expert tips for
quilted portraits
Melissa Averinos
melissaaverinos.com
“Start at the beginning: practice drawing
faces. Also, start with a stylized face rather
than realism.”
Luke Haynes
lukehaynes.com
“My best advice is glue stick, and to
just keep on trying. I use a glue stick to
hold down parts while I am working on
placement, before I go to the longarm to
fi nish quilting them. Th en you don’t need
an iron or pins. It’s like drawing, but with
fabric shapes rather than lines.”
Hollis Chatelain
hollisart.com
“Faces are all about value because there
are no true lines in faces. Turn your photo
upside down to see the highlights and
shadows. Th en, exaggerate the value
diff erences in the painting or fabric choices.
Finally, soften your fi nished face with
quilting lines.”
Lola Jenkins
lolasdesignerquilts.net
“Not all photos make a good portrait
quilt. You want one that will make a clean
pattern, and I use photo manipulation
software to adjust the brightness, contrast,
and sharpness. Th en, decide whether to use
all of the face or just a portion.”
Carol Ann Waugh
carolannwaugh.com
“Th e self-portraits I do are not about
realism. Th ink of an adjective that most
represents your attitude toward life, and
see how you can show that in your portrait.
Using real accessories makes your portrait
more meaningful; incorporate an old
hairclip or earring.”
Marilyn Belford
marilynbelford.com
“Start with the eyes. If you get the
expression right, then whatever follows will
work. Don’t be afraid to use strange colors
in the face, it helps enliven the portrait.”
spreadsheet to design both her quilts and
knitting projects. She would then prepare
color charts from the spreadsheets. This was
perfect for designing pixilated quilts. Caro
was in the process of creating an online
class for quilters using this technique and
needed a subject for her example. She had
on hand an oversized self-portrait and chose
to zoom in on one eye and use that as her
project for the class. Using just one element
of a face for a whole quilt meant that the
individual fabric squares wouldn’t have to be
maddeningly tiny.
And then, she decided to enter her class
sample in the fi rst QuiltCon. That’s multi-
tasking for you!“Little Brother” • Stacey MertonPhoto by Vivika Hansen DeNegre