• A practical and inspiring guide to producing textile
landscapes using Kathleen Matthews' unique dyeing, layering and
stitching techniques
• Five beautiful step by step projects and plenty of inspirational
pieces
• Full step by step instruction for all the quilting, dyeing and
stitching techniques used
Kathleen Matthews lives in the Forest of Dean. She studied Art, Design and Fashion at Lydney School of Art and Cheltenham College of Art, and has continued studying textiles since. She has also qualified as a teacher of Japanese Embroidery. For many years she has lectured in all kinds of textiles including Design, Patchwork, Quilting and Embroidery at the Forest of Dean College in Gloucestershire. Her quilts and wall hangings have won awards at shows around the UK and one has been chosen to represent the UK in the World Quilt Show in Florida.
May-June 13 Using a combination of fabric piecing, with machine and
hand embroidery Kathleen presents a variety of textile landscapes,
based on some of her favourite places. Detailed chapters covering
design, materials and stitching techniques are beautifully
illustrated with Kathleen’s work, and five step-by-step projects
encourage us to create our own landscape. An inspiring book,
perfect for anyone looking for a new approach to the subject.
*East Kent Embroiderer's Guild*
June 13 This is a new series from Search Press of exciting books
exploring textiles. Kathleen Matthews shows you how to dye fabric
and thread, layer materials for depth, and use machine and hand
embroidery to enhance your work. It is a technique used by many
textile artists, myself included. There is a good introduction to
materials and the design process for the beginner, advanced textile
artists might find this too simple. However, these simple ideas are
used in this book to produce stunning work. The dyeing section is
again for beginners and shows tray dyeing. In Basic Techniques you
will find a complete how to project with good step by step
instructions and plenty of photographs. This is very easy to
follow. In Elements of The Landscape, you will discover how to
translate into fabric and stitch the different elements that will
enable you to build a landscape. I particularly like the way
Kathleen has painted colour charts from photographs. She explores
the elements further in Seasons. The Projects in this book are
wonderful. They are easy to follow with step by step instructions
and photographs. There are five projects: Autumn Woodland, which is
my favourite; Flower Garden; Mountain Lake; Sunset Loch and
Lavender Farm. This is a beautiful book that brings all the
individual elements dye, fabric, stitch together to make wonderful
landscapes.
*Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts*
Aug 13 If you love painting with a needle then this book is for
you. Kathleen has created the most wonderful landscapes with simple
dyed fabrics, layering techniques and sumptuous machine embroidery
to give depth and a painterly quality to her pictures. Learn how to
take a photograph and transform it into your own unique picture
with beautifully illustrated steps and clear demonstrations.
Definitely one for my bookshelf.
*SEWING WORLD*
Aug/Sep 13 Landscapes are perfect subjects for embroidery as they
can be interpreted in so many ways. Many of Kathleen's textiles
begin with hand-dyed fabrics, which create unusual colours that
work well with a variety of techniques. The dyeing process, using
Procion cold-water dyes, is clearly explained in step-by-step
photos, and the dyed fabrics are layered or cut out and applied to
create gorgeous backgrounds. Lines of undulating free machine
stitching echo the structure of the landscape, following the
contours of the land, creating ripples on water and recreating
foliage and flowers. Whether worked by hand or machine, the
stitching adds movement and depth to the textiles. There are five
complete projects, all clearly illustrated with step-by-step
photos. Focusing on each element of the landscape, a wealth of
stitched samples illustrate the methods used to create skies, trees
and woodlands, rocks and pebbles, and more. This collection of
ideas will allow you to create your own favourite landscapes, and,
with every view offering an opportunity, you'll be taking your
camera everywhere with you.
