Watercolor Quilting by Ashley Nickels

Intermediate | 37 min 15 sec

Watercolor Quilting
Overview01:09
Materials01:59

Fabric Painting
Painting fabric in watercolor style11:08

Quilting
Quilting watercolor design14:22
Background filler quilting08:39

Taught by Ashley Nickels

Buy For $19.95

Pricing Options

Watercolor quilting is a fun and colorful way to introduce yourself to free-motion quilting. By painting your own design on the fabric, you create a “coloring book” in which to practice and play. Inspired by the loose style of watercolor painting, Ashley Nickels shares her original technique for painting on fabric with fabric dye, and then outlining the brush strokes with contrasting stitches. This meditative technique allows you the freedom to follow the pre-painted design, or create new patterns and shapes as you go.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For painting:

100% cotton muslin or quilting fabric (Ashley works with 12" squares)
Paintbrushes (size 12 or bigger)
Jar for water
Paper towel
Plastic drop cloth or other protective surface
Plastic palette for mixing colors
Jacquard’s Dye-Na-Flow in your choice of the following colors:
- 802 golden yellow
- 801 sun yellow
- 824 ochre
- 808 hot fuchsia
- 806 brilliant red
- 809 magenta
- 810 claret
- 819 bright green
- 618 chartreuse
- 813 turquoise
- 815 cerulean blue
- 816 midnight blue
- 811 violet
- 829 black
For quilting:
Batting for quilt sandwich (Ashley uses 12” squares)
Masking tape
Fabric for backing
Safety pins
Curved edge snips or small scissors
Darning foot attachment for free-motion quilting
Cotton thread (Ashley uses 50 weight Aurifil in black for outlines and in white or matching for background filler)
YLI Invisible thread
Rubber gloves (for free-motion quilting)
Sewing machine
Iron and ironing surface

Downloads:

Download Materials List

Learn how to:

Paint on fabric to achieve a watercolor style
Set up machine for free-motion quilting
Quilt around the edges of the watercolor painting
Fill the background of the fabric with free-motion quilting

What you’ll get:

A unique lesson that combines textile painting with free-form stitching to create a quilt top with a watercolor effect.
7 HD video lessons you can access online anytime, anywhere
Detailed supplies list
Step-by-step expert instruction from Ashley Nickels
The ability to leave comments, ask questions, and interact with other students