Crafting with fabrics adds a new dimension to the scope for craft projects.

Crafting with fabrics is very new to me.

However, I am enjoying it and I am hooked!

Fun with fabrics is not a thing I ever thought I would be writing about on my website!

Just ask my needlework teacher from school days🥴

Crafting with fabrics has never really been a part of my arty crafty repertoire.

I’m all about paint, glue, paper, pastels, inks – anything that makes a mess really 😆.

However, that all changed when I attended a class recently to learn how to make Art Quilts.

Using fabric in an arty way is something I had never really considered.

That was until Anne Robson’s class came up at Wooden Roots.

But more about that in a later post.

By then, I hope to have finished a couple of Art Quilts made from my own paintings.

These will be paintings I have transferred to fabric.

I know lots of people wonder how they can do this, so I will be sharing that with you too.

The possibilities for crafting with fabrics are endless when you start to dream up ideas of your own.

Until I discovered the arty possibilities of fabrics I had always been envious of people who could sew really well.

But didn’t think it was for me as I was never that good at sewing.

But last year, one of my YouTube viewers sent me a beautiful gift that she had sewn herself.

So then, I did start getting a little curious about crafty possibilities with fabrics.

Leslie Gilbert was one of the 22 thousand subscribers (2024 figures) over on my YouTube channel Rainbow Lane.

First she sent me a cute little Mug Mat and then, she very kindly made me some bunting with my channel name on.

Lesley is no stanger to fabric art.

After she sent me these beautiful gifts, I learned that she makes all sorts of things.

Such as mug mats, gorgeous quilts, taggy blankets and amazing fidget lap quilts for people living with dementia.

Take a look at some of Lesley’s beautiful work below.

As you can see, her work is very neat, bright and colourful.

I absolutely love the personalised taggy blankets; I believe these ones were orders that Lesley had completed.

And the fidget lap quilts/muffs are a brilliant idea for those living with the effects of Alzheimers/Dementia.

Thanks to Lesley, I did start to get the glimmer of an interest in crafting with fabrics.

Then I discovered the Art Quilting course that Anne was teaching.

By then I was more open to having a go than I would have been and, I booked onto her course.

Although I am a very clumsy and inept seamstress – no, really I am! – I am enjoying adapting what I learned with Anne to present my art in a very different way.

It’s making me think differently about what I am creating and I’m loving it.

Update 2024 – Studio 2 at Wooden Roots, Rendlesham doesn’t seem to be offering sewing classes now.

As I update this post in 2024, I couldn’t find any sewing courses at Wooden Roots.

But I know many sewing shops do offer them so it’s worth looking in your area.

These were the two Art Quilts I was working on at after my classes.

What you see below is a very different use of what I was taught on the course.

For example, you will notice there is no layering of fabrics.

I’m not quite ready to start layering at home with no tutor on hand!

So I am using my own printed art work as one whole piece to begin with.

There will be scope to quilt over the designs later.

Cheating? Maybe. Will it be as effective? No – it will be a completely different look.

And it might turn out to be terrible! But at least I am having a go!

I have already had problems with what I want to do but think I have found the answer – so I hopefully, (finger’s crossed!) I will be back here with my results in a week, month, year – whenever! But I will be back 👀 🤞

Update 2024 – Still waiting! 😍

My crafting with fabrics fun did continue in another of Anne’s classes back in 2020.

She is taught a 3 hour workshop on February 29th on how to make a tote bag.

We were supplied with the ready cut fabric in a choice of vibrant and exotic fabrics and given step-by-step tution in how to make a fully lined bag.

And as with all Anne’s classes, it was a fun and sociable affair 😍

I did make a fabulous tote but forgot to photograph it before giving it to a friend.

She still uses it four years later!

Crafting with fabric has been fun.

To be perfectly honest, I still haven’t quilted those two printed paintings!

But I have used fabrics to make journal covers for art journals.

I would love to hear from anyone who is dabbling in the world of fabrics and making art.

If you are crafting with fabrics, find me on Instagram and tell me what you are doing – see you again soon!

One last thing before I go, there are now many free craft printables available on this website.

I started them in lockdowns and have carried on. You can find them here.

Please read the very few Terms & Conditions I have if you download them.