Making a quilt is the art of stitching together three layers of textiles, but what is how to make an Art Quilt?
I started making quilts many years ago, I was a teenager when I took the first patchwork class and from that day I felt in love with this amazing sewing technique.
I’ve made many different types of quilts from the simplest to some more elaborate, I’ve also made mini quilts and I’ve made full size quilts and a couple of (King) size quilts.
A few years ago, I moved to Canada and one day I read on the internet about the making of Journal Quilts, it was then when I started to make the first block to make a journal quilt, and it was then when I started to make a block on my own, with no pattern design and adding some pieces of fabric here and then and I’ve even tried a few embroidery stitches here and there, it was then when my first “Art Quilt” was born.
Today I want to share with you some of what I’ve learned about the making of Art Quilts, I’ve been making the Journal Quilts for about 7 or 8 years, some years one quilt per year, and I’ve skipped one or two years.
If you have followed my blog for some time, you might know by now I share my Journal quilts, sometimes I share some patterns to work on, and sometimes I only share how I work on them hoping you get inspired to start one Journal Quilt on your own.
But if you have followed me from my previous blogs, you might know I like to participate in a collective art exhibition that is held in a small town not far from where I live, I started to share one quilt per year in that art exhibition from the last 5 years.
This year, I made one small quilt to participate in the collective art exhibition for the last 3 months, I couldn’t share any photo about this small quilt as its not allowed to put in an art piece on the exhibition that has been shared on the internet.
Today, the art exhibition is open to the public and I’m now allowed to share the small quilt with you all and I’m sharing some steps of it.
I’m not sharing any pattern to make it and I didn’t make any tutorial video about it, the reason is because it took a few weeks to work on it almost every day, if I’d made a video of it, it would have been a long video, but I hope you get inspired to make one art quilt on your own when you see this small quilt.
Related Topic: My Quilts
What is an Art Quilt?
Looking for a definition of Art Quilt on the internet is hard, it says that quilters associations has not reached a definition about it, but I’m sharing my own idea about it.
An Art Quilt is a quilt made from no previous pattern and it made on its own by the textile artist.
How to make an Art Quilt?
From my point of view, you can make an art quilt with any textile material + any other material, as you start working on your own art quilt, you’ll find what materials to use on it.
Cotton fabric, velvet, and any other type of fabric will go, but you can also add some buttons and any type of beads here and there, and even some different things like maybe a ring or an earring, or a little piece of rock that has an important meaning for you.
Most of the quilters who like to make an art quilt will start making a drawing or a sketch on a notebook or even on a piece of paper, from there, they might take a few notes, and the design might change or not as the quilter work on it. (This is how I work on my quilts)
Who can make an Art Quilt?
I’m pretty sure I can say anyone, any quilter can make one!
Beginners, intermediate and advanced quilters, so you also can make it.
My latest Art Quilt
Two or maybe three months ago, I started to work on it, but I couldn’t share any photo on Social Media or on the blog because the rules of the art exhibition is to participate with a piece of art that hasn’t been shown on the internet.
So I had to work on the quilt taking a few photos of it and keep them for later.
The reason I’m not sharing any pattern or video tutorial to make it is: to make your art quilt you need to come up with an idea on your own and work on it, and I know you’re ready to try your first one!
I made a short video with a few of the progress photographs of this quilt, it will give you an idea of the different steps I work on it.
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Without a pattern to follow, I added small pieces of different cotton fabrics by hand on the borders, I was working on the quilting at the same time I added each one of the pieces, I also added a few buttons in the same color of the fabrics.
On the border on the bottom, I made it with some layers of fabric and with a few different embroidery stitches.
The two sides borders were made straight and the borders on the top and on the bottom I decided to make them with a wave shape.
On the bottom of the girl, you can see I added a few buttons, the girl became a mermaid and the tail can be added to it or remove from it.
On the photo above, you can see the small quilt hang on the art exhibition, and its good to see it hanging on a good point!
A close up of the quilt, I’m so sorry this photo is not good at all, but I’m sharing it here anyway as it can help you to take a better look at it.
The art exhibition will last until the last days of October, if you’re reading me in the area near Montreal Canada, if you want to visit the art exhibition to see my quilt and the other artist pieces (they all are good ones!) the art exhibitions is held in the Salle Comunitaire Alfred at Hundington Quebec. (1 hour driving from Montreal) Open to public on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 pm, weekdays you need to make an appointment and they will open it for you!
Come back to my blog as many times as you want, there are many tutorials, quilt’s patterns to make!
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