E-textiles and soft circuits for quilts and quilters

LEDs incorporated into the quilted
Paris Rendezvous fabric panel.

Have you heard of E-textiles? Textiles or fabrics with electronics sewn into them?

A lot of research and development has been devoted to this topic in the science and medical fields and in the last few years it's moved into fashion and the performance arts. Now here is an example of electronics and soft circuits in a quilt! (I'm thinking about developing a class, so leave a comment if you're interested.)

This is the Paris Rendezvous fabric panel that was featured in this post. The "special embellishment" that I planned for this quilt is the incorporation of LEDs (light-emitting diodes). Can you see the white lights on the Eiffel Tower?

I had some peripheral exposure to e-textiles over the past few years and picked up a book on the topic, but had to make myself sit down and do hands-on experimenting with the technology to get my head wrapped around it. A shout out and thank you to my friend, the talented felting and weaving artist and instructor Geri Forkner, for the introductory tutorial this summer. I couldn't have gotten a better jump start into this amazing technology without her guidance and assistance. (Thank you again, Geri!)

Sparing you the tech babble about Ohm's Law, microcontrollers and circuits, I'll just offer a few off/on pictures of the LEDs on the Paris Rendezvous quilt. The lights are better seen in twilight or darkness, but hopefully the side-by-side photos will help.

Paris Rendezvous with LEDs off (left) and on (right).

There are three circuits on this piece—one for the tower lights and two others for the roses on each side. They all connect to a battery.

Paris Rendezvous with yellow and red LEDs in the roses: lights off (left) and on (right).

Can you find the two LEDs in the flowers below?

Paris Rendezvous with red LEDs in the roses: lights off (left) and on (right).

I am surprised that some of the terminology from a semester of basic electronics in undergrad school came back to me. (The printing and graphic arts program was under the College of Engineering at NIU, so I and my fellow printing majors were required to take the Intro Electronics class.) Dr. Hamm would be so pleased.

So what do you think? Electronics in quilts? Anyone interested in a class? Leave me a Comment with your thoughts and ideas. Thanks!

The Magic of Wearables fashion show

The Magic of Wearables
fashion show and luncheon

A group of my quilt guild friends and I attended The Magic of Wearables fashion show and luncheon at the Museum Center at 5 Points in Cleveland, Tennessee this weekend. This show is the revitalization of the former Tennessee Presents Textiles runway show that was conceived and directed by my good friend and fiber artist, Geri Forkner.

Geri provided oversite and vision for the show and another fiber arts friend of mine, Karen Viser, headed the committee to successfully implement the revival of this wearable art event. Kudos to Karen, Geri and their team!

Several accomplished fiber artists from the southeast had their artwear modeled in the fashion show that was emceed by Libby Callaway, former fashion editor at the New York Post. Among the felted and hand-woven garments were works by Liz Spear, Neal Howard, Geri Forkner and Tone Haugen-Cogburn.

Fashion show garments.

The runway pieces and other hand-dyed, stitched and embellished garments and accessories were available for purchase from the artists before and after the runway presentation. Other vendors had hand-dyed yarns and fibers for sale as well.

Geri Forkner (left) with her nuno-felted and hand woven art pieces.

Here are some of Karen Viser's custom garments at her booth. Karen and I attended studio intensive art workshops together. It was wonderful to see the heights to which she has taken various surface design techniques and incorporated them in her hand-dyed silk and velvet custom sewn vests.

Shoppers admiring Karen Viser's hand-dyed and surface embellished garments.

Tone Haugen-Cogburn is a multi-disciplined fiber artist. She is a long-time quilt artist who has taken to felt-making the past few years. Our paths often cross at fiber art events such as these or at quilt shows and other quilting events. It was great to see Tone again.

Tone at her booth showcasing fabulous felted bags,
garments and accessories.

It was a great day to share with friends—introducing first-timers to a fiber art wearables show such as this, and visiting with other fiber art friends and seeing their latest fiber art creations!

My talented friends, Forkner and Clabo

I had the opportunity to catch the opening reception of Alternate Realities, an art exhibit sponsored by the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance at the Emporium Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. My friend Geri Forkner, a talented mixed media weaving and felting artist, had several of her pieces on display in the show beside work by artists Elizabeth Porter and Carl Gombert.

Daily Weaving is a free-hanging woven structure comprised of small, daily weavings
made from found and discarded materials. This piece reflects 2 years of weavings.
Electronic components are incorporated throughout the piece.
See other photos (photographed in the daytime) here.

