In this new showcase I’m featuring four Modern Quilters that you will love!
Steffi Troy
I am a German quilter, living in beautiful Cologne. I am self-taught – I was fascinated by sewing when I was a teenager but an initial look at sewing pattern magazines really intimidated me. At some point, I started buying beautiful fabrics and a book with sewing instructions. I threw myself into the first project – a red clutch – and it actually turned out ok! A patchwork book followed shortly thereafter and I fell head over heels in love with quilting. That was 10 years ago – since then I have been sewing quilts with unrelenting enthusiasm.
I love everything about quilting, especially the different process steps of making a quilt. Being creative and the repetitive steps are so good for my mental health and keep me sane when life gets crazy. Most quilts I don’t actually keep, being able to gift a quilt and make someone happy with it is just a bonus to the actual fun of making it. I draw lots of inspiration off Instagram and its great community of quilters, but I also take inspiration from all around me. My first pattern is inspired by a wood flooring I saw on a tv show, hence its name: #woodtilesquilt! I love pastels but also moody hues and recently sewing with solids. I spent the last year trying to learn a lot about color and depth and how to be creative with them. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t. But I always learn something and it has been great fun!
Tania Tanti
I’ve always loved creating and began with tapestries and knitting, progressing through to studying fine art and loved photography and print making in particular. My career has been as a photographer, but in recent times I have been more and more wanting to follow my dreams of being a textile artist. I have wherever possible in the years done paintings and made quilts, but the past couple of years I have started to pursue making my own unique art quilt designs and dedicating more and more time to this. I absolutely love working in this medium and never want to stop. There is so much scope to create in both piecing, painting and quilting. It is an endless world of fun! I am very keen to raise the profile of textile artists and decided to have a local exhibition recently where all of the pieces have been stretched and framed. The reception and interest has been fantastic and I can see a whole new appreciation for this art from fresh viewers and lovers of creations. Its an exciting world of colour out there to discover and I look forward to sharing it with everyone interested in this area. Its going to be a great journey.
Jill Fisher
I am a modern quilter. I started quilting 12 years ago when I transitioned from an elementary school teacher to a stay at home mom. I didn’t realize how much I relied on my job as an outlet for my curiosity and thought processes until I was home alone with a baby. My wise mother counseled me to find a creative outlet and suggested that I try quilting. She had to teach me from a 1,200 mile distance, but I was desperate enough to make it work.
I learned early on that I did not have the patience or accuracy to cut and sew with precision, so I looked for new ways to express myself that didn’t require perfection. I work improvisationally and without patterns. I love the look of gently curving seams and the subtle visual differences that can be achieved by hand cutting shapes without using a ruler. I am guided by curiosity and love the feeling of wonder I get when I try something new. I enjoy working with color and finding ways to harmonize the color and spread light around. I like making quilts that spark light and feel happy.
I also like to tell stories with my quilts. They are part journal and part artistic expression for me. I always roll my eyes at the cliché phrase, “It’s not your grandmother’s quilt,” that’s used to describe modern quilting. One grandmother was a folklorist, English teacher and musician. The other grandmother was a master family historian and painter. I feel like every successful quilt I make is a mixture of them both.
Amber Elliot
I’ve been sewing almost my whole life; or at least since I was very young. I got started when my grandmother gave me a needle, thread, and some of her old clothes. I spent my childhood frankenstein-ing her cast offs and ‘making’ new ensembles for my mother to wear – they did not look good, but she was a great sport! In my teens, I did a lot of costume design and garment sewing, and then I decided to try out quilting. I made my first quilt – a low volume, simple patchwork block quilt – and was hooked. I’ve always created my own quilt designs, but didn’t consider pattern writing until a friend asked if I had thought of writing a pattern for one of the quilts I had made…. and the rest is history!
One of the struggles I always had with quilting was creating quilts that I would actually want to use and display in my home. With my quilts I try to create modern, unique designs that would fit in well to a modern home’s decor. I love mixing curves with straight piecing, and playing with scale to create striking designs. I always gravitate most to greens, neutrals, and the classic black and white combination. Much of my inspiration comes from nature, and I love to mix landscape concepts with modern, graphic blocks to create unique designs. Since launching the Modern Makes Membership I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to regularly design small experimental patterns that push me out of my comfort zone!
