Nicholas Ball

Saturday 19 July 2025

4.00pm - 7.00pm (BST)

Online Interactive Workshop

Fabric Manipulation!

As always we're super-excited to welcome again the wonderful Nicholas Ball under the CraftyMonkies spotlight, this time for a BRAND NEW CLASS entitled Fabric Manipulation. Some time ago, Nicholas popped onto our CraftyMonkies YouTube channel to join in with one of our Tea-Time tutorials. Nicholas showed us just 15 minutes of fabric manipulation, a simple little taster and it proved to be one of our most popular teatime tutorials yet! So much so that Nicholas suggested we do a full class on the many ways that fabric can be manipulated. Judging by the comments and viewing figures of that video, this class is going to be extremely popular as I'm sure people will want more!...

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Introduction by Nicholas:-

After discovering stuffed appliqué back in 2020, the technique quickly turned into one of my favourite and subsequent creative exploration resulted in my quilt Viral Temperature, the cover star of my book Use & Ornament. I was overjoyed when the quilt went on to win second place at Quiltcon 2022. Since making Viral Temperature, I have experimented with many other fabric manipulation techniques and have come to appreciate the wonderful texture and intricate results that can be achieved, especially when many techniques are grouped together into a small hooped or quilted piece, like my coralscape.This class is designed to showcase some of the many ways fabric can be manipulated and arm you with the skills to create amazingly individual work.

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What you will learn on this Online Interactive Workshop:-

The focus of the workshop will be on fabric manipulation. We will explore many different techniques, including stuffed appliqué, gathering, furrowing, creating puffs and yo-yos, cording, and shirring. We will work toward making samples that highlight each technique and provide a visual record of our newly-learnt skills. Next, I’ll discuss how we can incorporate what we have learnt into a wonderfully textured piece inspired by coral. We will talk about planning our design using paper, as well as how best to order the construction of the piece and how to add further embellishment using embroidery and stitch. Finally, I’ll show you how the finished work can be hooped or basted and quilted to create a truly unique piece of textile art. We will be using our sewing machines for the most part, with some hand stitching too. We will look at using heavier-weight threads, twin needles, cords, and elastic. It’s going to be quite the eclectic mix! If coral is not your thing, how about fungi, or flowers? The techniques you’ll learn are so versatile and even combining them in a modern, graphic way, without any further inspiration, is sure to result in a great result!

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Skill Level for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

Intermediate - the techniques showcased in this workshop are not difficult ones, yet require some careful handling to ensure that the work looks as good as it possible can. Accurate stitching down of your chosen shapes for appliqué, the stuffing of appliqués and the use of shirring elastic can all present challenges, whilst hand furrowing and making puffs are relatively simple. During the workshop, we will discuss how the majority of the techniques can be adapted to suit varying skill levels. I also want to share as much a possible with you, so the pace of the workshop will be brisk!

Material requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-​

• Small amounts of Bondaweb or similar iron-on fusible fabric web

• Small amounts of lightweight tear-away stabiliser

• Good quality fibre fill or toy stuffing

• Fray check (optional but very useful)

• Good quality thread - I like using heavier weight threads to add definition to the appliqué and for embellishment . I recommend Aurifil 12wt, with either a 50wt or 40wt in the bobbin. Or course, you can also use regular 50wt, which will also be needed for stitching the appliqués closed. For those students interested in using heavier weight threads, my Use & Ornament Aurifil collection provides ten small spools - seven 12wt, one 40wt, and two 50wt - and is perfect for this class. The collection is available either online or from your local Aurifil stockist.

• A small amount of DK or aran yarn in a light colour

• Shirring elastic

• Paper for note-taking

Whilst not essential for the workshop, my book Use & Ornament (available via www.amazon.com/www.amazon.co.uk) will expand upon the stuffed appliqué technique and provide further information on both traditional trapunto and my Viral Temperature quilt. The quilt is one of the eight quilt projects featured and the instructions provided will allow you to work on a similar quilt in your own time.

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Fabric requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-​

Whilst difficult to give exact fabric amounts and measurements when sewing in an improvised way, please use the following as a rough guide.

An assortment of fabric scraps in a colour scheme of your choice

Pieces of background fabric, approximately 4” - 6”, which we will use for our samples. I use a linen/cotton blend

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Please don’t stress about these requirements. They are simply a guide and I’ve yet to teach a class where something couldn’t be made because of the wrong fabric pieces. If in doubt, gather up a selection of prints and colours you like and you can cut during the workshop. Accuracy at the cutting stage is not so important using my techniques, so it won’t take long at all if you want to cut your pieces along with me. They don’t need to be perfectly square either, so feel free to use scissors!

Equipment requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

• Sewing machine

• An open-toe presser foot (optional but very useful)

• A darning foot

• Regular piecing needle (80/12)

• 100/16 topstitch needle for heavier weight thread

• Twin needle (2.5mm - 3mm)

• Pencil

• Fabric marker/chalk

• Fabric scissors

• Small embroidery scissors or thread snips

• Small embroidery hoop

• Long tweezers

• A fine hand sewing needle - a size 10 milliners works well

• A larger-eyed hand sewing needle - I use a size 1 cotton darner or milliners Short appliqué pins

• A willingness to explore your own creativity!

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Pattern Information relevant to this Online Interactive Workshop:-

Not applicable for this improv class!

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Tickets for this Online Interactive Workshop (via the Zoom platform) will be limited and allocated on a first-come/first-served basis! Any free pattern and other information, relevant to this course will be forwarded to you after booking and approximately 5 days before the course date.

The ticket price of £35.00 is based on ONE person attending this crafting class.

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This CraftyMonkies online interactive workshop is being broadcast from the United Kingdom and the class time given is based on British Summer Time (BST). We advise you check via Google Search (or similar) to see corresponding start-time in YOUR location!

Here's a great world time zone reference:-

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

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Ordering MATERIALS/EQUIPMENT Online For Any Class/Workshop!

Please ensure you book your place & order any materials/fabrics/equipment online in plenty of time ahead of course dates.

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This class is a live Zoom Workshop ONLY!

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IMPORTANT!

Sadly, we are NOT able to offer a recorded Pay-On-Demand video for sale in our shop after this event.

The only way to enjoy this class is to book a ticket for this Zoom Workshop.