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
Filming with Sylvia Critcher
What a great day we had with Sylvia learning about her new book and seeing all the wonderful samples she made for it. The book claims to have 10 projects in it, but the quilt alone has 9 patterns and then there is the winter table runner which I just fell in love with - full of snowflake patterns so great value for money - keep watching for the workshops!
The Wordsmith by Janet Clare
Follow-up hospital appointments mean lots of waiting around so this time I took something 'nice' along to read; well how understated is that - this book is fabulous; Janet combines delightful little stories about her life and the inspiration for her memory quilt, with her line-drawings which makes this book very readable and memorable; THEN you get projects too! I've already mentioned the Memory quilt, but there is also the Alphabet quilt and then taking those letters there is the poetry quilt: hers reads Warm Sighing; quiet settled but she gives you tips on how to translate your phrase into a quilt too - just brilliant!
Creative Quilting Open 7 days a week – Classes and Workshops
We stock 1000's of fabrics as well as books, notions, beads, buttons, wadding. We run classes during the week and at weekends and attend major quilts shows Visit www.creativequilting.co.uk for products and the latest class listing can be found here. Contact : Izzy
Email: isabelle@creativequilting.co.uk