All that Glitters...

If you've been a quilter (or quilt admirer) for any length of time, chances are someone has asked you if quilting is really an art form or just a crafty hobby. While we have our opinions on that subject, we're not jumping into that debate. Instead, we're sharing a quilt--three panels really--that is clearly art. We suspect that this design will drop a few jaws...it's certainly not the stereotypical Sunbonnet Sue bed quilt that Grandma made!

Introducing: Special Effects by Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth of Tailormade by Design

"Special Effects" by Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth;
featured in Quilts & More Winter 2013

These sisters created this outside-the-box design for the Winter issue of Quilts & More magazine using Kanvas' rich, metallic Touch of Luxe collection. We asked them to share a bit about their design process, and you can read their responses below.

How did you come up with the idea for this piece?

Touch of Luxe is such a contemporary, cool line, and when we first saw it, one of the things we talked about was that it could make a really cool art display type of piece, so that's where we started from.

As far as designing, it was one of those projects that Melanie literally threw the fabric on the floor and started cutting shapes. It was all visual, and all done on the floor.

How else is this design different from others you've done?

We wanted some texture in there, so we used Texture Magic in a couple of the squares. It creates a crinkled effect. When we were working, we decided that it needed something else and we came up with the gold string to finish it off. You want to create the illusion that the string is going across all three panels, so it's laid across each and tacked in place.

Tell us about Touch of Luxe.

This was a really fun line to work with—contemporary but with that added gold metallic, which made it kind of rich looking and added a different effect to it. The fabrics do such a nice job of blending, and with some of the designs, it's almost like a tonal with the appearance of an oil water slick. It's just a really nice touch on this line.

What's your favorite thing about this striking design?

I really like that it's an art wall hanging. Three panels is a neat out-of-the-box way to think about doing a quilt project.

You can see the entire Touch of Luxe collection here.

Find Melanie and Joanie here.

Find Quilts & More here.