From Silkaphobia to Silk-ccess!

Worried about silk fabric being too precious, too delicate, or too finicky to work with? I too once suffered from silkaphobia. But through lots of fabric therapy, I’ve overcome my concerns and now enjoy creating artwork with silk fabrics. And you can too! In my new course, Silk Art Quilts Made Simple, we’ll create a stunning art quilt using the finest fabric of all—silk.

In Silk Art Quilts Made Simple, we begin by selecting the best silks for making lovely pieces of artwork. You’ll learn what types of silks to use like these overdyed and upcycled fabrics. And you’ll learn why there are certain types of silk to avoid.

If you can’t find the right color of silk, why not paint the fabric using water-based textile paints? I’ll show you how to paint a beautiful sky for your design using paints that keep the fabric soft and pliable. Several brands of paint for silk and directions for their use are given on your Resources Pages.

In the second lesson, I’ll show you how to take a sketch and turn it into a pattern. You can make your own pattern from a sketch or use the pattern included with the class, Fine Line Tree. Or maybe you don’t need a pattern and enjoy free-cutting shapes like I do.

But before cutting any shapes for your design you’ll learn a tip for working with silk. We’ll fuse the fabric with a lightweight fusible web like MistyFuse™. This fusible web stabilizes slippery silk, doesn’t change the color or make it stiff, and is easy to hand-stitch through. Applying fusible web to the silk also helps you transfer shapes to your fabric when using a pattern.

In the final lesson of Silk Art Quilts Made Simple, we’ll discuss hand-embroidery threads and needles and I’ll demonstrate the 7 hand-embroidery stitches used to decorate the Fine Line Tree quilt. As a bonus, you also have access to my Hand Embroidery Stitch Library: Right & Left Handed (a $19.99 value) with videos of even more stitches to try.

Another bonus is the Resource Pages. Included is information on where to purchase silk, threads, needles, and fabric paint. There are step-by-step directions for painting the fabric and for making a pillowcase binding to finish your artwork. And of course the Fine Line Tree pattern.

It’s time to overcome your silkaphobia! Join me in Silk Art Quilts Made Simple and discover the joy of working with silk fabrics and make a glowing piece of artwork!