Japanese Flowers in Applique

Description

The exhibition opened in Tokyo on 28 December 2004 in the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Department Store. It then travelled to venues in Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Sapporo, Kyoto and Takamatsu. Altogether, the exhibition attracted over 105,000 visitors in Japan. In October 2005 the exhibition travelled to Korea where it was shown in the Chojun Textile and Quilt Museum, and Sookmyung Women's University Museum in Seoul. Eileen has travelled to Japan at various times in Summer, Autumn and Spring. The flowers in many temple and public gardens make a stunning display, and she especially loved the Meiji Jingu Iris Garden. These flowers were the inspiration for her quilt. The brilliant colours of the Japanese maples in Autumn overshadowed the softer tones of some of the Summer and Spring flowers so the maple leaves are quilted in gold around the border. Eileen has captured the wonderful colours of Japan in this quilt. Easy to follow instructions have been provided so that the reader can create their own beautiful quilt. However, if one would like to make a single panel of flowers into a quilt or for use on another piece, it can be easily done, with each pattern standing alone.

Eileen Campbell worked as a primary school teacher for a total of 22 years. She has an interest and expertise in many crafts including weaving and related textile arts, fabric printing, bookbinding, calligraphy and photography. She began patchwork and quilting in 1984 and since 1993 has been working as a textile artist giving workshops and lectures both in Australia and overseas. Eileen specialises in machine work using applique, embroidery and quilting techniques. Her designs usually incorporate flora and fauna whether from nature or imagination. Her work is often embellished with beads, braids, etc. and machine quilted.

A quilt of 20 blocks appliqued with beautiful realistic flowers, such as iris, water lilies and peonies, together with 3D butterflies and embroidered maple leaves. The silk flowers are applied with fusible web and backed with iron on stabiliser. The flowers are outlined with satin stitching and have detailed instructions telling how to achieve the correct size stitches and tension. The author recommends making practise samples for each area, recording stitch size, thread, tension etc, before beginning. There are outline drawings of the flowers to be photocopied and enlarged. Each of these exquisite motifs is photographed in colour and could be made individually.-Patchwork & Quilting Inside this book is the pattern to make a most glorious quilt, inspired by the author's visits to Japan and entered for a Japanese exhibition. It depicts the flowers associated with that country; waterlillies, camellias, irises, chrysanthemums, peonies and more. Here too is how to make it yourself. This is a very hands-on book that jumps straight in and tells you what you need to buy, what sewing machine feet to use, what size of needle and other important things as simply as possible. If you are a beginner at quilting and applique then this book is not for you; you don't have to be very experienced to make it but this is not a book of beginners' instructions. Each block is shown individually, but to acquaint you first with the method and how to use double-sided fusible webbings there is a staged example. Not staged as in lots of photographs and steps, but showing how to break up the design, transfer it and what it looks like cut out in fabric, and then stitched. This made the rest of the book remarkably easy to tackle in my opinion, and all you then need is access to a computer (which you already have or you wouldn't be reading this) and a graphics program to enlarge some patterns. Large scale diagrams show where to put the accent stitching that brings the blooms to life, and smaller diagrams show how to combine the shapes. Towards the back of the book the patterns get smaller and more complex, but by then you should have mastered how it is done and be up for a bit of a challenge. There are also instructions on cutting the rest of the material to make up the quilt, and how to put it all together. At the very back is a short glossary of terms, so the project should not be too advanced for anybody who has had a bit of experience in this type of thing before. The finished result is beautiful, and the whole slim volume is beautifully simple and direct to work from.-Myshelf.com Throughout this book you will explore the techniques Eileen has used to create the beautiful quilt featured on the front cover, which was originally submitted to an exhibition entitled 'Japanese Imagery in Contemporary Quilts' organised by the directors of Kokusai Art and Nihon Vogue of Tokyo. Simple and comprehensive instructions have been included for the applique of the iris, camellia, hydrangea, blossom, water lilies, chrysanthemum, wisteria, roses and peony. The book contains beautiful illustrations and very helpful hints for creating the very best results in machine applique.-Fabrications