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
Couldn’t Resist this Carousel
Carousel is the name of the pattern of the quilt that is featured on the cover of our Book of the Month for April - Simply Fat Quarters by the Sew Emma Creative Team - and I just had to make it. The girls have used Fat 1/4's but I rummaged into my scraps and used left-over strips but with a consistant background fabric: Plan to now have a go with all the blocks from the same fabric (they don't take long!)
April 2013
Today we are Out and About at the Great Northern [...]
Hampden Park Quilt Appeal for Alzheimer Scotland
Here are 4 of the quilts that were made by my lovely quilting friends at our weekend away (they did work on other projects too!) AND check out the labels that were made by Lynda for the back! (I got to hold up one for Liz as she finished two for the appeal)