April: Workshop with Loretta O'Brien - from photo to quilt

On a previous visit to Galway, Loretta O'Brien showed us some of the fabric portraits she had created and of course we all wanted to know how she made them. So in April 2011 Loretta returned to Galway to give a workshop and teach us the steps involved.

Working from photographs which we had enlarged to A3 size, we traced the design using tracing paper, baking parchment or clear plastic.

By placing our tracing over graph-paper with small squares we were able to count the number of squares in the height and width.

We then moved to graph paper with large squares and plotted out our image by scaling the line drawing up to the larger paper. Although this is a slow process it is one that really helps to create a very good likeness of the original photo.

Loretta gave us an outline of what to do next.

• Copy your paper template so that you have a paper pattern to cut into the individual templates.


• Iron bondaweb to a piece of fabric larger than the template piece.


• Cut out your fabric using the template.


• Iron your fabric pieces to a background.


• Using monofilament (clear thread) on the top and in the bobbin, stitch the pieces in place using a blind hem stitch (----^----^----).


• Add in any details using free-machine lines, etc. in an appropriate coloured thread.

Below you can see some of the drawings in progress:

Requirements List for workshop with Loretta O'Brien on April 9th 2011

Working from Sketch or Photo to Quilt.

• 
  
  Photo / design to be A3 size, (take a suitable photo, picture or sketch and increase the size on the photocopier to A3 size)


• 
  
  A few sheets of tracing paper.


• 
  
  A sheet of A3 graph paper and an A1 sheet of graph paper. (you can always glue several sheets of A3 together to form the size of the quilt you want to make or you can use a large sheet of dressmakers squared paper)


• 
  
  Pencil


• 
  
  Rubber


• 
  
  Ruler


• 
  
  1 coloured pencil


• 
  
  A sheet or two of CLEAR template plastic. Can be had in Creative Grids UK. (you will eventually need to make a template for each piece and as you will be cutting the plastic if you want to complete the project you may need more than just one or two sheets) You could of course cut up your design cartoon


• 
  
  Scissors to cut templates (I have found a small narrow pointed one the best)


• 
  
  A bucket of patience.

This is a simple process and everyone can do it. You just need to be patient and allow yourself time to do it. This process will suit both pieced and appliquéd work. We’ll talk about fabrics etc at the workshop.

Loretta O’Brien 2011.

Upcoming workshop with Loretta O'Brien in April

Loretta O'Brien from the Mid-Western Branch in Limerick will give a workshop on developing a unique quilt design from one of your photographs.
Loretta is a very experienced teacher and this promises to be a great workshop so be sure to book your place early if you want to participate.
Clear plastic template is one of the materials required for the workshop and Loretta has provided a link to Creative Grids website where template plastic can be bought:

http://www.creativegrids.com/acatalog/index.html