Faux Chenille workshop at Gresford

I've been so busy finishing off bags for "Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags" over the last few weeks, I'm only just now catching up with blog photos. We had a good workshop at Gresford on July 29th, starting off my summer workshop season with some faux chenille. There's the option of using recycled fabrics for faux chenille, as they don't have to withstand the stress at the seams like patchwork, and making a design by layering shaped pieces. My workshop sample (below) used several old striped and checked shirts, blouses and was topped off with black & white pinstriped cotton from a pair of trousers I made in the 1980s. Using the same fabric all over the top of the panel gives the piece more unity.

The panel is machine washed when finished, fluffing up the layers and revealing the design -


Both the panels made in the workshop have circles in the layers. Jane went for an Art Deco arrangement of triangles, rectangles and a circle.

The design becomes hidden as more layers are added - by the time it is being quilted, the design has become a mystery... see the finished piece at the end of this post.


Sheila made a panel inspired by a simple landscape - here are the hills and sky before the yellow sun circle was added behind the hills. Note the lovely vintage Bernina Minimatic 707 - a close relation to my Minimatic and one of my favourite machines. They just purr!

Cutting through between the stitching lines and machine washing (at home) fluffs up the fabric edges, revealing the pattern again. Sheila let me have a go at cutting through some of her faux chenille.


Jane made her panel into a bathmat, themed to her bathroom colours -
It is very satisfying to use up scrap fabrics like this. We even used up odd ends of threads, so it really is a "something from next to nothing" project.