Applique—Artistic Designs from a Fabric Palette
I love art and the many mediums that can be used to express the sentiment that the painter feels. With the art of applique, fabric is our medium, with it's rich array of colors and textures just waiting to come alive on a cloth canvas. As you view my portfolio of applique designs, personalize them. Imagine them in your own environment, then visualize the colors that will be on your palette. What mood, tone, sentiment, do you want to express? As you paint your quilt using these patterns, they will express your sentiment, your vision. I encourage you to be creative with my designs, use the appliques individually or mix them together to see what rendition might flow from your interpretations.
We art—therefore we are!
Sew, what's been happening at The Picket Fence...
It's time to dust off the cobwebs that have accumulated on my sewing machine over the last couple of years. What could possibly have caused me to stray from my long time love of designing artsy quilts? It all started on a fun little bicycle tour of the Cotswolds in England where I reunited with another old love—my bicycle. After getting lost en route on the tour, I purchased several nice guide books for cycling and that became the impetus for my new company, Mini Adventure Series. I've now published two bicycling adventure books for riding the roads and trails around my home state of Tennessee. This strayed mini adventure has catapulted my graphic and web design skills. Plus from this latest adventure, new ideas and energy have sprouted and I’m ready to pick up the needle and thread again and see what my muse has in store.
When I began my company back in 1996, my house had a picket fence bordering the property. There were a variety of colorful herb and flower gardens growing along it's edge with a few vines winding their way up and over the fence, decorating my neighbor's yard. I've always thought of my pattern company, The Picket Fence, as the border around my creative garden and my patterns as the seeds planted that might find their way into your gardens.
As a gardener we're always weeding, pruning, and planting to keep our garden in order. After a season or so, the picket fence needs a coat of fresh paint as well. It's always sew much fun to play around in the garden!
If you haven't visited us for a while, you may notice that I pruned a few older vines and planted some new seeds. The fence is painted, the sun is shining and my garden is ready to sprout, grow and bloom! As you walk through my design garden you’ll find many of your old favorites plus a new sprout or two.
Contruction is underway for a "gardening" center, A Vintage Affaire, where you'll be able to find an array of vintage embellishments that will go sew beautifully with your projects. I'll also be featuring some collectibles and books that I've found along the way. Many were used as props for the pattern covers or as inspirations in the design process.
Applique has always been my mode for blending fabric with art. Coming from a background of french handsewing, I've always enjoyed all forms of intricate handwork. Traditional applique is a lovely work of art. These days, with time sew precious, we often don't have hours to devote to our projects. If you love the soft dimensional look and feel of hand applique but you, too, no longer can spend the time it takes to achieve this, you might enjoy using my Soft Fuse™ Fusible Interfacing. I tested many different products before I found this wonderfully sheer, soft fusible interlining. You'll love the look and feel of your appliques when you use Soft Fuse™ and you'll love the time saving techinique combined with the ease and benefits of a fusible.