for me to attend QuiltCon 2015. ‘White
Rainbow’ was shown there. On that
quilt, I used trapunto to ‘write’ the
names of colors on the quilt in Braille.
The raised dots can actually be ‘read’
by a blind person who knows Braille. It
is my idea of what colors might mean
to someone who has never seen them.
I love making portrait quilts, and
have not limited myself to one or two
techniques. My current favorite is the
technique I used to make the portrait
of my son, ‘Aadi.’ It was inspired by
Sandra Bruce, who is a wonderful
friend and guided me through the
process. The largest portrait quilt I
have made is that of the father of my
former employer, Ar. Pramod Chaugule.
It is 88" × 85" and is made up of 4,096
squares. It was designed online at
youpatch.com.Another artist whose style I
admire is Melissa Averinos. I stood
in front of her self-portrait quilt
every day while at QuiltCon, and
sometimes more than once. I would
love to attend a class with her!
I have a lot of plans when it comes
to quilting. I have overcome my fi rst
hurdle—to make people understand
and appreciate what I do. Machine
quilting by women in India is very
rare. And an educated woman taking
up sewing and quilting as a full-time
profession is almost unheard of. In
an effort to change that, I started the
India Modern Quilt Guild in 2010.
It continues as the India Quilt Guild,
a Facebook group of enthusiastic
women—and some men, too—who
share a common passion for fabric
and thread. I joined Studio Art Quilt
Associates (SAQA) in 2015 and am
now the Regional Representative for
SAQA India and Southeast Asia. I
feel this will give me a wonderful
opportunity to introduce quilting as
an art to the community in India.
People always ask me, ‘How can
you make quilts that vary so much
in design technique and concept?’
My answer always is the same:
Because I am not scared. I have
never said I cannot do it, unless I
have tried it fi rst. And even when I
cannot do it, nobody needs to know!
I have experimented with material,
techniques, design, and ideas. This
fearlessness has taken me from
quilting in a small corner of my
living room to a 450-square-foot
studio, from an unknown quilting
blogger from a quaint town in India
to the Brand Ambassador for a major
sewing machine company.
I believe if I can make quilts,
anyone can.
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Shruti stands with her quilt “White Rainbow” at QuiltCon 2015.