Spiky Trees and Plants

In New Zealand the Cabbage Tree (Cordyline Australis) is one of our most iconic plants. Learn how to fuse and sew a quilt depicting a Cabbage tree or a Palm, Yukka, fern, aloe, grasses or thorn tree

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Instructor: Clare Smith

Clare is an award-winning fibre artist whose work has been shown in solo shows as well as juried exhibitions across New Zealand and around the world. A graduate of visual arts programs, majoring in textiles and printmaking, she has taught quilting and surface design classes at colleges, symposiums and quilt groups. She was Artist in Residence in 2014 at the Tiapapata Art Centre in Samoa. Her work has been published ‘500 Art Quilts’ by Lark Books, as well as magazines such as Textile Fibre Forum where she was a featured artist in 2013.

Materials to bring:

•   Pictures of a favourite spiky tree/plant i.e Cordyline, flax bush,  Palm,  Aloe, Dr Seuss tree, agapanthas.

Fabrics:

• Fabrics to suit your chosen plant – hand dyed or tone on tone.
• 4-6 greens and 2-3 browns (1/2 metre lengths if you want to make an NZ flax bush; fat quarters for plants with shorter leaves) 
•  Also bring some large print fabrics such as black on green/brown and scraps to share.
• 1 metre of wide fusible webbing (or two metres of the narrow stuff).

Background fabric - Options for the background

•  Bring 1 metre of hand dyed fabric in very dark blue or sky blue.
• OR make before class - a group of 4-5 blue/dark blue fat quarters which are similar in colour and are joined to make a background of about 1 metre square (see my website Claresmith.blogspot.com for examples)
• Fabric scissors
• Rotary cutter, board and ruler
• ·Sewing machine optional