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Helen Butcher

Cubitz quilt Helen Butcher quilting workshop

About Helen

Helen can’t remember a time when she wasn’t making something. As a young child her greatest joy was the ‘useful box’ which lived in the cupboard under the stairs and was the repository for empty egg boxes, cereal packets and yogurt pots, all fantastic stuff to feed a creative mind.

When Helen was seven her Grandmother taught her to sew and opened her mind to a whole new avenue of creative expression.  Helen designed and made her first full size cross-stitch sampler before she was nine, and made various garments for dolls and bears and eventually herself, creating patterns by the simple method of lying on the floor and drawing round herself, much to the amusement of her Mother & Grandmother – both accomplished dressmakers.

Helen worked in graphics, and then advertising, for ten years, until she and her partner had the opportunity to quit the London rat-race and move to Yorkshire to run the family’s marina business.  During this time, Helen taught herself patchwork, quilting, beading, origami, marquetry, doll making and canvas work. She discovered that, not only does she love crafting and the challenge of learning something new, she also had a hitherto undiscovered competitive streak deep inside which prompted her to hone these new skills to the point where she regularly won awards in the handicrafts section of shows.

Fifteen years later, Helen decided to combine her experience of running a business with her enduring passion for crafting to start LITTLE PATCH POCKETS.  Helen creates patchwork designs and writes patterns so you can make your own unique, lovely things.  She also offers kits, classes and workshops where she teaches her designs.

Helen loves using three dimensional illusions in her work.  According to Helen, “I love to create an illusion of three dimensions and many of my designs are based on this concept. I do occasionally use curved lines, but since my mind seems to work in straight lines I find lots of inspiration in architecture, engineering and even mathematical concepts. I like accurate piecing and often create my own foundation paper pieced blocks in order to achieve the precision I enjoy.”

Helen is an avid follower of the Modern Quilt Movement as well as a great believer that quilts are for using: “for your three-year-old to drag down the garden, for the dog to sleep on and to go in the washing machine.”

Click here to see Helen (Butcher) and Helen Howes share a heart-warming story about their much missed quilting friend, Kate Percival.

www.littlepatchpockets.co.uk

Signature Technique

Modern Quilting

Helen’s Top Tips

  • Colour choice is key to 3D work. Always select three shades of the same colour, or light, medium and dark tones of the same colour.
  • Auditioning fabrics is one of the most useful skills any patchwork artist can develop. A quilt needs contrast of tone, however subtle, to accentuate the design.
  • Never use a fabric with a low thread count or a loose weave, however good the colour. Thinner fabrics do not handle well, will fray quickly and will not wear well in the finished quilt. It is worth investing in good fabrics.
  • Many of the fabrics at the cheaper end of the market cover up this deficiency with excessive amounts of surface ink and stiffening treatments – the secret is to turn to the back and check.
  • Always look for a fabric that is likely to shrink only minimally. Some shrinkage is to be expected, especially when combining fabrics from different manufacturers. Look on this as part of the charm of a washed quilt. However, cheap fabric with an open, loose weave will shrink hugely when washed, ruining your work.

Videos

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Posts

Janome Competition machine

Dining room takeover by the loan machine!     Very exciting - will be taking it with us to the Cotswold Water Park event at the weekend i.e. 17/18th March - so if you want to come along and have a play, which will entitle you to enter to win one of your own here is the address: De Vere Cotswold Water Park, Lake 6, Spine Road East, South Cerney, GL7 5FP just along the M4 close to Swindon.

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Join us in the drive to cover the St. Mary’s Church bell tower in poppies

Cover St. Mary’s Church bell tower in poppies St. Mary’s Church in Wotton-under Edge are planning to cover the Bell Tower in poppies by the 11th of November to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War. All poppies are welcomed - Knitted, Crocheted, Felt and Fabric. Click here for details "Knitting a Remembrance Poppy" workshop available for FREE The justhands-on.tv team are very keen to support this project.  So, we are making the full length workshop on “Knitting a Remembrance Poppy” by Rosee Woodland available for FREE for the next 8 months.

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Kitty range of fabrics designed by Makower

There is a free download pattern for this range, and Valerie will be sharing a workshop with you all at the end of the month, but this great range of fabrics also looks good when used on another pattern from the Makower stable, that caught Valerie's eye; (and just had to make one!)     designed by Lynne Goldsworthy originally to be used with the Into the Woods fabrics; It  is a free download from Makower - just click here.

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2020-02-25T19:14:07+00:00
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