on view until February 25.  Come see my piece, Traveling Companions on Life’s Journey, and the other thirteen fabulous installations in this exhibition:

Alexandria Museum of Art

Museum Hours:

Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-4pm

FOOTBALL NOT YOUR THING?

Come join the staff at The Nimble Thimble on Super Ball Sunday, February 5th at 2:00 pm

for wine and cheese and a trunk show of my work from all three books.

19 Putnam Ave, Port Chester, NY

Come see the work, hear about my process and ask questions.

Books will be available and, of course, I will be happy to autograph a book for you.

I will also answer any questions you may have about upcoming classes at The Nimble Thimble.

I am sure it will be a most enjoyable afternoon.

And if you are into football, you will still be home in time to see the Giants win!

Please RSVP with the Nimble Thimble by Feb. 3 at 914-934-2934.

The store will be open that afternoon for your shopping convenience.

DON’T FORGET TO RSVP SO YOU WON’T BE LEFT OUT OF THIS FUN AFTERNOON.  Space is limited.

Hope to see you there.

Ellen Linder made a great comment on yesterday’s blog post about size and scale–that the size you work is also either aided or hindered by the print scale of the fabrics you use.

If you have a lot of small scale prints in your stash, working large will make all those little patterns look dinky and boring.  However, on the other hand, if you have lots of very large scale prints in your stash, working small will be very frustrating.  It is great to be able to fussy cut an area from a large scale fabric to do just what you need, but if you wanted the pattern or implied texture to show, you may miss out if you work too small.

Look at the print scale in these works:

this is a relatively large piece (for me, anyway) which means the scale of the prints is rather small.  Make particular note of the turquoise print at the edge of the vessel….

the same fabric looks like a larger scale in chairs of this smaller piece.

What about the black and white floral fabric in the center of this drum, in a closeup from a larger piece:

here it is again in the tree bark:

or the black and white fabric behind her face

and the same fabric as the sidewalk in a larger piece

and keep in mind I never work too large, imagine the scale of these prints in a piece four times the size.

Thanks for the excellent point, Ellen!

I had a wonderful surprise this morning, when my copy of The Best of Quilting Arts, your ultimate resource for art quilt techniques and inspiration arrived on my doorstep.

Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts Magazine has put together a really wonderful collection of art quilt techniques that cover everything from the basics to surface design, people and animals, recycled and natural materials, embellishment and mixed media.  It is a beautiful book and I am thrilled to say that my chapter on “creating figures in fabric” is included–as well as my piece Twilight Time as the opening to the section on people.

Just like the magazine, every section includes easy to follow instructions.  A great comprehensive guide to all things art quilt!

Buy The Best of Quilting Arts from Amazon

Apparently, every now and then Amazon deeply discounts a book for an unspecified period of time.  Right now they are offering my second book, Photo-inspired Art Quilts for only $12.00.  That includes the book and the instructional DVD.  This is less than half the cover price!  Buy Photo-inspired Art Quilts for only $12.00 here.

If you are not familiar with this book, it outlines my techniques for creating an art quilt from a photograph.  I share all my working methods, from choosing a photo and cropping for more impact, creating a full scale pattern and how to use that pattern to create a fabric collage that is sewn together using raw edge machine applique.  The book contains lots of information on  fabric choice, the importance of color and value, and finishing techniques.

Nancy Zieman (you may know her from her long running PBS series “Sewing with Nancy”) hosts the accompanying DVD, which has video of me at work, and shows lots of my pieces pictured in the book.

So if you have been waiting to buy this book for yourself, or want to purchase it as a gift this holiday season, take advantage of this very special price.  I have no idea how long it will last, so don’t wait!

Buy Photo-inspired Art Quilts for only $12.00 here.

If you have visited this blog or site in the past few days, you will have noticed a change in both the look and the content.  I have made the books page more concise and provided links to Amazon for the purchase of books; I have expanded the information about workshops, and added a page currently called voice coaching which is for those of you who want assistance in developing a consistent and cohesive body of work.  Please look over the site and let me know what you think.

The gallery pages are still in work, and in the next few days will include all my new work from 2011.  I hope you like the changes and will visit the blog and site often.

As discussed in a recent post, color can be used to direct the viewer to focus on a certain part of your composition.  Color can also effectively set a mood.

Every color has a personality, can establish a mood, and can conjure certain emotions.  This is true not just for quilts, but for clothing, home decorating, and advertising–anywhere color is used.  The world is filled with colors, and each and every one of them elicits a feeling in humans.  We are all drawn to certain colors because of the way they make us feel.

Every color has a temperature.  Blues and greens are cool colors, they conjure up feelings of tranquility–of water and grass and the serenity of nature.  They will establish a mood that is calm and restful.

Reds and oranges, on the other hand, are warm colors–passionate, the color of fire; hot and exciting.  Yellow is the color of sunshine, the more orange is added to the yellow, the hotter the color temperature.  A quilt in these colors will be bold and energizing.

Purple, being made of both a warm and cool color can swing both ways.  If the composition of the purple is 50% red and 50% blue, it will serve equally well as either a warm or cool color.  But shift the percentages and it will lean in one direction–a bluer purple (more blue in the mix) is cooler, a warmer purple (more red in the mix) is warmer.

