Another dimension in quilting: 3D Quilts !

Who says a quilt has to be two-dimensional?  We love quilts with 3D shapes.  With the advent of fusible webbing and spray products, many quilters are  making bouquets, landscapes, birds, houses, and other fiber art creations, as you'll see here.  And at the end of this post, you'll find some free tutorials for 3D flowers and leaves!

Nantucket Window Box by Suzanne Ashmead

In this wonderful quilt, all the elements were 3 dimensional: the shingles, flowers, and colorful bird.   Suzanne says, "I enjoy the brightness of a planted window box, and was intrigued by Joan Shay’s method of adding a 3-dimensional quality to flowers and leaves. Not having found the right fabric for the shingles, I dyed one to the color I wanted – fun!"

The colorful impatiens flowers make a pretty impression in this window box.  This pattern and many other 3d patterns are available at Joan Shay's Petal Play.

On Oyster Pond by Helene Blanchet (Nova Scotia, Canada)

Helene Blanchet says, "I am a folk artist from Nova Scotia. When our children left home I wanted to make a commemorative piece of the place where we raised them in the small village of Oyster Pond – complete with all of our gardens, favorite activities and all the birds that used to come to our feeders (but you have to peek under the leaves to find them!)"

The leaves have finished edges, and each leaf was quilted with veins, then appliqued to the background.

In the Potting Shed by Georgia Thorne (Threadplayers Fiber Art Group)

This delightful spring quilt won a blue ribbon for 1st place in the Art/Innovative category at the 2014 Arizona Quilters Guild show. Georgia Thorne says, "In the winter, the empty flower pots inspired me to “Plant” them with color. I tried new products: Stiffy, Terial Magic, Glass Bead Gel, and Jacquard pearl paint."

The Philip Jacobs purple fabric was perfect for the lattice work background, and the flower pots, leaves and flowers were so realistic they almost jumped right off the quilt. 

On a Cloudy Day, 43 x 49”, by Jeannine Smetana

We spotted this cheerful origami-style sunflower at the 2015 World Quilt Show in Florida. The sunflower is both hand and machine appliqued with detail of stitching on petals and leaves. The on-point blocks are edge-stitched with green thread in a non-traditional form. The pattern is an original design by Jeannine Smetana.

Saturday Market Bags, 57 x 67”, by Tina McCann (Depoe Bay, Oregon)

We were intrigued by Saturday Market Bags, which was exhibited at the 2014 AQS Quilt Week in Phoenix. Tina McCann says that piles of newly dyed wool fiber and silk, followed by a trip to the Saturday Market with piles of fruits and vegetables, inspired the quilt.  Here is a closeup of the felted bag, with grape leaf decor.

3D Fabric Tutorials: You can find a whole collection of books and videos on 3D quilt art by Diane Savona, Jane LaFazio and other authors at the Interweave Store.  Or, checkout these fun and free tutorials we've collected from around the web !

Row 1: 3D leaf tutorial by Eva Paige Quilt Designs;  Fabric 3-D applique shapes tutorial at QuiltScapes.  Row 2: Shabby Chic pillow tutorial by Jennifer Heynen for Thermoweb; Flowers by Barb Forrister, tutorial at Quilting Daily.  Row 3: Love is in the Air wall hanging project by Jackie White for Pellon Projects;  3D Foliage using Misty Fuse, tutorial by Barb Forrister.

Blooming beauties: meditations on flowers, quilts, and Mother's Day

We've always wanted to make a flower quilt, but haven't yet gotten it off the ground (so to speak).  In the meantime, we keep adding flowers to our Quilt Inspiration collection.  We thought you might enjoy seeing some of our favorites from this season's crop.

Tribute to Mom by Diane Hartman

Diane Hartman won 2nd prize for the New Member's Challenge at the 2014 Tucson Quilters Guild show. She says: "The challenge fabric was avocado green – one of my mother’s favorite colors; she always teamed it with fuchsia pink! Synonymous with thoughts of my mother are visions of gardens and beautiful flowers."

close up, Tribute to Mom by Diane Hartman

The hexagon flowers, done in colorful Kaffe Fassett fabrics, were 3-D appliqued to the surface. Diane explains the materials she used: "In the tradition of my 'waste not, want not' mother, I decided to team the avocado green with studio leftovers, i.e. hexi-flower experiments, French knot flowers salvaged from a four-decades-old peasant blouse, a rejected black-and-white checkerboard and little yo-yos."

