Inspiration: Lily Lui's Textile Vessels

Lily Lui

Textiles are very flexible and can be used in so many different ways.  I think this is part of the fascination for us.  Functional such as clothing, curtains, towels, bedding quilting, embroidery, knitting and, of course, art.  Any regular reader knows I really like objects which subvert our understanding of the textile form and so I was thrilled to discover Lily Lui’s work in Paducah. 

Lily Lui

With a background in textiles and ceramics, Lily creates beautiful 3D vessel shapes from tiny pieces of fabric, exquisitely rolled into shape and then joined together.  The forms she makes are undulate, like her fabric rolls; interesting kind of bowl shapes.

Lily’s work was included in the Fantastic Fibers exhibition at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, and also in her studio/shop ‘Created For U’, which was very close to the Exhibition Center.

Lily Lui

I can’t find many details about Lily’s work online for you to look at, but I did discover this fantastic blogpost by Rose Hughes, showing how Lily creates these beautiful vessels.  I would have loved to bring one home, but unfortunately I had a soft suitcase.  I really need to grow up and stop using rucksacks and get a hard suitcase so I can purchase proper art when I travel!

Lily Lui

Lily Lui

Workshop: Paper Pieced Vessels

Last week I spent Guy Fawkes Night in Peebles, giving a talk to Tweedale Quilters.  Peebles is obviously very well behaved as I only heard a couple of fireworks.  The following day, 10 of the ladies from Tweedale Quilters joined me for my paper-pieced vessels workshop. 

 

I love paper piecing, even if often brings back horrific memories to women of a certain age of their first efforts of patchwork in the 1970s using hexagons and Laura Ashley fabrics.  It was one of the first patchwork techniques I was introduced to and I love sharing my enthusiasm for using it in unusual ways in creating 3-D vessels.  It was a lovely calm day – no sewing machines, all by hand and I hope the ladies enjoyed it as much as I did.

It was also quite useful as paper piecing was one of the topics we covered at the weekend at the C&G class, so I had my samples all ready for the students to look at.  Ironically, Marjory, who was teaching with me, brought along her traditional paper piecing to show – Laura Ashley hexagons which had been in an attic for years, waiting to be finished!

I also did a class thing at the weekend.  I had taken the demonstration sample in progress for Somerset folded patchwork to the hospital on Thursday, when I took my son back to have his broken arm examined.  I quickly grabbed it out of my handbag on Saturday morning, open it out to discover I had brought along his temporary calico sling instead!  Not very useful for teaching, but I did end up using the fabric as the basis of the new sample as I demonstrated the technique from scratch!  I’ll show you the finished Somerset piece when I have edged it.