Using white will make other colors in your quilt look crisp and clear; black will intensify the colors around it, and beige make your quilt romantic and feminine–and will work better with grayer colors–like dusty rose, lilac and soft sage green.

The other component is saturation.  Saturation is like dye–if you put a piece of white fabric into blue dye for only a few minutes, the resulting color will be a nice light blue.  Leave it in a long time and you get a deep rich blue–or a color that is highly saturated.  Saturation is different from value, it is the intensity of color.

If you add white to a saturated color, it gets lighter.  Add black and it gets darker.  Add both white and black and the color becomes “dusty” or grayer.  The grayer a color becomes; the less saturation it has.

For juvenile quilts, primary colors are simple and straightforward.  Using highly saturated red, yellow and blue with the addition of complementary green, orange and purple will result in a quilt with lots of energy and visual excitement.

On the other hand, baby quilts, where energy and excitement is not the goal, do better in a single color range like yellow, blue, or pink. Keeping these colors lighter and unsaturated, mixing them with white without complementary color accents will result in a quilt that is soft and soothing.

Look at these two water quilts.

Here the colors are highly saturated, they give the impression of a hot sunny day in a tropical climate.  The addition of the yellow brings more “sunshine” and brightness to this quilt.  Mixing it with its complement, purple, makes it really stand out.

In this one, however

The colors are grayer, less saturated, and set a mood of a foggy day.  Sticking to only cooler blue tones, with no complementary accents, sets a mood that is naturally cooler than the quilt above.

Here, the hot colors extenuate the movement of the woman’s arms, to set a mood that is exuberant.  Even though there is blue in the background, it is highly saturated.  Compare this to the more somber mood set by these colors:

If this had been executed using highly saturated warm tones, it would not have set the same mood as the man himself.  Look at this example, which set a cooler mood due to color:

Now look at what happens when I take that image into Photoshop and increase the saturation of the colors, and warm them up…

Changes the mood completely.  Makes me wonder why that guy is wearing a winter hat.

What is the mood here:

Cool tones, grayer saturation, just a spot of warm color at the face for focal point.  Does this quilt say warm and happy to you?

The depiction of a face is no different–color can support the mood and expression.  A face does not need to be done in accurate flesh tones to be readily recognizable as a face, just like a black and white photo, if the values are correct the brain understands the color shift.  Here, the face of the woman is fleshy and happy.  Using peachy tones (which are not realistic) make her look happy and healthy:

In this next example, however, the face of the woman is sad, using peachy tones would have been a contradiction.  By using green tones, which are also not at all realistic, we set a mood that feels sickly and depressed–which is better suited to her expression, and therefore amplifies it.

Whether you make traditional, updated traditional or art quilts, it is important to understand how the colors you choose and where you put them in your quilt will impact your final results.  Understanding these principles will help you plan and execute the quilt you envision.

OK, I know.  He is a goose, not a turkey.  But I don’t have an artwork of a turkey so he will have to do!

Enjoy your holiday!

It has been a while since my last post, something a reader reminded me of today.  I am glad there are some or you out there who do miss me when I don’t post.  So here I am, back at the computer.

Several things have been keeping me busy lately.  First and foremost has been a renovation in the house which meant noise and commotion and trying to keep the dog from going crazy with all the strangers in and out of the house all day.  We redid the bathroom, and made some changes to the bedroom.  Like a quilter, I found a way to combine patterns in the bathroom.  I went Moroccan, here is a photo….

I have always loved Moroccan design, and the way patterns are mixed.  This is my take on Moroccan, although the tiles do come from Morocco, as does the lantern.  I can’t wait to soak in the tub!

Also, I have been given the great honor of being a featured artist in a book now being prepared on art quilts, which has meant over the summer I made some new work and now must get it professionally photographed.  That will be tomorrow in NYC, but I still haven’t decided which pieces I want to submit to the book.  I guess I will photograph more than I need and then make the decisions.  Exciting, but stressful.

Finally, although the house has been in total chaos (while the floor in the bedroom was being refinished, we even moved our bed into the studio) I am back in the studio and working again.  Here is what I am doing now:

Notwithstanding my recent decision to work smaller, this piece is fairly large (for me).  It will probably measure about five feet wide by about 3 1/2 feet high when it is done.  Another figure will be in the front right corner, she will be almost life sized.  I wanted that sense of looking at someone looking at someone looking at something–like those mirrors in department stores that seem to go on forever.  The big dilemma will be how to handle the quilting–one of the reasons I have been working smaller lately is for exactly what will need a solution here–I like that broad expanse of white and would prefer to leave it without stitching.  But it is too large an area to leave unquilted, as it will pucker and stretch.  Working smaller eliminates that problem for the most part.  But this just asked to be large, so I will make decisions as I get there.

For those of you in the area, I will be giving a workshop and talk at the Northern Star Guild in Somers next week, and a class from the new book 3-Fabric Quilts at City Quilter in NYC later in the month.

thanks for keeping me on my toes!