Comfortable New Yr! We’re starting 2025 with new tasks in thoughts—colourful, playful, dive-into-your-fabric-stash kind of tasks—with low-stress topics that may provide help to (painlessly) study all concerning the material collage course of.
To begin, we’ve been posting a refresher course on the fundamentals of material collage. The six-week overview (three weeks in 2024, three weeks in 2025) is an introduction to the material collage method—particularly chosen for many who extra just lately began following my weblog—however it’s additionally preparation for my upcoming reside Zoom Comply with-Alongs starting in February (see beneath for information and registration).
In December we lined gluing, making a palette for cloth collage, and selecting material. Right now’s submit is about what to think about in approaching and making use of the layers of material collage. Fascinated about the sequence through which these layers are positioned onto the drawn design might be fairly useful—giving a plan of action when simply “getting began” might be daunting. Over the subsequent few weeks, we are going to proceed to focus on preparatory steps associated to a material collage mission.
The photograph above, is a element of the segments seen on a turtle shell—first come the multi-sided plates, then come the dividing traces. Learn all concerning the causes for that kind of sequence within the submit following beneath.
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The fish collage beneath, Heads Over Tails , additionally employs a sequence plan—first the fish, then their round background, then the blocked-in closing background. When you’ve got my guide, Serendipity Quilts, you’ll acknowledge it as the quilt picture and likewise as one of many included tasks within the guide. The quilt can be an incredible instance of the kind of mixing method that I’ll be specializing in within the upcoming Fantastical Fish Comply with Alongside.
The Fantastical Fish Comply with Alongside in February, will use a fish sample (of your individual design or one which you will select from my assortment) with a 2025 give attention to “mixing”—one in every of my most requested about expertise—the method of utilizing the colours, values, and prints in materials to merge one into one other, usually to create the phantasm of kind, with highlights and shadows.
The Bugs and Butterflies Comply with Alongside in June and July (additionally your individual design or primarily based on my patterns), will give attention to butterflies and how one can strategy the flowing and colourful shapes of their fascinating wings. Study what to search for in your materials and how one can work with their printed designs to create motion and kind—letting the material do a lot of the give you the results you want.
Use the hyperlinks beneath to register for these four-week lessons, held every Thursday night time at 7:00 p.m. jap time.
Within the meantime, particularly if you’re new to material collage, it could be useful to overview the fundamentals by this present collection of posts masking the material collage method earlier than these lessons start. In following posts we’ll proceed with the subjects of: backgrounds, and sheers.
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February 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025 — 7 pm, Jap Time
Fantastical Cloth Collage Fish Zoom Comply with-Alongside
REGISTER HERE
Worth: $78
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July 24, 31, August 7, 14, 2025 — 7 pm, Jap Time
Fascinating Cloth Collage Bugs and Butterflies Zoom Comply with-Alongside
REGISTER HERE
Worth: $78
Should you’ve ever thought-about giving your self the reward of a 5-day week-long material collage class expertise with me—and are usually not scared off by staying cozy in your house, not touring anyplace, and holding your material stash shut by—do we’ve a particular supply for you—a $100 low cost (which provides you the chance so as to add extra material to that stash!).
January 20-24, 2025
Susan Carlson 5-Day Stay On-line Class—All Ranges, Animals Solely
Worth WAS: $995
NOW: $895
REGISTER HERE
Make the most of this particular supply solely for January’s “Cozy” Stay On-line Cloth Collage Class
Additional Susan Carlson Studying Sources: Susan Carlson Quilts web site, patterns, weblog (typically), YouTube movies, Spiral eWorkshop, Patreon, and our February Fantastical Fish and Summertime’s Fascinating Bugs and Butterfly Work-Alongs
Sequence in Cloth Collage Half 1
First revealed February 15, 2020
One thing that isn’t apparent about material collage (as I train it) is the significance of the sequence through which you strategy the development of your picture. The place you begin, and the order through which you proceed, could make an enormous distinction within the ease of progress and end result of your quilt.
Over the subsequent few months I’ll be contributing to an ongoing collection of weblog posts that can talk about the perfect sequence to strategy a material collage mission utilizing numerous quilt examples.
Just lately I’ve been arduous at work on my upcoming on-line eWorkshop, Susan Carlson Cloth Collage: Sea Turtle (above, in-progress photograph). The shell of a turtle presents skinny traces in its design. It’s related the truth is to a different quilt I made, “Monarch Maia,” which includes a portrait mixed with the wings of a monarch butterfly.
The Monarch wings in that quilt have been made in a really related vogue to how I reveal making the shell on the ocean turtle within the new eWorkshop.
In every case, panes or plates of colour are surrounded by skinny darkish traces. Working the way in which I do, the full-size sample primarily based in your picture is traced onto a plain basis material. The temptation for a lot of, when confronted with such traces of their design, is to chop a darkish material to fill your entire wing or shell first, then add the coloured shapes on prime.
The issue with this strategy is that after you have positioned the massive darkish colour over your entire wing or shell, you’ve obscured the opposite shapes that you’ve got drawn in your basis material. How do you fill in these shapes when you’ve lined them up?
The reply could be a template strategy—hint the shapes, quantity them, lower them out, pin them to your alternative of materials, lower them out once more, and work out the place to put them on that stable piece of material. Let me say proper now that it’s not “fallacious,” it’s simply not how I strategy material collage, and the way I train it.
I developed this type of material collage in my quest to make the method of making a picture in material extra rapid, extra painterly, much less paint-by-numbers. I needed to have a look at my topic and instantly reply by free-hand reducing and inserting material straight onto a basis material. Templates have been, to me, unbearably tedious—for a way I needed to work.
