About Vendulka
Vendulka Battais is an award winning textile artist, tutor and half of the couple running textile studio OliVen in the heart of Suffolk.
Vendulka started her creative journey making clothes from remnants with her mum in the Czech Republic. She learned simple patchwork when she moved to the UK and was looking for a new hobby. From squares and triangles, Vendulka’s work evolved into quilting, embroidery, and circular patterns inspired by mandalas and dreamcatchers.
It was this growing passion which led her to start her own patchwork and quilting shop with her partner, Olivier, on the Isle of Wight in 2011. It’s called OliVen. In 2015, they moved family and shop to the village of Monks Eleigh in Suffolk.
Vendulka loves to make patchwork quilts, teach patchwork in the shop, travel to teach groups and demonstrate at shows.
Somehow she found the time to publish a wonderful book, Cathedral Windows – New Views, and win the Best in Show Award at Festival of Quilts 2021. This is what the judges had to say about the work: “a wonderful collaboration of design and workmanship. We loved the variety of feathers and their balance of glorious colour. A masterclass in the stitching of an intricate Mandala, together with precise use of the glitter liner medium.”
Signature Technique
Bringing embroidery into quilting
Top Tips
- Glittery and metallic paint on fabric brings a project to life – especially in the dark!
- Create an enhanced 3D effect on Cathedral windows with folded patchwork, padding, and a new colour twist.
- Combine different elements such as machine quilting and hand embroidery. It’s a joy to work on and the result is stunning.
Videos
Patterns
Posts
Floral Cutwork
The justhands-on.tv community stretches far and wide and one member from France, Sandra, made these gorgeous cutwork pieces by following instructions from Kathleen Laurel Sage in one of her kits . She's very pleased with her results. One picture is of the kit she received, and the second one is made from a photo that she found on Kathleen's site.
4 November 2016
New Videos Every Friday West Country Quilt and Textile [...]
What did you do with that extra hour at the weekend?
Well this is what I did - another version of my 40 minute scrap quilt Of course layering, quilting and binding takes just as long - but this is a really delightful quick and easy quilt to make and you can see this latest version when you visit the West Country Quilt and Textile Show 11-13 Nov. BS34 8QZ We will be on Stand 92.