DVD & Book Reviews: Fabric Photo Play by Julia C. Wood & Making Faces with Maria Elkins

I got lots of great feedback on my portrait quilt of my friend John and requests for more information on the subject.

John's quilt is the third quilt I have made using the method described in the book Fabric Photo Play by Julia C Wood.  I am not sure where it is available for purchase now, but I am pretty sure if you contact the author she will be able to direct you.  It is published by AQS and at the time I purchased it, cost $20.

This is a small book, about 64 pages, the first 35 pages of which explain the method used.  The rest are projects and a gallery.  Julia's methods are roughly divided into two, doing it the hard way ie by eye, or using your computer which makes the whole drafting exercise so much easier.  I suppose if you are really techno savvy and understand photoshop, you may not need a book like this, but to someone like me who has only a vague grasp of photoshop, the explanation is very clear.

I think this is an excellent resource for someone wanting to give portrait quilts a go.  After reading the book, I worked on two portrait quilts simultaneously of my friends Janice and Mary.

Janice

Mary

The second review is of the DVD Making Faces by Maria Elkins.  It is a Quilting Arts Workshop production and is available for $15.96 from Interweave.

This DVD is divided into several sections.  First Maria explains how to use photoshop to manipulate your photograph.  I think this may be a little bit confusing to people who haven't done this before as she speeds through the demonstration.  However, I am sure with a few viewings it would become much clearer.  Maria then goes on to demonstrate how to make the portraits using different methods from simple through to more complex.  These include not just making the portrait with fabric, but hand colouring and even free hand drawing the portrait.

In terms of value for money, this is one of the best Quilting Arts DVDs I have seen.  Every moment is packed with information and no time is wasted with repetitive demonstrations.  I think the DVD would have to be viewed a number of times to grasp some of the technicalities, but all in all I think it a valuable resource for anyone interested in fabric portraits.