Structured Fabrics: Checks, Plaids and Stripes

By Dena Dale Crain

Yes, you CAN design a patchwork quilt!

Structured Fabrics: Checks, Plaids and Stripes shows you fun and easy ways to design your own one-of-a-kind quilts. Step away from the limitations of patchwork quilt blocks with straight seam construction and reliance on commercial fabric design. Cut, sew, layer and stitch to create an original patchwork quilt design wall hanging, wearable garment or accessory made from Structured Fabrics: Checks, Plaids and Stripes.

Discover how to combine freehand rotary cutting techniques and machine appliqué with zigzag stitching to make stunning checks, plaids and stripes. Cut materials into small pieces to build patterned cloths of sewn construction. Weave a check, build a plaid onto part of the check, augment both with a stripe and add solid colors for accent and relief.

Author Dena Dale Crain explains an easy way to design an artistic wall hanging quilt, or you may use one of the layout patterns she provides. Dena does not present Structured Fabrics as a preconceived project, but as a demonstration of many possibilities.

Nothing new is needed and you can use up materials already in your stash, turning fabrics you do not particularly like into stunning new creations. Then assemble these remarkable materials into simple but delightful original compositions to make Structured Fabrics as art quilts, soft furnishings or wearables.

Each Structured Fabric you build reveals your personal signature style and reflects your mood, state of mind and priorities. You have the personal freedom to develop new ideas about fabric combinations and approaches to build the fabrics of your choice.

Of course, the materials you choose influence the ways in which you may use them. Every attempt to produce a new Structured Fabric results in a fresh approach to its construction. Read this fantastic ebook, have great fun and be challenged as a patchwork quilt designer at every turn!

Use Structured Fabrics to execute any design of your choice and finish the patchwork quilt at your leisure. In the meantime, you will be busy making more checks, plaids and stripes and looking for new, innovative Structured Fabrics patchwork quilt design ideas to use them!

You will love the look and feel of these richly textured fabrics, assemblies of materials already on hand, and the opportunities for color combinations are as limitless as the ways in which you can use them!

You will have lots of fun playing with the possibilities for designing and making unique fabrics, then using them to assemble gorgeous and useful original patchwork quilted products. Make ATCs, wearables, accessories or one-off works of art—the designs and choices are up to you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dena Dale Crain
• Release date: Nov 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310768118

Dena Dale Crain

Dena Dale Crain relocated from the USA to Kenya in 1990, then returned to the USA in 2023. She spent most of her time in Kenya, living on the shore of Lake Baringo, two hundred miles and a five-hour drive north of Nairobi, with her partner Jonathan Leakey.Dena saw patchwork quilting as a way to employ local women, taught herself the basics, and began a small production quilting business in her home. With advanced degrees in design, anthropology, and textiles, she was uniquely positioned to help. As her experience and confidence increased, she began producing “one-off” works of art. Dena’s innovative art quilts were the subject of several solo art exhibitions and group quilt shows in Africa.Dena helped found the Kenya Quilt Guild and keeps a pulse on its activities. She helps educate members of the society at large about quilts as art. She has written magazine articles and lectured at quilting and non-quilting functions.Teaching in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Good Hope Quilters Guild National Quilt Festival in July 2002 moved Dena into the ranks of international quilting teachers. Since then, she taught art quilting at such prestigious venues as the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England; the European Patchwork Meeting in Val d'Argent, France; and the International Quilt Festivals in Houston and Chicago in the USA. In 2011, she earned South Africa National Quilt Guild Certification. In 2018 she became a Recommended Teacher for the same guild.In 2004 Dena joined the faculty of Quilt University, the first major online educational facility for patchwork quilters, later teaching for QuiltEd Online and the Academy of Quilting. An inventive and creative mind coupled with top-notch sewing skills makes Dena Dale Crain an educator of high merit in the world of patchwork quilting.Find links to Dena's patchwork quilt ebooks, live and virtual quilt classes, original pattern downloads, and more on her website.

Book preview

Structured Fabrics

Checks, Plaids, and Stripes

by

Dena Dale Crain

Copyright

Smashwords Edition

2019

Discover other titles by Dena Dale Crain at Smashwords.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please buy an additional copy for each reader. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Disclaimer and Terms of Use Agreement

The information contained in this e-book is solely the opinion of the author based on personal observations and experience. The material contained is for information and reference purposes only and is not intended as medical, legal, health, safety or other professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional to obtain official advice you may require.

The author does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or usefulness of any information contained in this resource book and shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, in any way, for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of, or because of the use of, or reliance on, any such content.

Information contained in this resource book is subject to change without notice. The author and publisher assumes absolutely no liability whatsoever for the use of or inability to use any or all information contained in this publication. Use this information at your own risk. If you wish to apply ideas contained in this e-book, you accept full responsibility for your actions.

This e-book contains links to World Wide Web sites and products. While providing these links, the author does not guarantee, approve, or endorse the information available at these linked Web sites.

The author and publisher reserve the right to add to or to change the Disclaimer statement at any time.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Testimonials

Supply List

Introduction

Chapter 1: Checks, Plaids and Stripes

Chapter 2: Sewing Tools and Methods

Chapter 3: Fabric Selection

Chapter 4: Cut a Two-Color Check

Chapter 5: Multicolor Checks

Chapter 6: Fusible Interfacing

Chapter 7: Weave a Wild Check

Chapter 8: Finish the Woven Check

Chapter 9: Preparation for a Plaid

Chapter 10: Build a Layered Plaid

Chapter 11: Sample Plaid: Conversation Piece, Part 1

Chapter 12: Sample Plaid: Conversation Piece, Part 2

Chapter 13: Build a Stripe

Chapter 14: Quilt Design

Chapter 15: Quilt Composition

Chapter 16: Panels and Sections

Chapter 17: Quilt Top Assembly

Chapter 18: Finish the Quilt

Chapter 19: Shisha!

