First of all, Happy New Year! So far so good on our end—a quiet start—a puzzle and board game was involved. We reflected how in past years, like three decades ago, we’d be out with friends, wandering around the town we lived in during First Night festivities—food, music, fireworks at midnight. Then we settled into pizza, popcorn, and movies until the ball dropped on TV. Now, well (I’m sure many of you are right there with us)—been there, done that, don’t bother setting the alarm for midnight.
Maybe dressing up for a New Year’s outing is a thing of the distant past, and comfort is more of a guiding thought for the question of “what to wear tonight?” But that doesn’t mean we can’t add some glitz and sparkle to dress up… our quilts. 😉
I’m never one to discourage the use of sheer fabrics—sparkled or not—in fabric collage. However, there’s a time and a place to use them to their best advantage.
In today’s Throwback Thursday I revisit how sheers can be used, usually near the end of the process, to achieve several different effects, such as shadows as illustrated on my budgie Kiiora’s eggs (below). This attention to when we use sheers—in other words, in what sequence—can be quite helpful in the layering of a fabric collage.
This Saturday in your first regular post of 2025, we’ll continue our six part Fabric Collage Review—so far: choosing fabric, cutting a palette, and gluing. These posts have been specifically selected in preparation for the upcoming Follow Along Classes in February and June, but also to expose everyone to the basics of fabric collage in general. Maybe in reviewing the basics, you’ll be inspired to jump into the New Year with fresh fabric collage inspiration.
See you on Saturday with another Sequence post—focusing on how sequence can also assist in creating fine details. See you then!
If you’ve ever considered giving yourself the gift of a week-long fabric collage class experience with me—and are not scared off by staying cozy in your home, not traveling anywhere, and keeping your fabric stash close by—do we have a special offer for you—a $100 discount (which gives you the opportunity to add more fabric to that stash!).
January 20-24, 2025
Susan Carlson 5-Day Live Online Class—All Levels, Animals Only
Price WAS: $995
NOW: $895
REGISTER HERE
Take advantage of this special offer only for January’s “Cozy” Live Online Fabric Collage Class
Check out 2025 Fabric Collage classes with Susan—both in-person and online classes (including our 4-week Work-Alongs) are scheduled and open for registration. Click the 2025 link below for more information, including dates, fees, and descriptions.
2025 Live Online and In-Person Fabric Collage Classes
Further Susan Carlson Learning Resources: Susan Carlson Quilts website, patterns, blog (in general), YouTube videos, Spiral eWorkshop, Patreon, and our February Fantastical Fish and Summertime’s Fascinating Bugs and Butterfly Work-Alongs
NOW AVAILABLE!
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Fantastical Fish eWorkshop
INCLUDES:
• All four recordings from the four-week class.
• Extended 10-minute edition of piecing time lapse (see below).
• Over six hours of video instruction.
• Annotated videos with “jump points” to help find the information you need.
• Materials list
• Links to helpful blog posts.
• Free fish pattern of your choice.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Sea Turtle eWorkshop
Learn fabric collage through a start-to-finish project—from pattern and fabric selection through quilting and binding. Each step is clearly written, illustrated with photos, and further demonstrated with videos. Learn the technique with a Sea Turtle then launch into any fabric collage project you wish. Lifetime access and suitable for all levels, including beginners. Sea Turtle Pattern included
Read all about the Sea Turtle eWorkshop in this blog post: Fabric Collage Sea Turtle eWorkshop Launch.
Fabric Collage Online Master Class
The Susan Carlson Fabric Collage Online Master Class Manual is a multi-media resource guide to the process of fabric collage. Using video, photos, text, and links to my blog posts for further relevant reading and information, I take you from beginning to end in creating your own fabric collage masterpiece, following my guidelines in a step-by-step format. Lifetime Access. Suitable for all levels, including beginners.
Read all about the process of creating the Master Class—explanation of its genesis—the whys and hows Tom and I made some of the decisions we did in this post: Online Master Class Now Available: Some Reflections.
Facial Features eWorkshop
Designed as a supplement to the Fabric Collage Online Master Class, or for those who have a good understanding of the basics of Fabric Collage. Lifetime Access. Intermediate or advanced levels suggested.
The Facial Features eWorkshop contains 8 videos and over 8 hours of in-depth instruction for creating each feature of a portrait in fabric. The videos are annotated with “Jump Points” allowing you to scan forward and backward to the information you need. Facial features PDF templates are included as reference and basic designs to work along with. Like the Fabric Collage Online Master Class, membership in this eWorkshop is for life.
Book: Serendipity Quilts—Cutting Loose Fabric Collage
Full color throughout. Five projects of increasing complexity, four patterns to enlarge are included.
These books will be signed by Susan and can be inscribed to a particular person.
Read more about Serendipity Quilts!