As I mark one week until the beginning of my Captivating Cats Follow Along, I thought I’d share the (optional and hopefully fun) homework I’ve assigned to registrants of this four week class: to create a fabric collage palette.
After selecting a subject, one of the first steps in a collage is to collect a few fabrics to start with. Since I consider any color or combinations of colors to be perfectly acceptable in the creation of any fabric collage, I find it fun to sort through my stash in search of a particular color-way or theme—it’s a helpful process to narrow down the infinite—and quite possibly overwhelming—fabric choices that face us at the beginning of any project.
In next Thursday’s Follow Along, I’ll be sharing my fabric collage process live, as I begin the portrait of our family’s “captivating” Suki cat (photo above). Since she’s a calico cat, I’ve been setting aside calico-like fabrics (photos below) for a few years with her eventual portrait in mind.
Now that that initial fabric selection is made, I’ll take the next step of creating a fabric palette by cutting out hand-sized pieces from these fabrics I’ve chosen. Through trial and error, I now highly recommend this step to all my students. As I demonstrate in the post below, creating is helpful to the collage process in so many ways.
It’s all explained in today’s Throwback Thursday post—Further Thoughts On… Creating a Palette for Fabric Collage.
There’s still a week left to get in at the beginning of the four (live and recorded) evenings of Captivating Cats Follow Along—starting next Thursday, October 29, 2026 (more info follows below).
REGISTER HERE
A reminder that my new Captivating Cats Fabric Collage 4-Week Follow-Along
begins on Thursday, October 29, and continues on Thursdays, November 5, 12, and 19, 2026, 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Check out the Follow Along class details in this post: The Captivating Art of Fabric Collage—New Learning Opportunities in 2026 and 2027
REGISTER HERE
Cat Portrait pattern and Follow Along email will be sent to all registrants.
New Learning Opportunities in 2026 and 2027
Click Here for Further Information on Each Venue
Ongoing throughout 2026-2027
Fabric Collage Coaching
December 7-11, 2026
5-Day Live Online Fabric Collage Class
September 21-25, 2027
September 2027: Woodland Ridge Retreat—Fabric Images
October 25 – November 5, 2027
Fabric Collage Immersion—A 10-Day Workshop In Pacific Grove, California—with MISA
Fabric Collage Online Master Class—Updated
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.
Click here for more information about the Fabric Collage Master Class.
Price: $199
Lifetime Access
Suitable for all levels, including beginners
Further Susan Carlson Learning Resources include: Facial Features eWorkshop, website, Serendipity Quilts, patterns, blog (in general), YouTube videos, Sea Turtle eWorkshop, Fabric Collage Online Master Class, Patreon. , and our February Fantastical Fish and Summertime’s Fascinating Bugs and Butterfly Work-Alongs
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Fantastical Fish eWorkshop I
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.
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.