About the Author

Other Books

Online Quilt Classes

Patchwork Quilt Patterns

Feedback

Preface

Structured Fabrics: Checks, Plaids and Stripes grew out of a class I took from Macky Cilliers in Johannesburg, South Africa during the South African Quilters Guild's National Quilt Festival in 2000. I picked up two important pieces of information during Macky's class. The first of these was how to weave strips of fabric as if they were threads on a loom, as weft and warp strips cut from cloth. This simple method formed the backbone of my online class for Quilt University.

The second piece of information was actually far more significant, as I learned something important about myself. Macky made a comment during the class to the effect that she almost never used white in her work because she felt it was too strong. I heard that remark as a challenge and proceeded to use white fabric successfully in my class project.

Whether you work with white or not is entirely a matter of personal choice. In either case, I hope you enjoy building Structured Fabrics and making art quilts from the beautiful materials you construct!

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Macky Cilliers for being the fine quilter and quilt teacher that she is, and for teaching even the most stubborn students with grace and good-natured aplomb. Thanks, as well, go to all the readers I, in turn, taught Structured Fabrics during my ten years with Quilt University. I learned more from my students than from anyone. People say that a person learns more about a subject by teaching it than by taking any class; surely that is true for me.

Nancy Crow taught me the improvisational cutting and piecing techniques I present in this e-book. Thanks go to Nancy for expanding my perspectives on what was possible using fabric as an art medium. I have taken what I learned from Macky and Nancy and moved forward on my own to develop what I now pass on to you.

Thanks also to Carol Miller (posthumously) and her husband Roger for all their years of assistance, support and encouragement freely given through Quilt University.

Testimonials

Structured Fabrics is a fun class with a low stress quotient. I learned some new techniques and a simple way to design and construct a complicated looking quilt. As usual, Dena’s material is articulate, well organized and complete. She shares her knowledge and experience generously. She responds to questions thoroughly and thoughtfully.

I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and learned a lot of new things. The class was better than I expected, because the work was tailored to the individual talents and ways of working, and was not the usual lesson where you follow instructions closely and that's it. You must put something of yourself in it, and while it is difficult because it takes you out of your comfort zone, in the long run it is much more rewarding.

I certainly enjoyed the class and definitely learned new skills, as well as a new way of approaching my work. I definitely would take another class with Dena. She responded promptly and gave me lots of good information--above and beyond what was required by the class.

WHAT A CLASS! The lessons were absolutely excellent. Exceptional!

Dena did an outstanding job. Her written material was excellent. Even though I wasn't sure about what I was suppose to do she provided great guidance which made it possible for me to complete a project that I was happy with. I learned so much from her and plan to eventually take all her classes.

This class exceeded my expectations, and it was all in a different area than I had ever developed before. Excellent presentation of material, and the content of information was overflowing. I will take more classes from this instructor, including repeating this one again in the future. It is easily a class that can be repeated to advance your skills.

Supply List

Choose fabrics from your stash without shopping for new materials. Because any first attempt is a learning effort, do not use your best fabrics. Instead, use some of the ugly fabrics you have. The fabrics become so much broken up and reassembled as to become completely new materials. You will be glad to see fabrics you do not particularly like become something new and interesting.

To make any Structured Fabric quilt, you need:

---A fabric stash

---1-2 yards of lightweight, stiff non-woven fusible interfacing, such as: Pellon 911FF Fusible Featherweight Interfacing or Vilene H250

---Rotary cutting equipment (mat, cutter, ruler)

---Zigzag sewing machine and normal sewing kit

---Walking or even-feed foot

---Bias tape-maker; size 1/4″ (I love the way these tools work, and I recommend that you acquire one of each of the four sizes available – 1/4, 1/2, 3/4", and 1″)

Bias tape-makers

---Double needles, 2-4 mm apart, needle size 75-90 of your preference (for example, 4.0/90)

Double Needle

---Regular sewing threads in a variety of colors, some matching and others contrasting with your fabrics

---Variegated rayon embroidery or other decorative threads

---1/8'-1″ wide satin or grosgrain ribbons, decorative cords or yarns, narrow laces and trims; again, use what is already on hand

Introduction

Structured Fabrics: Checks, Plaids and Stripes was my first online patchwork quilt design class. It remains one of my favorites because it is a great way to develop new and texturally exciting quilt designs. In the e-book, you learn everything I taught for ten years at Quilt University and continue to teach today to quilters around the world.

Structured Fabrics methods help quilters loosen up and gain confidence in their ability to make decisions. The class teaches how to work spontaneously, preparing students equally to create and work to a plan and to allow a creation to develop independently of any preconceived notions. The e-book does the same.

The e-book teaches first how to build a woven check from two or more materials. Fun and easy to do, it is exciting to explore the possibilities presented by freehand rotary cutting and the introduction of unusual materials, even trims, into the work. Three-step zigzag topstitching through the layers of fabric and a supporting foundation are what holds the work together.

Woven fabric check with satin stitching

With one or more checks built from materials already in your stash, learn to elaborate a check with more strips of fabric, trims, ribbons, cords and additional stitchery. Decorative threads and stitches add great colorful accents as you watch a simple check become ever more important as it grows into a plaid. Individual fabric prints become so intermingled that each loses its identity as all combine to make a new visual experience. Plaids become increasingly three-dimensional with each additional layer, and the result is a wonderfully textured surface. Just try keeping your family and friends from handling these quilts!