Transitioning from traditional patchwork to fiberart

I have been quilting for more than 45 years.  I started this journey with library books, thrift store clothing, fabric scraps and hand quilting.  Until I was an adult, I was unaware that quilting was in my blood.  My grandmother’s sister gave me a box of quilt blocks (mostly Jacob’s Ladder) and one quilt top, which their mother Grandma Grace Shepherd had made circa 1900.  Nearly a hundred years after she built that top, I finished it into a quilt by hand quilting - enlisting the stitching help of family members whenever possible. 

Grandma’s Grace

While teaching art in the public school system, for 21 years I also taught traditional quilting to adults in the evenings.  We mostly made lap size quilts, piecing by machine and quilting by hand. 

Eventually, I invested in a longarm machine so I could finish quilts more quickly.  I opened a business finishing quilts for customers, and honed my skills in machine stitching. 

I developed a love for portraiture while teaching art at the high school level.  Stitching a face by machine is very much like drawing a continuous contour line drawing with a pencil.  I eventually worked my way into collaging faces – hand appliqueing the pieces, and finishing either by hand or machine.

In 2021, after being retired for a few years, I went back to college for a Masters degree in Painting.  I worked at combining paint with fabric, often using vintage quilt panels as my canvases.  I focused on two topics for my final project: gun violence in the US, and the war in Ukraine. 

These being emotionally heavy subjects, I often rotate in more pleasant subject matter, like this painted portrait of my children. I also enjoy landscapes, still life and abstract compositions.  I love dyeing, painting, and screen printing fabrics when I get the urge to get messy. 

Recently, I’ve gotten back to my traditional piecing roots, and made a few bed size quilts, but for the most part, I am using fabrics as an art medium.  Please visit the website of an international group of fiber artists that create work for various themes every two months.  Visit our site, Cloth in Common.  We have a blog and many galleries of our work created over several years. It is fascinating to see and read how artists from various cultures and places interpret the same theme. 

Karol Kusmaul

Enjoy more of Karol’s work on the her gallery page.