Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 1

PPM in Birmingham p. 2

How much is my quilt worth? p. 3

STORIES OF RUSTED QUILTS

Irena Zemanová p. 4

Alena Třešňáková p. 4

Jana Kohlová p. 5

Mirka Kalinová p. 6

How To…

Czech Star Mystery Quilt p. 7

Shops for quilters

Patch-Design p.6

NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2010

Dear quilters,

The exposition of rusted quilts exhibited during

the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham has been a

huge success by wide public, in this issue we will

present you our flashbacks on the expo as well

as other stories of rusted quilts, which are

thanks to the presentation in Birmingham as

well as the PPM Newsletter known truly

worldwide.

In October another patchwork event will take

place in Prague – the For Decor fair, with a large

exposition of Prague Patchwork Meeting. I

believe this event will be a great source of

inspiration for many of us.

Anna Štěrbová

CONTENT

In this section you will find useful links for patchoworks and quilters shops as well as other useful

web pages.

www.pfaff.cz

www.strima.com

www.patchwork-hobby.cz

www.patch-design.cz

www.aja-patchwork.cz

www.e-patchwork.cz

www.veselajehlicka.cz

www.eshop.patchwork-studio.cz

www.hotelstep.cz

INTERESTING LINKS

Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 2

PRAGUE PATCHWORK MEETING in BIRMINGHAM

Festival of Quilts Twisted Thread in Birmingham, which took place between 19th and 22nd August

2010 was the first large international event, which offered its visitors a selection of quilts exhibited at

Prague Patchwork Meeting, thus the collection of the Art Club CZ – the rusted quilts. The original

Prague collection was accompanied by quilts created by further Czech artists.

In total, 29 quilts were presented within an independent gallery.

Some of the authors were present at the trade fair and have provided the visitors with information not

only about the collection, but also discussing the current level of patchwork and quilting in the Czech

Republic. It is not exaggerated if I say that quilting in the Czech Republic only began to be taken

seriously after this complex presentation. Many visitors have been to the country as tourists and

maybe they will have another reason to return thanks to patchwork.

However, most of the information was connected to rust dying, stories of the quilts; many ladies

shared with us their own experience with rust dying. The presentation was supported by a special CD

featuring the complete photo gallery, list of artists and mainly the photo workshop on how to dye

fabrics with rust at home. The CDs may still be purchased upon request.

The Czech collection has also raised interest of the on-line patchwork television Justhands – on TV.

The success of Czech quilts is the best invitation for other lecturers and artists to Prague for the

upcoming years of Prague Patchwork Meeting. Czech quilters were also granted several invitations to

exhibit at well acknowledged exhibitions abroad.

We would like to thank all those who have participated on our presentation in Birmingham, since they

enabled Czech quilting to do a further step into the international quilting scene.

Jana Štěrbová

Festival of Quilts, Twisted Thread, Birmingham, 2010

Photographed by: Petr Nikodem

Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 3

HOW MUCH IS MY QUILT WORTH?

In connection to the upcoming sales presentation of quilts and other patchwork goods, me as well as my

colleagues often get the question: How much can I offer my quilt for? Is there any price list?

Answering the question is not that easy.

Valuing the quilt is one of the most difficult tasks a quilter has to answer during her artistic career.

There are a few criteria which may be helpful in this matter.

One of them is the price for a square decimeter of the finished quilt, however this price varies by different

techniques. There will be a different price for a whole-cloth quilt as well as for a traditionally sown one, also

depending on the quality of used fabrics and the complexity of patterns.

It may also be helpful to evaluate the time spent over sowing this unitary are. Generally, sowing and quilting

would be classified as qualified work, the price differing from country to country. Try to count how many

hours of an average craftsman wage you creating 1 square decimeter of a quilt.

Then, add up material costs, needles, threads, amortization of your machine. Further costs are connected to

documentation, photographing, exhibiting, offering the quilt for sale, but also to workshops, which increase

your “qualification” (as well as books, magazines, time spent on the internet etc.).

Try to sum up all the items. Even if you appraised your work by the lowest wage, you will probably reach

quite a high number.

Now you can play with this number further, depending on your own needs or the market situation. Maybe

you will subtract the labor (you do it for fun anyway) or costs (what would I do with all those fabrics anyway).

