On creating my largest textile artwork ever

If you love seeing sneak peeks into works-in-progress as much as I do, here is my latest project. It’s the biggest artwork I have ever made. 4.2m wide by 1.8m high. There’s also a sister piece that will be 1.6m wide by 1.8m high.

Making blossoms at this scale has been exciting. Stitching the pieces of fabric together remains my favourite part of the process, and it was so good to have a quilt where the piecework just went on and on (a bit like a good book that is nice and long).

The problem with a quilt this size, though, is that it was going to be a bit of a struggle to quilt it under my domestic sewing machine. Thankfully Handcrafter’s House came to the rescue - I got to have my first play with a long arm quilting machine (the ‘Handi Quilter Amara) AND I got to quilt the artwork without ruining my arms and shoulders! For those who are wondering, with a long arm machine, the quilt is secured to a large frame, and the sewing machine moves freely in all directions. You can move the machine a bit like you might use a pen or pencil! With a large quilt, this is far easier than moving the whole quilt under the machine!