3 Day Dye Painting Workshop

April 15, 16 & 17th, 10am-4pm

Location - Newmarket

In this three-day workshop you will first create a sampler, and then repeat the steps on a small art quilt. Along the way you will learn:

• several techniques for painting with thickened dyes to create a realistic image on cotton fabric, and
• how to thread paint in a natural, organic style with your sewing machine, to make your dye painted image even more lifelike. 

Prior painting experience is not required. However prior experience using a sewing machine is essential, ideally with some exposure to free motion quilting.

You will also create your own artwork using a photograph from nature, either your own or one of Sue’s photos. This in-depth class includes some of the preparatory steps that are not included in the one-day workshops, such as preparing the line drawing, treating the fabric and preparing the sodium alginate mixture to thicken the dyes.

Each day of the workshop lasts approximately 6 hours. The activities for each day will depend upon class interests and individual progress, but will generally include:

Day 1:

• treat the fabric and prepare the sodium alginate mixture from the basic ingredients.
• use thickened dyes to get a feel for how the dye works with the fabric using the different brushes and different application methods on a sample piece of fabric. 
• select a photographic image for the class project and use it to create a line drawing
• begin applying thickened dyes to the selected image 

Day 2:

• complete the dye painting project begun on Day 1
• learn some of the basic techniques of realistic/organic thread painting using the sample piece (if the sample dye painting piece is not ready for quilting, a piece of plain cotton fabric can be used.)
   

Day 3: 

• Thread paint your completed dye painting project in a realistic organic style1.
• Sue will demonstrate several common background patterns such as wavy lines, poppy petals, mctavishing and “writing in the sky”. You can pick one of these to complete your small art quilt     

Student Supply List      

Sue Sherman is a quilt artist and a concerned nature lover.  She often depicts endangered or threatened  animals in her designs, which feature painstakingly detailed dye painting and/or raw edge appliqué of hand dyed fabrics.  Her art quilt “Dear Humans . . .” won the Superior Thread Award for Thread Artistry at Houston in 2022. Her penguin quilts are featured in the Northcott Stonehenge “Magdalena” collection of quilting fabrics.  Her realistic art quilts have also won awards at the (Canadian) National Juried Show in 2019, 2021 and 2022, the Quilts Inc. Houston International Quilt Festival juried show (2021) and the
2023 AQS Branson Show, and have been juried into three SAQA Exhibitions: “Fur, Fins, Feathers & Fangs”, “Musica!” and “Aloft”. Her “Galapagos Land Iguana” won a judges choice award at the “Beyond Festival of Quilts” virtual quilt show in 2020