I mentioned in the last post that I took a zoom class last Saturday taught by Judy Gelzinis Donovan called Creating New Cloth From Old Lace. The class was held at the online Mancuso quilt festival. If you are at all interested in this technique, she’ll be teaching another Zoom class next month. The information is at the end of this blog post.
Over the years I’ve collected lots of doilies and other vintage linens. I’ve always felt they were too precious to cut up. And the box of my grandma’s creations – no way am I going to take a scissors to them. However, I just had a big birthday in December that has really started me thinking about what I’m going to do with all of this stuff. This was the perfect class to change my mind about those precious things!
If you’ve not heard about Judy, she is an award-winning wearable art designer and quilter. If you google her name you will find some of her lovely wearable art. In class she showed us several of her beautiful creations made with this lace technique she learned from legendary crochet artist/designer Margaret Hubert. I immediately fell in love with her indigo-dyed jacket.Â
This was one of the most fun classes I’ve taken. The three hours went by so fast, but I felt I learned so much. When I registered for the class I wasn’t sure I’d learn anything new. I’ve used water-soluble stabilizer before.
Here are links to a few of my posts:
However, what drew me to the class was her beautiful wearables, and that she was using doilies to create them. I had decided if I learned just to get over my fear of cutting these special pieces, the class would be worth it. Not only did Judy help me to get over that fear, I learned so much more.
Here is the piece I made in class.
And another one I made the next day.
These can be dyed, or stained with tea or coffee. I thought about spraying them with Marabu Fashion Sprays, but decided to tea stain them. That really helped to pull everything together, making it more of one piece, instead of lots of different fragments. However, this picture doesn’t show the staining as much, but it did really dull down the white which is what I wanted it do. If I want it darker I could always soak it in the tea water again, and for longer.
On the second piece, the photo didn’t show much staining, but it really also pulled it together.
Now what will I do with these? They were really practice pieces. I could make clothing with this cloth, and instead of making a rectangle, make it to the size of the pattern pieces. I could also use this technique for panels on existing jackets, or even trim on shirts. It’s also a great technique to add to art quilts. I see more of this technique in my future.
If you’re interested in taking a Zoom class with Judy, she has another class scheduled for the Mancoso Spring Quilt Festival Online on Friday, April 30. The class, Fabric Collage Techniques: Koos van den Akker Style is a full-day class. For more info on this class, and to register, check out this link. I’ve already registered!! If that’s not your style, there are a lot of other classes during this four-day event. See more information on this quiltfest here.
Hope you are having a good week. I’m so ready for Spring. Looking forward to cleaning up the asparagus bed, my first gardening chore of the season.
I’m linking to Off The Wall Friday. Check out the inspiration there.
Fabulous! I love what you created. I would probably add some embroidery and beading and frame it. Now, I have to go dig through my stash!
Angela, Thanks! That is a great idea!