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister (Austin, Texas)

Fiber artist Barb Forrister was inspired by dozens of photos and a desire to plant a 3-D garden. Here is the left-hand panel of an intriguing triptych. Barb explains, "Shangri-la is a 3-D triptych created with soft sculpted flowers on a hand painted and inked background. As a fiber artist, I am constantly looking for different mediums that can be used to add lift and yet be pliable enough to sculpt; others remain flat but still provide texture.”

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, right panel

The hand-painted background of the quilt was silk screened and stenciled. The soft sculpted 3-D flowers stand out two to three inches from the surface.  Different sections of this stunning piece were beaded, thread painted, embellished, machine appliqued and quilted.

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, close up

The brilliant red-orange tiger lilies really stand out in this luscious quilt. Textural yarn was used to create the stems.

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, center panel

The flowers in this panel calla lilies, irises, lilac and tea rose bushes and a variety of imaginary wild flowers. The center stalks of the calla lilies consist of beads set on wire, which stand up and add even more dimension to the flower. The scarlet poppies were stitched and assembled before they were appliqued to the surface of the quilt. The entire piece with three panels was 85 x 29", for more information see Barb Forrister's website.

Camellia by Melinda Bula (California)

Inspired by a photo of a camellia flower, this gorgeous wall hanging was made with fused applique, then thread painted. Melinda Bula says: “Camellias grow in abundance in Sacramento. When I moved here I quickly filled my yard with nine bushes to put on a great show." The photo that inspired the quilt can be seen at Melinda's blog.

Melinda is well known for her beautiful thread painting, which you can see in the close up photos above and below.

close up, Camellia by Melinda Bula

Melinda Bula will be teaching her fabulous fusible flower technique at the National Quilt Museum in August, 2014.  She is the author of Cutting Garden Quilts:  Fabulous Fusible Flowers.

Passion Flower,  34 x 42", by Pam George (Louden, Tennessee)

We were drawn to the beautiful purple, chartreuse and aqua blue colors of this hand painted passion flower quilt.  Pam first painted a wholecloth flower and leaves, and then fused it to the batik background.  She used two layers of batting in some areas to raise specific areas of the flower, such as the stamens and spikes. 

close up, Passion Flower by Pam George

We photographed this lovely quilt at the 2014 AQS show in Phoenix, Arizona.  Here is an even closer view of the quilting around the center of the flower....

Mediterranean Colors and Perfumes, 90 x 94", by Sonia Bardella (Venice, Italy)

One of the most amazing postage stamp quilts we've ever seen, this quilt was made by Sonia Bardella to resemble a petit-point tapestry pillow owned by her late grandmother. For eight months, Sonia painstakingly hand- and machine-stitched 24,000 tiny squares snipped from old shirts, pillowcases and towels into a mosaic of blooms. The large circle of rusty red, deep rose, light blue and golden yellow flowers is set against a background of 11 shades of white.

close up, Mediterranean Colors and Perfumes by Sonia Bardella

A close-up photo reveals the pixelated workmanship of the huge quilt. Sonia Bardella explains,  "This is the quilt on my bed, with all of the Mediterranean's colors."  The quilt was photographed at the In Full Bloom Exhibit at the 2013 Houston IQF.  It won the $500 Ina Stentiford Award, established in 2007 by the family of a late New York quilter who loved flowers and floral quilts.

Benefit of the Sunshine, 81 x 81", by Noriko Nozawa (Chiba-City, Chiba, Japan)

This quilt, which resembles a painting, inspires us with its artistic design and beauty.  The wood-nymph is surrounded by flowers and bathed in ribbons of light. Noriko Nozawa says, “The quilt expresses a gentle light by using rainbow colors I dyed myself."   The rainbow colors stand out against the high-contrast black, white and brown background.

close up, Benefit of the Sunshine by Noriko Nozawa

 

The quilt was machine pieced and free motion quilted. Noriko says, "For the first time I tried the method that emphasizes an outline by using thin felt.” We love the intricate  stained-glass appearance which emphasizes the flowers, butterflies and flowing hair shown below.

Even the stylized face of the figure is decorated with subtle quilted flowers in orange thread. Noriko is as much an artist as a quilter and we loved her original, exciting design. 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.