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
9-11
Val: This is one of those dates in history that everyone knows where they were - just like the day President Kennedy was shot and Princess Diana lost here life. I can remember not only where I was back in 2001 when the dreadful news came through but also where I was last year - I was in Canada - and since I was over in North America the TV was saturated with coverage of the events of rememberance; how much more so will they be this year? I was very moved by those events of rememberance but also fascinated to learn of the way quilters have dealt with this tragedy and the significance and value that has been granted to them by the government and the American people; The America's 9-11 Memorial Quilts project was initiated by Jeannie Ammermann to honor victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Bizview.tv
Val; Some of you may have heard that Bizview.tv as a company is no longer trading but I have to tell you that the boys are alive and well; Justhands-on.tv will continue to have close links with Dave & Matt (and the cameras) as well as Paul, so for us its business as usual. We have lots of wonderful plans including visiting the Festival of Quilts on Sunday 14th August with the cameras; the event at Hever Castle in September and Jennie and I will be together later in August to film the new Block of the Month programme (which is coming along well in my sewing room!)
Rosebud Fayre – our New Block of the Month
Jennie and I had a wonderful day filming on Tuesday – all seven parts of our new block of the month programme and I have now given the quilt a name (!) – Rosebud Fayre - which is also the name of the range of fabrics that we used; designed by Gail Kessler for Andover and distributed in the UK by Makower, these fabrics have been mixed with some of the Makower Itsy Bitsy range.