You may guess correctly that in the Czech Republic, price of a quilt is determined by demand and purchase

power of those outside the patchwork world. So many of you have been telling me stories such as: a friend of

mine really liked it and she asked me to sow her quilt as well and that she would pay me for the material

(why not for the time? – have you noticed), however then she found out how much the material actually

costs, so in the end you gave her the quilt for free…. Do you see yourself in this story?

It is even more difficult to valuate modern art quilts, where the original idea represents the core of the work.

Then the name of the artist also plays the role, how known she is in relation to the local, national or even

international quilting community, her unique style or script (preferred by collectors and buyers), the number

of exhibitions, publications etc. Even here I suggest a price above 1,000 EUR. However, despite the fact that

modern quilts are worth this amount, it doesn’t mean they are sellable for it in the Czech market. That is the

risk of every artist offering her quilt for sale.

Personally I believe that we are in the very beginning of the price curve, which does not mean that there

would not be Czech artists with quilts on European level and whose quilts are without doubt worth the

European values.

For many of us, quilts are just like our children and it is difficult for us to say good bye to them independent

of the price, many of them are not replicable (unique fabric or material, situation in which we created the

quilt, awards from exhibitions, the quilt simply being part of our homes).

But also, you may find quilts, which we are able to offer for sale and which we send into the world as

ambassadors of our amazing hobby, maybe even thanks to them, there will be more and more customers

willing to pay for the unique design and hand craft. We simply have to try it that is the only way how to

establish a price level by us.

As many of you know, I am currently holding my own exhibition and I had to evaluate my quilts for the

insurance purposes, thus decide about my relation towards each of the exhibited pieces. It was really difficult

and since I wanted to fit within a certain frame, I was quite harsh on some of the pieces. Try it out for your

own and if you want, feel free to discuss it with others. I believe that the general opinion on quilt values will

start to emerge soon.

Jana Štěrbová

Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 4

STORIES OF RUSTED QUILTS – ALENA TŘEŠŇÁKOVÁ (Sun in Sand Storm)

I was born in the sign of fire and, as my family likes to say about me, I

have shoes which like to wonder. I could travel all the time, to hot places

if possible. I love Africa, Egypt, Greece and other countries with hot

weather all through the year. Winter and cold are not for me, that is when

I crawl inside; behaving as a bear, so my quilt is actually a memory on my

journeys. Originally I did not want to do a rusted quilt at all, but the piece

of fabric, given to me by Helena Fikejzová and having watched a

documentary about desert made me do it. When I wrapped the fabric out,

I have seen sun, beautiful and burning. The rusted sun was shining and

suddenly images like fata morgana started appearing in front of my eyes.

Memories of walks in the hot sand, burning into the feet as coal, waking

up in the morning and in the evening, the sun setting into sea waves and

in the end a storm, during which sand gets everywhere. I could not stop it

anymore, so I used gesso, painted, quilted and burned tyvek listening to

music. For that week, my husband left his office neighboring my work-

room saying “Get insane on your own, I don’t need to participate on

everything.” But since he is a big fan of me, he agreed after seeing the

exhibition, that our craziness is quite good and that we can compare our

pieces to the foreign quilts without having to sit in a corner as Cinderella.

Alena Třešňáková

Alena Třešňáková, Sun in Sand Storm

Irena Zemanová, Sun Set

STORIES OF RUSTED QUILTS – IRENA ZMANOVÁ (Sun Set) I was really excited from the idea raised at Art Club to make

a collection from fabrics dyed with old rusted metal plates, wires or

grids to fulfill the theme “scrapping bonus”. Dyeing, printing, tie dyes

as well as all other textile techniques are among my greatest

passions.

I left the meeting full of ideas of how to achieve the wonderful colors

and contours of keys, grids, wires, scissors… Just in case, I got some

more metal plates, circles and squares to try out the technique.

Finding out the basic fabric was not a problem, we always have

enough of vinegar at home and to give up on metal plate was quite

relieve because of my aversion against baking pastry at home. So,

everything was prepared, “the magic” can begin.

What a disappointment it was for me, when I checked the state of

rust on my samples. First day nothing happened, but I cannot expect

miracles. The same repeated on the second and third day, which is

when I started having doubts about the suitability of used metals,

resistant to rusting. Every day by sun set I entered the room hoping

to see the fabulous contrast contours, but most of the time I have

just seen slightly rusted metal plates and tiny “stains” in the fabric.

