About Dionne
Dionne paints with stitches to create dynamic, vibrantly coloured textiles. Her needle becomes her pen and thread her ink. The scale, emotion, and energy of her landscapes are inspirational.
Dionne is a graduate of Goldsmith’s College, London University. She has a Masters in Textiles from UCE. And she has been recognised by the industry for her incredible work, e.g. Shortlisted Finalist in the Fine Art Textiles Award at The Festival of Quilts 2020.
Now based between Yorkshire [UK] and Abruzzo [Italy], she exhibits and tutors internationally.
You can watch Dionne demonstrate how to use free motion embroidery to create a range of patterns, textures, tones, and shades in an episode of The Makers Studio series, brought to you by Janome and justhands-on.tv.
Signature Technique
Painting with stitches
Top Tips
- Use a vibrant mix of thread weights, colours, and styles to build up a more dynamic texture.
- A machine with an extra wide throat makes it easier to manipulate your piece.
- Cover your hoop with fabric to give it more grip. You need the fabric to stay drum like as you manoeuvre it.
- Drawing your subject first, with pencil on paper, can help improve your observation and knowledge of your subject – try not to work from a photograph.
- Practice by stitching your signature to get started. Your muscle memory will help you.
- Think of painting with stitches as an orchestra with the sewing machine, threads, fabric, hoop, and you (!) coming together to work as one.
- Don’t be afraid of the machine. After a few hours of speed sewing it becomes second nature.
- Try not to have a set image of the outcome. You are not stitching an exact replica. The result is where you get to. There is no wrong in there. Enjoy the journey.
Videos
Patterns
Posts
Old Christmas Cards – what do you do with them?
Christmas cards in a pile ; what now? Check them off a list and then recycle? Well yes but I also check through them for inspiration - while I am still in the Christmas mood and all that Christmas fabric is still looking at me. Here are a couple that I know I will work on: I just love the curly papercut tree and reindeer: plan is to enlarge and then trace onto Heat N Bond and then just fuse onto a winter background.
Ipad Cover a great success
I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and also to share my completed i pad cover with you, which is a gift for my neighbour for Christmas.
I found the instructions easy and the end result looks a lot more complicated than it actually was. Fabrics found in the Lady Sew and Sew Warehouse in Henley.
Many thanks for the continuing inspiration, I've only been quilting for eighteen months and find your website very helpful for techniques, tips and inspiration.
Best wishes,
Roberta
Tote-it-all Bag in production
Just to say a big thank you for the tote bag workshop. I saw it yesterday afternoon and am now the proud owner of six new shopping bags. They were a great way of using up some very odd jelly rolls I bought on line and which had some very odd novelty prints in them. However made up as bags they look great!