watercolor quilts
beth perry burchfield
I am fairly new to this group and have been enjoying it very much. I
have read several references to watercolor quilts and am not familiar
with this term. Could someone please explain what these are and what
kind of fabric would be needed for the watercolor fabric exchange.
Thanks very much.
Beth
bbur...@ucs.indiana.edu
Cindy Overaker
: have read several references to watercolor quilts and am not familiar
: with this term. Could someone please explain what these are and what
: kind of fabric would be needed for the watercolor fabric exchange.
Beth,
Quilts also called Colorwash. They're hard to explain succinctly (for
me). I would suggest checking with your library to see if they have any
quilting books with Watercolor or Colorwash in the titles. A picture is
worth a thousand words.
Cindy
Myra Hills
book by Magaret and Slusser. Watercolor quilts refers to quilts made
up of small squares (the authors recommend 2" squares) which have been
selected by value, not color, and sewn together to suggest
Monet-style designs. The effect is of muted, multi-flower
impressionistic fabric paintings. When cutting, the small squares are
taken from any part of the fabric which will lend itself to this
style. Because it takes so many different fabrics to make a small
wallhanging, some of the catalog people offer swatch collections of
200 2" squares. When you purchase fabric, you are taught to look at
it from a different perspective than for other types of quilts. The
originator of this style, as I understand it is a British woman who
has written a book called, "Colourwash." She has some slightly
different ideas, but basically it's the same idea of using many
fabrics to create a color flow on the quilt. Hope this helps. The
book I'm reading is very interesting. I talked yesterday with a woman
who teaches this technique and she believes that your first watercolor
quilt is a learning experience.
Myra in Tallahassee, FL
--
<Myra L. Hills:hi...@freenet.fsu.edu>
ROBIN F HOWARD
: I am fairly new to this group and have been enjoying it very much. I
: have read several references to watercolor quilts and am not familiar
: with this term. Could someone please explain what these are and what
: kind of fabric would be needed for the watercolor fabric exchange.
The best way to see what they're about is to go to your local fabric or
quilt store and look through the book "Watercolor Quilts" by Pat Magaret
and Donna Ingram Slusser. Basically, it involves cutting a bazillion
2-inch squares of multicolored fabrics and putting them together in such
a way that from a distance they tend to blend together, generally
graduated from light to dark. Some lovely effects can be gotten using
this method (in fact, a new watercolor quilt book is coming out sometime
soon). You also may want to look through a book by Dierdre Amsden called
"Colourwash Quilts" (or something like). She was the original
inspiration for the watercolor bunch, and her work is lovely.
Cheers!
Robin
Massachusetts
LOU...@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu
oats...@twain.ucs.umass.edu (ROBIN F HOWARD) writes:
>The best way to see what they're about is to go to your local fabric or
>quilt store and look through the book "Watercolor Quilts" by Pat Magaret
>and Donna Ingram Slusser.
to have a supervisor by the name of Daleah Thiessen. Daleah is in the same
quilt group as Donna and Pat and her quilt in this book is the "Floating
Sphere."
When Daleah was my supervisor she used to bring in her quilts to hang on the
wall in the office and share new projects. I saw "Floating Sphere" and heard
about the book long before it was actually published. It was because of Daleah
that I got interested in quilting and now I'm just as addicted as the next
quilter! I'm still in the beginning stages but I did buy a package of water-
color squares at a quilt show and every now and again I get them out and
arrange them. So far I haven't come up with anything worth saving.
>Some lovely effects can be gotten using
>this method (in fact, a new watercolor quilt book is coming out sometime
>soon).
peeking around the corner of a stable. Very detailed and beautiful!
Kathie
Mary Jo Hodge
Another name for watercolor quilts is "colorwash". They use a lot of small
pieces such as 2"squares and are arranged on a design or flannel board or
some way so you can move the squares or rectangles around and see the
effect. If you look through a red celophane or plastic folder or use the
special tool called a "ruby beholder" the values will stand out and you can
tell what blends together like you would want in a good watercolor and what
stands out as "separate" thus shouldn't be used. For a swap pick fabs with
large motifs - florals work well and other large scenic pieces - some tone
on tones work. Calicos with small motifs that are repeated at regular
intervals do not work. They don't blend in like colors will blend in a
watercolor. All fabs should be cotton and prewashed, as since the pieces are
so small they are hard to wash after cutting and if some shrink and some
don't you will have puckers. Also, a mixture or lights, mediums, and darks
are needed, but I find the very dark fabs don't usually fit.
Hope this helps.
Mary Jo
DKPatrick
F HOWARD) writes:
One thing to point out. Like all techniques, watercolor quilts are not for
everyone. My background is in fine arts and I find that 'painting' with
fabrics to be more difficult and not as rewarding as using a brush.
However, piecing different visual textures together is an interesting
experience, not unlike stained glass which is how I got involved in
quilting in the first place.