So how do I strategy making a butterfly wing or a sea turtle shell?
I begin with the panes or plates first. As a substitute of making these smaller shapes with one piece of material, I like to make use of a number of, relying on the dimensions of the given space to fill. This to me provides the piece a richer extra fascinating look—like a number of dabs of paint—in no way the one colour of a paint-by-number. As I glue the material items down I guarantee that I depart their edges, particularly these on the fringe of the plate or pane, unfastened. As soon as the panes or plates are accomplished, I’m going again and slip strips of material between them and underneath the unfastened edges, once more utilizing not only one material for the contrasting traces, however as many as I like, relying on the look I’m making an attempt to realize.
Within the photograph beneath of the turtle shell from my eWorkshop, I’ve lower a sliver of brown and black material to slide into the hole between the plates. I’ve left the sides of the plates unfastened and lower the material sliver wider than the hole itself as a way to be certain that the inspiration material is roofed and the hole is crammed.
Right here that sliver of material has been positioned between the plates.
Observe that I select to fluctuate the colour and worth of the material I take advantage of to fill the gaps. I do that so as to add curiosity, however extra importantly to make sure that the plate and the hole materials have contrasting values. That is one thing that may be very troublesome to preplan when you positioned a big darkish material down first then created the plates on prime of it.
Within the video excerpt beneath—a preview from the eWorkshop—I reveal how I select, lower, place, and glue the strips of materials to fill the gaps between the plates on the turtle’s shell.
For an additional demonstration of this method and different strategies for creating very positive traces, go to a earlier weblog submit: “Get in Line: Skinny Traces in Cloth Collage.”
I wish to work this fashion each due to the sense of (relative) immediacy it provides me and due to the personalized outcomes I get. Principally, ’trigger I like the way in which it seems to be after I’m carried out.
Monarch Wing Instance
Within the following images I present the sequence through which I strategy the wings—particularly the decrease a part of the suitable wing—on this fanciful portrait of my niece, entitled “Monarch Maia.” I’ll be referring to the 2 components of the suitable hand wing—please word that the decrease half overlaps the higher half.
Beneath, the sample I created has been traced onto a basis material. My subsequent step is to determine the place to begin. The place would you begin?
Right here’s the reply: you begin with what’s in entrance. I began together with her face—particularly the nostril, eyes, and mouth— as a result of that’s what is in entrance of the wings.
Now that the primary draft of the face after which hair is finished, I maintain shifting backwards on my topic to the wings, that are behind the hair. The decrease proper wing is in entrance of the remainder of the wings, so I start with that one. And on every a part of the wings, I start with the orange “panes.” Why? As a result of they’re in entrance of the darkish traces.
By selecting to work with the shapes which might be in entrance of others first, I can see precisely the place the orange shapes match and what form they need to be. I retain the power to work with my drawn traces and take full benefit of the work I put into the design.
I do use a number of items of material to fill every pane. Using a number of materials permits me to mix simply from one worth to the subsequent—darkish to gentle— and I really feel the number of prints provides a richness to the visible texture of the piece.
Within the photograph beneath I’ve accomplished a primary draft of the orange panes on the decrease proper wing, however due to all of the pins, I can inform they’ve but to be glued in place.
I’ve additionally lower down groupings of “white” spots from one other material, picked to signify the white spots of the Monarch wing edges—that are additionally in entrance of the black background of the wing. I depart a little bit of the black print surrounding the white spots, it saves me some work and can finally mix with the remainder of the black materials anyway.
All these materials shapes are nonetheless in entrance of the (eventual) black wing background. Right here the primary draft of the panes and white spots is full. As I glue each bit of material onto the inspiration, I tack solely the facilities with glue, leaving the sides unfastened, which can permit me to slide the darkish materials behind both the orange or white shapes.
This manner of building is sensible to me and appears very logical—what’s in entrance overlaps what’s behind, proper? Create the orange panes and white spots (what’s in entrance) first, then tuck the black behind.
Observe in photograph above the numerous completely different varieties and patterns of “black” I plan to make use of.
The primary draft of the darkish background is in progress above and beneath. It strikes rapidly since I’ve already carried out the work creating the orange and white shapes. The black bits of material simply slip underneath these shapes and fill within the open spots on the inspiration material.
Beneath, the primary draft of decrease wing is now full. I make sure that I’ve trimmed the black higher edge to my drawn line earlier than I transfer on to the highest wing part—the subsequent space in my entrance to again sequence. As soon as that line is outlined and the black materials secured with some glue (holding edges unfastened), I can begin tucking the orange materials of the higher a part of the wing behind the decrease a part of the wing and repeat the method.
Beneath I’m making progress on the higher a part of the entrance wing. The orange panes abutting that black edge tuck proper beneath, the distinction making a easy, definitive division between the 2 components of the wing. Take a look at extra in-progress images of “Monarch Maia” right here.
Keep tuned for extra examples of this—begin with what’s in entrance—material collage building sequence utilizing different quilt topics in following months.
Addendum to Sequence in Cloth Collage
The month that the above, Sequence in Cloth Collage Half 1, was written and revealed, the Covid pandemic additionally got here into being. Like many issues for all of us, plans for 2020 have been rearranged. New Sequence posts did nevertheless get written and posted, in 2021. You’ll be able to learn them within the hyperlinks beneath.
Half 2: Faces—initially revealed February 20, 2021
Half 3: Utilizing Sheers—initially revealed March 6, 2021
