About Sallieann
The first thing Sallieann ever made was a cotton bikini top from her mums cast off work when she was 9!
After leaving school Sallieann flitted from “number” based jobs in insurance, banking, and tax (she wasn’t bad with numbers!). She married in the 80s and had two boys in the 90s. Then, the big change in her life came in 2000 when we moved to the USA for a three-year period so that her hubby could work on a military base.
It was there in New Bern, North Carolina that Sallieann found her very first Patchwork and Quilting Store. She walked in and was totally bowled over and knew this is what she needed in her life! She started with classes, mentoring from the incredible Shelly May of the “Raspberry Rabbits,” then some teaching, and by the time she left the USA, Sallieann was a prize-winning exhibitor!
When Sallieann and family moved back to the UK, she taught private Patchwork & Quilting, classes, as well as little gigs here and there for John Lewis and the American Museum in Bath. By 2016, she was designing for magazines, exhibiting more widely and started to work with Denman WI College teaching residential courses.
In 2018, Sallieann joined Sewing Quarter TV. One of the things that she loved about the Sewing Quarter was the genuine sense of community with the channel and feedback on the fan page, adding: “when people posted pictures of what they made following one of my shows, or what they made from my pattern, I can’t help but do a ‘Happy dance’!!”
Sallieann enjoys traditional quilting techniques and has won several quilt show awards both in the UK and USA.
Signature Technique
Felted wool appliqué on a sewing machine using speciality threads
Top Tips
- Run dental floss through your machine to get wool fluff out.
- To get a “touchy feely” vintage effect dip and tea dye the piece then tumble dry.
- Unpick seams with a Wahl trimmer. Works like a charm!
Videos
Patterns
Posts
Filming day with Karen Nicol
We spent a wonderful morning in the company of this very talented lady; she lives in Surrey and is a textile artists who has worked for some of the world's top fashion designers and now uses her talents to create stunning unique pieces from the objects she finds around her - and in charity shops! Here we are busy chatting over one of her 'lace skirts' which were in an earlier exhibition She is however currently working on her Monkey Tricks exhibition entitled 'Singerie' - 5th Nov -30th November 2013 and at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, 28 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 2NA
To see more of Karen's work you can visit her website: (and she also the author of a lovely book entitled 'Embellished - new vintage')
www.karennicol.com She is part of a very talented textile household as her husband (Peter Clark) works in paper collage: - you can see his work when you visit
www.peterclarkcollage.com
What to do about the layers in hand applique
Question: I am trying to do an applique flower it has abour 4 layers, including the back ground fabric, would it be better to applique 2 layers first, then do 2 on there own, and then attach it to the first 2 layers? as when i do the 4 altogether l am finding it hard to get the needle to go through all 4 layers.i am hand stitching the design.thank-you this is my first attempt at this so am very green on the best way to do this. Thank-you for any advice Sandra Answer from Valerie: The easiest way to do this layered flower is to put the first piece down - i.e.
What to do with the fusible applique pieces.
Question: Hi have just recieved Mandy Shaws Follow your own star quilt pattern and have already become stuck with the applique angels . They all have different coloured drsses on, so do l first cut out the whole angel then cut out the different parts of their colthes and then fuse them on to the background angel so it appears they are dressed ?