For the past few years, Geri has been studying and experimenting with electronic components and how to incorporate this technology into her weavings, wearables and felting art. The large installation above, Daily Weaving, incorporates battery powered lights within the free-hanging woven pieces. Below, Geri  is wearing a woven vest made from recycled papers and salvaged packaging materials. Her felted floral broach incorporates conductive thread and fiber optics. She is standing beside a weaving created from recycled coffee bags. The coffee packaging material offers a subtle reflectance that gives richness to the browns and copper tones.

Mixed media weaving artist, Geri Forkner.

I was also inspired by the Radiant Geometries exhibit of Carl Gombert's pen and ink and hand-stamped ink work. I found some potential fodder for my free-motion quilting experiments in his pen and ink drawings. Both exhibits go through January 25, 2013. Check them out, if you are in the Knoxville area. The Emporium is a great space with large upper and lower galleries.

The Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN

Another very talented friend of mine is machine quilter extraordinaire, Margo Clabo. I saw this quilt during a recent visit to Chattanooga Quilts quilt shop. It is a sample piece promoting a Borders class that was team taught by shop owner, Kim Thomas, and quilting instructors Mellissa, Karen and my friend Margo. 

Medallion quilt at Chattanooga Quilts, Ooltewah, TN.

This beautiful medallion quilt employs a lovely red/green color scheme (who doesn't like this classic color combo?). It's spinkled with whites that add a freshness and sparkle and is complemented with a buttery yellow outside border. But what stopped me in my tracks... was the quilting. In true Margo style, the attention to detail was exemplary. I knew immediately (almost without having to ask) it was Margo's work.

Close up of the machine quilting.

What I love about Margo's quilting is that she steps beyond the pieced block and superimposes another layer of pattern and design with the quilting. She changes a sawtooth border into a chain of squares on point. Large squares are transformed into 4-patches, and two parallel half round channels (almost trapunto-esque conduits), travel around the center medallion to emphasize the geometry of this symmetrical layout.

Corner detail of the machine quilting.

The pseudo-Baptist Fan swashes on the wide outside border creates movement and dimension. Upon closer inspection, you can see featherlike flourishes superimposed over half-square triangle patchwork. Margo performs her magic using a long arm quilting machine, but her quilting design sense is inspiring to anyone—whether you use a sit-down, domestic or long-arm machine.

It's a honor to have friends with such talent. Gee, if they continue to let me hang around them, maybe some of their artistic flair will rub off. Ya think?

Tennessee Presents Textiles runway show—a celebration of textile arts

A beautiful fall November day welcomed artists and fiber art enthusiasts to the southeast's Tennessee Presents Textiles artwear show and sale last weekend. A crowd of nearly 200 enjoyed a day of unique artwear and fiber art accessories presented runway style.

The featured guest speaker, contemporary folk artist, Rachel Clark, opened the event with a presentation of over 20 of her wearable art pieces. I've taken Rachel's workshops and attended her lectures, and her personality, humor, and tell-it-like-it-is style quickly ignites the room with energy and puts an audience at ease. You can be sure you're in for a treat when Rachel is on the agenda!

I also had the pleasure of picking Rachel up from the airport shuttle service in Chattanooga and driving her to the location of the show in Vonore, TN (accent on the VON). It was a delightful hour and a half of one-on-one with one of my favorite textile artists. Among the topics of conversation were her lost luggage (which she was surprisingly calm about), pattern making, print production and some new workshops and classes she was developing. Her mind and creativity never stops.

Rachel and I at the runway show.

Rachel's presentation and trunk show started off with three vests made with her "Picture This" vest pattern. This is a versatile pattern which I use over and over for my own pieces. It is a perfect canvas for piecework or can provide a great silhouette for other techniques.

Also included were pieces from her "Out of the Crayon Box" collection.

 

Student work from the Fashion and Design Department of Rangsit University in Thailand was also featured.

 The techniques were innovative and created unexpected textures.

Rachel and I got a back stage look at these garments after the show. These students are so talented and their work is inspiring!

Here is Geri Forkner (left), the Creative Director and driving force behind Tennessee Presents Textiles, at her artist's booth. Geri is a master at nuno felting and is now developing techniques combining hand-dyed silks, weaving, nuno felting and needle felting. (The dark brown scarf, center front, came home with me!)

Artists booths at Tennessee Presents Textiles. 

The second half of the runway show consisted of the garments from the "The Power of the Pocket" Challenge (Thank you, TPT, for crediting me for the Challenge idea) and work by twenty regional fiber artists. Artists had their work on display and for sale, including hand-dyed silk jackets, vests and scarves; felt bags, pouches, scarves and wraps; knit, woven and quilted garments; jewelry and other accessories.

It was a fabulous event and a wonderful celebration of textile artists and wearable art!