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Sewing machine and all the stuff that goes with sewing: scissors, cutting wheel, cutting mat, marking pens/chalk, pins for pinning pieces together for putting onto design wall.
Spray Starch
Quilting rulers: 12" square (for cutting triangles) and 4"x 14" or 6.5"x 24" (for cutting strips from yardage).
A piece of batting or white flannel to cover design wall (6'x8')
Voltron!!!
FABRIC:
All full width of fabric 1/4 to 1/2 yards of 14 different
fabrics
(minimum - bring lots of colors) selvage to selvage (we will be cutting WOF strips):
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3 very light (neutral grays or beiges or white or very pale pastels.
3 or more medium lights (pastels) 3 or more medium (brights) 3 dark (dark brown or dark navy, etc) Black
Other options for fabric selection:
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Monochromic palette:
8-12 fabrics of a single hue in as many values as you can find.
Required is a very light and a very, very dark.
It is value that makes this quilt interesting so keep this in mind.
OR use only two high contrast colors.
Black and White (or other high contrast fabrics) 3 yards each.
Dancing With The Wall Relax, play, let it happen!
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Sewing machine and all the stuff that goes with sewing: scissors, cutting wheel, cutting mat, marking pens/chalk, pins for pinning pieces together for putting onto design wall.
Spray Starch
Quilting rulers at least 4"x14'. Helpful for squaring up components made improvisationally.
A piece of batting or white flannel to cover design wall (6'x8')
Sketchbook and your favorite pen or pencil, or your other favorite drawing implement.
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FABRIC: 2 yards white or off-white 1 yard of a dark (black, dark brown, navy, maroon, forest green) 1 yard each 3-4 different colors of fabric, solids or small prints that read as solids that “talk nicely” to each other and that you love
More from Irene Roderick...
My artwork is currently grounded in the textile arts, focused on quilt making and fabric dyeing. I am trained as a painter and I have always been interested in pattern and color and how these elements can evoke emotional and political responses. A few years ago, I encountered modern quilting and loved the idea of making a “utilitarian painting.” I learned to quilt and accidentally discovered improvisational quilting, an intuitive, spontaneous process I call "dancing with the wall.” The technique opened up a new-found creativity for me. This work is entirely intuitive and visceral.
I begin by placing a scrap of fabric in the center of my design wall and then grow the quilt one element at a time, responding to each “step” until it feels balanced, interesting and joyful. When I begin, I do not know what is going to happen but create through trial and error, literally dancing between the wall, the cutting mat, the sewing machine and the iron. Through this act of making, I have learned to embrace the joy of creative intuition, spontaneous expression, and a blind trust in process.