Gifts of the Textile Arts

Gifts from the talented hands of textile and fiber artists are a wonderful way to celebrate the season. Below are just a few of the great pieces of work sure to delight someone on your gift list this year.

Sue Bleiweiss of Upton, MA is a full time mixed media fiber artist working with both fabric and paper, currently exploring the art of quilting, surface design, and book making. She is self published and has co-authored two books with Terri Stegmiller: Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch and Creative Ways with Books & Journals. Her work can be found at her shop on etsy.

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design with a major in ceramics, Betty Busby founded a custom tile manufacturing business in Los Angeles. After selling it to move to New Mexico in 1994, she has gotten more involved in fiber art, and exhibits in shows nationally and internationally. She creates her own raw materials, and has been dyeing her own fabric since she began quilting over 30 years ago. Her amazingly beautiful art quilts can be found at www.bbusbyarts.com, sales are through her etsy shop

Colin’s Creatures is a collection of hand carved, lifelike, fine porcelain wooly animals, primarily sheep figures. Heads, legs, horns are made from porcelain for its detail, while bodies are cast stone for stability and a wonderful substantial feel. The fur is a woven fabric of wool, mohair or alpaca from the same German source of used on Steiff teddy bears. These whimsical handmade pieces can be found at www.colinscreatures.com

Diana Hughes of dyedianadye uses a variety of shibori techniques to hand dye gorgeous garments and accessories. Her Soba Scarf series, funky hand dyed scarves that are composed almost entirely of fringe, can be worn in nine different eye catching variations. This is one very versatile accessory! Diana’s work can be found at www.dyedianadye.com

For more incredible textile and fiber artists see TAFA: The Textile & Fiber Art List.