After about a week the miracle has finally happened and I could

finish the dying process thinking of how to use the pieces in a quilt

with the topic “scrapping bonus”. Since I was very often close to

getting “scrapped” when watching the sun set during the dying

bonus, the topic of the quilt was more than obvious – “Sun set” it

had to be!

Irena Zemanová

Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 5

I have been excited about the technique of rust dying since the very first moment because of its ability to

recycle things, which are no longer used, give life to the old bed sheet and rusted objects no one needs

and which are just moved from place to place. I was determined to try out this new technique and was

even more motivated when it became the topic of Art Club CZ collection for Prague Patchwork Meeting

2010.

There aren’t many rusted objects in our panel apartment, but back at my husband’s parents’ cottage, it

only took a while to search through mass of junk in the backyard. From all sorts of objects, which were in

there, I selected rests of fence, nails, different sizes of cans and some chains and dyed old bed sheets

according to the instructions. The result has been quite different from what I expected it to be, but I have

put the dyed fabric aside, taking it out once in a while waiting for inspiration.

For a long time nothing happened, until one day when we went for a walk with my husband, we have

seen dried blossoms peaking out of snowdrifts. The scenery strongly reminded me of my fabric. So the

idea was there and on the same weekend I produced my first rusted quilt – “Landscape underneath

snow”. However, it did not match the criteria for the exhibition entry and the deadline started

approaching. Thinking about what to do, I took out of the cupboard all orange yarns and fabrics and dyes

and once everything was out I thought of a hot summer noon with burning sun. Further on, I just let the

materials and patterns to guide me.

The quilt „Noon heat“ was created without me having a concrete idea about the final result, however, I

tried to utilize some of the techniques I have learnt over the last year – imprinting fabrics with acrylics,

creating surfaces by stitches, combining materials and connecting tradition and modern techniques.

Jana Kohlová

STORIES OF RUSTED QUILTS – JANA KOHLOVÁ (Noon Heat)

Jana Kohlová, Noon Heat

Prague Patchwork Meeting September 2010 Page 6

When I first unpacked my rusted fabrics, I was quite disappointed. I

obtained old chains from oxcarts from a neighbor at our weekend house

and I was looking forward to the amazing pattern I will get. But oops, it

was not at all what I expected (now I know what I should have done).

However, the old keys I just laid there came out quite nicely.

For several days I was thinking about what do with the fabric. For a while I

wanted to make a quilt with gothic elements. Gothic (as well as art

nouveau) is my favorite style and I discovered that lately I always squeeze

some gothic element into my quilts. Once, when going over my materials, I

was completely stunned when discovering the lovely gothic keys. So the

topic was there, what a pity I could not let them rust.

I copied the keys onto a freezer paper, cut them out and painted them

with rust textile dye. I printed the gothic motives and letters onto a special

paper, which may be ironed onto a fabric. The sign “OLD KEYS” was

created by printing out large font letters, ironing the freezer paper onto

the fabric and painting the letters with metallic color.

Apart from my tie-dye fabrics, I have used dyed silk, tyvek and lace.

And the buttons? Well, I simply had to put them there!

Mirka Kalinová

STORIES OF RUSTED QUILTS – MIRKA KALINOVÁ (OLD KEYS)

PATCHWORK SHOPS: PATCH -DESIGN

Mirka Kalinová, Old Keys

And here comes another step of our fabulous project Czech Star Mystery quilt with Kimberly Einmo. Are you ready to do Star points Blocks? CLUE # 3 - Combine triangles cut from 10¼” squares of fabrics #1 and #4 - Chain stitch four units RST together on short edge of the triangles with fabric #4 on right side as shown - Then, reverse the fabric placement and stitch four units RST together along short edge of the triangles with

fabric #4 on left side. BE CAREFUL – these are mirror image units! - Press triangle units closed first, then press units with seams toward darker fabric - Sew large fabric #5 triangle as shown in diagram, and press seams toward fabric #5 large triangle

#1 #4 #4

Make 4

Make 4

#1

CZECH STAR MYSTERY QUILT – Part 5

The widest selection of fabrics is brought to you by

WIS Patchwork Studio (http://www.eshop.patchwork-studio.cz/)

- You will need: 8 – A triangles from fabric #1 – 5” strip 8 – A triangles from fabric #4 – 5” strip 8 – large triangles cut from fabric #5

#4

#5

#1

Make 4

Be careful!

These are mirror

image units!!! #5

#1 #4

Make 4

PRAGUE PATCHWORK MEETING NEWSLETTER No7 EN

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