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Create Whimsy

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Improv Quilting

Category: <span>Improv Quilting</span>

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

Blue Confetti by Cindy Grisdela

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...

Red orange yellow and grey quilt

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...

Party Conversation by Irene Roderick

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

Finished quilt in pink, orange, blue and purple

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…
Popart quilt by Christina

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…
Close up of tan quilt

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…
Muktinath Pilgrimage quilt by Sheri Schumacher

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…
Melanie Tuazon Unruly

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…
Party Conversation by Irene Roderick

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…
Kamala Murali Wild Bougainvillea Quilt

Spotlight: Kamala Murali, Textile Designer

Kamala Murali, textile designer, rethinks the definition of "waste". Beginning with off cuts from factories in her native India, Kamala improvises her designs depending on what materials are available on…
Blue Confetti by Cindy Grisdela

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…
Vista Toscana

Spotlight: Debbie Jeske, Modern Quilter

Like many Modern Quilters, Debbie Jeske began quilting with traditional patterns and techniques. But once she knew the "rules", she decided to experiment with breaking them and now creates quilts…

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