About Lucy
Lucy Engels is a Modern Quilter and Visual Artist, Based in Edinburgh.
With a background in Fine Art and a BA (Hons) in Printmaking from Grays School of Art, Lucy has always been creative. But the real world beckoned, so she side-stepped into the world of social work for a good decade of her life. When Lucy moved back to Edinburgh for her partner’s work, this was her opportunity to step back into her artist shoes. She hasn’t looked back!
Lucy feels that her artistic background helps her bring different kinds of knowledge, skill and inspiration to the quilts and patterns that she creates.
You may have seen some of Lucy’s work exhibited at QuiltCon in 2018, 2020, and 2021 – – where she won an award in the appliqué category for my Naive Melody Quilt. She is heavily influenced by music!
Lucy collaborates regularly with industry leaders such as justhands-on.tv, JanomeUK, Aurifil Thread, FIGO Fabrics, Oakshott Fabrics, Purl Soho, and RJR Fabrics. She also teaches online workshops to individuals, groups, and Guilds, as well as in-person workshops in my Edinburgh studio.
According to Lucy, “I create unique, modern quilt patterns that coax out your inner artist by allowing you to put your own personality and stamp on what you’re making. This isn’t quilting by numbers. You don’t have to follow what I do to the letter. Consider it more as a map to guide you towards creating a stunning piece of art that you can curl up under when it’s done.”
To see Lucy’s designs and limited edition fabric collections, visit her website: https://lucyengels.com/
You can watch Lucy make a colourful modern quilt design using a foundation paper piecing technique that she calls, “controlled improv” in this episode of The Makers Studio series.
Signature Technique
Controlled Improv
Top Tips
- Experiment with colour to create movement in your quilt.
- Map out your design on a wall before cutting and sewing.
- Use music as an inspiration for your quilt design.
- Blue tip needles work a treat for paper piecing. Fine and sharp.
- A single line of different colour thread in your quilting creates lift.
- Fold the freezer paper along template lines to help with your foundation paper piecing.
Videos
Patterns
Posts
19 August 2016
New Videos Every Friday Templates and Rulers Jennie [...]
Festival of Quilts 2016
For the first time since it started I was not on duty and took the opportunity to wander round snapping pics of quilts, catching up with people (sometimes literally bumping into them!) and shopping - what a great day. Here are a few quilts that caught my attention (other than those in the winning gallery of course! which we have posted on our Facebook page - click here) An entry from Kate Crossley (do you remember her stunning clock from a previous year?) A detail of the winning quilt's stitching - amazing; however in the early years this would have been done by hand - no other comment other than to say rather than taking weeks that would have taken years.
What’s it like on a Justhands-on.tv Retreat
Have you ever wondered what's it like on one of our retreats? Well now you can hear from some of the people who attend these fabulous sewing weekends. Why do they go? What do they get from them and why do they keep coming.... Click here for more details of our upcoming retreats in March April and October 2017