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
Textiles in Focus weekend
Filming last Sunday at the Textiles in Focus event in Cottenham, Cambs was a big success. We met up with lots of wonderful traders – including Myfanwy Hart, and Jamie from Colouricious – and we also filmed content from some wonderful demonstrators, including Lynda Monk using Lutradur; Fran Rose showing us a great idea for beading and bags (and a copy of her book is in the shopping pages - Fran's Little Bags) and Pauline Verrinder (the organiser) who was demonstrating how to make 3D leaves for us and will be teaching at Cottenham Village Summer School.
For all you knitters out there!
At the Textiles in Focus show there is a lady who is spinning yarn for use on jumbo needles Outward Images - and I mean jumbo: fancy a set myself to try knitting up maybe some of my scrap strips of fabric BUT check out Rachel John and her extreme knitting: on Youtube: Rachel John, Extreme Knitting, 1000 Strand Knit
February 2013
What’s new to see on the first Friday in February? [...]