Spotlight: Cindy Grisdela, Improv Quilt Artist
With a commitment to creativity as an attribute that develops best when nurtured and encouraged, improv quilt artist, teacher and author Cindy Grisdela works on improving her art quilting skills...
Improv Quilting
Improv quilting is the process of making a quilt without a pattern and little-to-no preplanning. Inspired by a single piece of fabric or left over pieces from other projects, each design decision influences the next as the artist adds fabric along the way, creating a unified piece of textile art.
Improv quilts can include curved piecing, strip piecing, appliqué and more! Today we think of Improv as a genre of Modern Quilts, but many historical quilts also have improvised designs.
Improv Quilt Inspiration
Spotlight: Shelby Skumanich, Quilt Alchemist
With a background in photography and an admiration for the Gee's Bend quilters, Shelby Skumanich mixes her trained compositional eye with the freedom of improvisation. The resulting quilts are striking...
Spotlight: Irene Roderick, Textile Artist
Initially trained as a painter, textile artist Irene Roderick came to quilting when she was looking for ideas for a bed quilt (her first), and discovered the work of Denyse...
More Improv Quilting
Improvisational Curved Piecing
Break away from the traditional quilting rules with improvisational curved piecing! Embrace spontaneity and explore free-form curves and circles. What is improvisational curved piecing? Also referred as improv curves, this…
Comprehensive Guide to Improv Quilting
Break free from traditional quilting and all of the rules! Work spontaneously and show your creative expression with improv quilting, also known as improvisational quilting. Improv quilting is about exploring,…
Spotlight: Nicholas Ball, Improv Quilter
Vibrant color is a hallmark of the fiber art that improv quilter Nicolas Ball creates. Open to anything, Nicholas juxtaposes colors that seem to vibrate when placed next to each…
Spotlight: Christina Cameli, Quilter and Teacher
Try to keep up with quilter and teacher Christina Cameli. We dare you. Christina designs both improvisational and structured quilts, creates free motion quilting designs, writes books on quilting, teaches…
Spotlight: Amanda Nadig, Textile Artist
As an art teacher, Amanda Nadig inspires her young students to create in ways that are important to them. As a textile artist, Amanda is most at home in the…
Spotlight: Sheri Schumacher, Textile Artist
Innately inquisitive from a childhood rich with multi-cultural experiences, textile artist Sheri Schumacher transforms used cloth into fiber art that carries the work of the original makers through Sheri's hands…
Spotlight: Melanie Tuazon, Fiber Artist
When her children were young, fiber artist Melanie Tuazon started quilting as a way to explore creativity while making practical, useful things. The making of utilitarian objects has grown into…
Spotlight: Irene Roderick, Textile Artist
Initially trained as a painter, textile artist Irene Roderick came to quilting when she was looking for ideas for a bed quilt (her first), and discovered the work of Denyse…