April 25, 2016 Podcast
Guest: Blair Stocker of Wise Craft Handmade
Topics: working with denim
She says: "I do a lot of pieces with upcycle denim, and a lot of times I will go to the jeans section and sometimes I will look for the largest size, because you can get a lot of fabric from it. I will look for jeans that have an interesting front and an interesting back. Sometimes the wrong side of the fabric is a completely different color. And the other thing I like to look for are men's white dress shirts, because a lot of the nicer dress shirts have a dobby weave that provide a cool texture."
Guest: Lynn Harris of The Little Red Hen
Topics: scrappy quilts
She says: "If I really, really love the fabric, I'll buy a large pieces. And sometimes those become backs or a fabric that can coordinate well with scraps. But usually fat quarters are like yardage to me. I have a hard time cutting into a bit piece of fabric. And sometimes, even those I'll have to cut up and just feed the scrap bins, so I can actually use them."
Guest: Cynthia Frenette
Topics: improv quilting
She says: "My style is definitely very free-flowing and improv. I can't follow a pattern to save my life. It basically makes my eyes cross. And I can't match points or do math. So I definitely prefer to work improvisationally, go with my gut, and see what happens...I usually just kind of start with a general idea of what I want to accomplish or a finished size or shape, and then just start laying out pieces on the design wall and then filling in between the pieces to make them all work. I don't really worry about sewing anything together until it's almost done."
Guest: Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm
Topics: dying fabric
She says: "I like to stitch on linen. You can't beat that for a fabric that has a really nice hand. It also takes staining well, which I love to do to my finished work. I always stain my work just to give it that mellow look. [I use] black walnut crystals on the market. We also have a lot of black walnut trees on the property. I like to throw a couple down into a bucket and just let them brew for a little bit. That's what I dry the base materials with."