There is something fascinating to me about spirals. They are an ancient symbol of new beginnings, images found in nature everywhere—from galaxies to fern fronds to snails. My first fabric collage spiral was inspired by a trip to New Zealand, where a spiral, the Koru, is everywhere—a major design form in Maori art.
Later it occurred to me how well suited the simplicity of a spiral design could be for students of fabric collage. As a first project, a spiral can be the base of many of the techniques and ideas of fabric collage—cutting, gluing, color theory, value—in a low-stress, low-risk project. With the added benefit of a beautiful and symbolic piece of art at the end.
This week we have spirals from two different students of fabric collage, made as exercises before embarking on more challenging subjects. Grace Crocker’s spiral (detail above) is one. Tom and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and working with Grace this past week in our most recent Live Online Class. Hi Grace! Tune in next week as I post the classwork of Grace and her lovely and talented classmates.
Until then, please enjoy the newest selection of finished quilts below, and if you’re ready to submit your own fabric collage beauty, please click on the button! Thank you!
Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"
Frances Dack
Frances Dack of Rancho Cordova, California, has been waiting to attend one of Empty Spools classes (at Asilomar in CA), since March 2020, which was Covid-canceled. What I love is that she gave herself a “Pretend Empty Spools” week by following my Spiral eWorkshop. This spiral is the result. Afterwards she used my “Betta Duo” pattern to create her second quilt below.
Frances (along with the other two students in this Finish Line post) is a Patreon supporter and attends my monthly Show-and-Share meetings, so I feel like I’ve had the chance to meet her a little bit already. If all goes as planned, I’ll finally get to meet Frances in-person this year (third time’s the charm?), in March, in CA, in a “for real” Empty Spools class. I can see that she’ll be well prepared. I look forward to it, Frances!
From Frances:
I thoroughly enjoyed my week of Pretend Empty Spools Seminar so much that I have made it a habit to take a week off from regular life every 3 or 4 months to just work in my sewing room. I blogged about that week each day. Here’s the link for the last day. There are posts for Day 1 & 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5 and Day 6. I especially like the idea of the glued binding. I got so into glue that I made a collaged label, binding and even glued on the sleeve. It works! I am honored that my local library chose to buy it for their permanent collection. It hangs in the window between the main library and the meeting room, which is pretty cool because people can see both the front and the back!
From Frances:
With my encouragement, at the end of 2020, about 9 members of my small group, Pins and Needles Art Quilters, bought the Master Class Manual. Everyone began with making a spiral, except me. I had already made one so I started Susan’s Beta Duo pattern (above). They do go round and round, kind of like a spiral. We have been encouraging each other through the process each month since January in our Zoom meetings.
I poured my all into this. I kept going back to the blog and the manual and some of the Thursday Nights to understand each step. The manual is very usable, thank you Susan! These fish went through 4 drafts. Thanks to Susan for a good read in Anne Lamott’s, “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.” It is a long process, but enjoyable. I have started my own turtle and have a some other ideas. Fabric collage has become a part of my life.
I researched betas, both domesticated and wild. This helped me tell the story. The color combinations of these two fish I found online. I chose the red circle on the advice of another member of Pins and Needles. Red completes the circle of primary colors. I chose the green background because it makes me think of rice paddies, which is where wild betas live in Southeast Asia. I named it “Embrace” because betas really do circle around each other like this when mating. I blogged about “Embrace” here.
Nancy Semich
I have enjoyed working with Nancy Semich of Bend, Oregon. Whether in class (at The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, OR, and my own Maine Retreat), in Fabric Collage Coaching sessions, or in our monthly Patreon Show and Share Zoom meetings Nancy has been enthusiastic and focused on the image at hand—be it quails, dragons, or horses. Nancy’s love and connection with her horses, Falcon and Dillon, is obvious in the care and attention she gave to their portraits. Until next time, Nancy!
From Nancy:
I have taken 2 classes from Susan and continue to follow her via Patreon and reading her blog posts. Her wealth of knowledge and insight is truly amazing and valuable. Thank you, Susan.
Falcon was my daughter’s horse that she got when she was 12 years old and he was 2. When she went off to college, he remained a member of our family until the ripe old age of 29. Since he was a kind and spirited horse, I added some aqua fabric and sparkled aqua tulle to the collage. I put some white sparkle netting over his blaze and quilted his mane with some gold metallic thread to add more pizzaz!
The arena shows the jumps that the two of them tackled (with some success or not). I used twine to help me determine the placement and angles of the fences. This collage is now hanging on a wall next to Dillon (below right) since they were pasture mates for over 24 years. Susan was able to offer constructive suggestions (e.g adding a third jump) during the live “share and show” zoom sessions. I love her method of fabric collage and look forward to taking another in-person class.
Grace Crocker
As this appears in your inbox on Saturday, January 28, will will have just finished up a five-day Live Online Class which was attended by Grace Crocker of Chico, CA. Grace, who is turning 86 this year and proud to declare herself the oldest in the class. You would have never guessed it. Grace was possibly the first to log in to the daily meetings, and last to log out (I’m not exactly sure since she was in that open classroom longer than I was!). She’s quick on the draw, a hoot to be around, and a total fabric collage convert. I look forward to sharing her “Sam” in the class post next week, and to seeing her in a future online class (she promised).
I believe that all the fabric collage work Grace has immersed herself in (she’s also a perennial face at our monthly Patreon Show and Share Zoom meetings) set her up well for this past week’s class. She shared this spiral in class—great work with color, value, and pattern—very engaging. Thanks again for your energy, Grace!
From Grace:
I started with YouTube, then both books, and finally the Spiral Workshop and the Master Class Manual! And the blog posts. I am in love with the technique. Just dealt with a lot of glue doing several stained glass quilts, Susan’s method is delightful. Anxious to go to more projects. The manual with its many links is a fantastic resource. I am addicted.
Drawing a spiral was the first trick! I kept thinking of other fabrics I could have used but told myself that this was just an exercise. After adding a lot of additional pieces I covered the quilt with a blue tulle with a little glitter on it.
please suggest to Frances Dack that she name her collage,”Rainbow Galaxy”-what a lovely creation!