*Stitch*
Sept 13 In the same series as Stitched Textiles: Flowers, this book
shows you how to make landscapes, the inspiration behind some
beautiful and fun to make projects. If you have the earlier title
and are expecting something in the same style don’t: this is a very
different book from an artist with a totally different style. All
the pieces in this book are quilts to start with although if like
this reviewer you do not make quilts the methods are perfect for
many other items too. Unless you want to go all the way and dye
your own fabrics you don’t need much to make the pieces shown here,
and most if not all of it will already be in the possession of
anybody with a sewing machine. Learn how to design a good
composition and lay down scraps of fabric before stitching over
them with the machine. It is a simple method but what you do with
it decides the merit of the work, I like that. Infinite pictures
and designs are possible without much work. The method is shown in
many easy stages in Search Press style, with lots of small photos
with captions showing what to add to each to make the picture.
There are sections on how to portray different landscape elements
such as skies, water, trees, hills, buildings etc. and all four
seasons shown. Finally, there are five well described and
illustrated projects so you can test your knowledge and have a go
yourself. Plenty of large format photographs show the works in
detail, and all of it had me itching to get started. There is of
course a section on dyeing your own cloth and thread if you wish to
do so, and even if you don’t think how much recycling of odd bits
of fabric you can do. One of the best hands-on user friendly books
of its kind and definitely a keeper.
*Myshelf.com*
Dec 13 Another in the Stitched Textiles series from Search Press,
this book tackles the creation of beautiful landscapes using
machine stitching techniques over pieces of cut fabric. If this is
an area you are interested in, this book is an excellent reference
on how to achieve the effects that Kathleen Matthews creates. There
is an introductory section on the basics – materials, design,
dyeing – all of which give a good overall view of how to gather
your equipment and get ready for Kathleen’s style of work. The book
is laid out particularly well, focusing on each key area in
landscapes (I couldn’t think of any more you might need to know),
such as skies, water, fields and grasses, flowers and rocks. In
each of these sections, there are fully illustrated steps to
creating an effective look to the work. There are several different
pictures to illustrate different ways of approaching each. For each
picture, there is an in-depth description of what you are seeing
and how this is translated into stitch. The pictures are excellent
quality and in enough detail that you can see the stitches as
described. There are some interesting points, such as remembering
reflected shadows on trees, and creating a sense of perspective and
dimension. Seasons are also covered in another section and the
different colours you will characteristically need for each is also
explored. There are several projects at the end, and these are a
great way of getting to grips with this technique. A combination of
the instructions given in this section, and being able to refer
back to the instruction for each key area earlier in the book, make
for a great tutorial in this stitching style.
*Workshop On The Web*
October 2014 Featuring original projects and with expert advice on
design, techniques and the materials you need to get started, this
instructional guide is brimming over with good ideas for a stunning
selection of fabric and stitch scenes. Kathleen explores skies,
water, trees and woodlands, hills and mountains, flowers in the
landscape, fields and grasses and much more. A fantastic source for
ideas and wonderful must-have reference book for all textile
artists, whatever their skill levels. Kathleen Matthews shares her
unique method of creating beautiful landscapes using quilting,
dyeing and stitching techniques. She shows what materials are
needed, and takes us through her design process from taking
reference photographs of landscapes through composition,
identifying the light source and choosing fabrics and thread to
create the scene. There is an excellent section on using simple
dyeing methods to create unique fabrics that are ideal for
landscapes. We then learn how to transfer the design on to fabric,
create a quilt and then layer fabrics to create the various parts
of a picture. Free machine embroidery is then used to create the
effect, with hand embroidery sometimes employed for details. There
is plenty of information on creating landscape elements such as
water, skies, trees, hills and mountains, fields, flowers and
buildings and more, and on depicting the four seasons. Hot Brands
Cool Places Verdict This is a practical and inspiring guide to
producing textile landscapes using Kathleen Matthews' unique
dyeing, layering and stitching technique. There are full
step-by-step instructions for all the quilting, dyeing and
stitching techniques used. There are five beautiful step-by-step
projects and plenty of inspirational pieces Autumn Woodland,
Flowers in a Landscape, a Mountain Scene, a Sunset on Water and a
Lavender Field.
*hotbrandscoolplaces.com*
It is the most infomative book on Landscapes written so clearly
that a beginner could create a lovely quilted picture. The pictures
are beautiful, the techniques well explained and this will inspire
anyone to try her techniques. I have many books on this subject but
this is the best. Congratulations to her.
*Customer*
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