Our admiration for Aurifil Designer and Aurifilosopher, Nicholas Ball (@quiltsfromtheattic) began years ago. From the moment we laid eyes on his vibrant, distinctive, and thoroughly artistic work via his Instagram account, we were hooked. His work resonates with creativity that has always left us feeling inspired.
We introduced Inspiring Improv, our debut collaboration, in 2019, a glorious array of 12 bright spools of our 50wt thread, the ideal complement to his debut book with Lucky Spool Media. In 2020, Nicholas joined our team of educators via Aurifilosophy, and he has been sharing his love of thread ever since. In 2022, our second collaboration, Use & Ornament was introduced. Initially conceived to enhance and complement his second book with Lucky Spool, the collection features an array of our cotton thread weights, including 50wt, 40wt, and 12wt. You can read the full launch story via the button below.
While Use & Ornament (the book) may have experienced a few delays, we can confidently say that it was well worth the weight. This book is an epic second release, incorporating bits of history, education, story-telling, and all encouragement to embrace the art of improv and truly make your quilts your own. It’s a beauty, worthy of a coveted space on any coffee table, sure to be embraced by quilters and non-quilters alike, and we’re delighted to give it some love here today. (click the button below to find the book on Lucky Spool & check your favorite local book shop for more!)
Nicholas has been kind enough to share some thoughts, answer our exhaustive questions, and give us all a peek into his process. We’re simply delighted and will never stop being fascinated by his knack for weaving all of these pieces together in a way that feels both spontaneous and well measured, creating the perfect connection between his book and his range of threads. Huge thanks to Nicholas and we hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!
Hi Nicholas! We’re so delighted to have you join us, on the eve of the US debut of your new book, Use & Ornament (Lucky Spool). I suppose before we dive in, we could start with some introductions, just in case we have a few readers who may be meeting you for the first time. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in this amazing industry?
Hello everyone! My name is Nicholas and I’m an improv quilter from South Wales. My creativity stems from an early age, when I was often inspired by both my father and my grandmother. I loved to watch as they created with their hands; my father in wood and my grandmother in wool, fabric, and thread. She wasn’t a quilter, but I was keen to learn all about the cross stitch and embroidery she enjoyed so much. After graduating from art school, my creative direction switched from photography to textiles thanks to an impromptu sewing machine purchase. After discovering improvised quilt making in 2014, I’ve found myself fully immersed in this wonderful world.}
What is it that you love most about improvisation in your quilting practice?
I think it’s the untravelled path. With improv, whilst you may have a rough idea about where you want to get to, the journey to that destination is often full of spontaneous decision making and changes of plan. It is this unpredictability which makes this way of working so exciting.
Do you find that you’re constantly shifting and finding angles within your quilting?
I think you can’t truly embrace improv quilting without doing these things. The twists and turns of such a creative path is the allure of improvisation for many. Being open to a change of direction, or abandoning something entirely to re-focus if it’s not working out, are hallmarks of the technique, providing the maker with the opportunity for unique exploration.
We’re truly here to discuss and celebrate the release of your new book, Use & Ornament. We have to gush a little here… this book has been a long time coming, but we can firmly say that it was entirely worth the wait. It’s quite a masterpiece, incorporating community, education, inspiration, and so much more. Talk to us about your intentions with this book and what you hoped to communicate with its release.
I had two main points I wanted to address through Use & Ornament. The first is that improv quilting is not new. Many consider it reflective of a modernist movement, perhaps only having existed since the advent of the internet or the idea of a “modern quilt”. The explosion of social media and our virtual interactions with other quilters has contributed to this idea of the technique being very “now”. This is not the case, as the historical examples in the first part of the book show. This spontaneous, liberated way of working has existed for well over a century, with some examples of Welsh flannel quilts dating back to the mid 1800s.
Secondly, the idea that a quilt is simply a functional item is being disproved by the many accolades that are now being bestowed up on quilts and textiles. Such praise and recognition was previously limited to more “classic” fine art media, like painting and sculpture. It was also important for me to showcase the many reasons why improv quilts are being made. Whilst they can still have a utilitarian purpose, equality, social reform, commemorations, and remembrance are some of the many other reasons why quilts are created by their makers.
It seems one of your big moments was with your Vegetable Quilt in 2014 – you shared that “this quilt made me realise the quilter I want to be when I grow up.” What was it about the process of creating that quilt that let you so inspired?
Again, I refer back to the idea of the unknown. When I made that quilt, I had no idea what I was doing; there was no pattern or set of specific instructions. I was very much winging it, a sort of try-it-and-see approach. I think once I realised that such sources of inspiration like leeks and cabbages could be made into quilts, that was the brightest light bulb moment, when all the possibilities for future creativity were illuminated in my mind.
Now that you’ve been working within the ‘off the cuff’ technique for 10 years, what would you say that it means to you. Are you constantly finding new ways to stretch your own creativity, new angles to take within the practice of improvisational quilting?
Oh, I am constantly learning. A lot of the excitement for me comes from the anticipation of the next thing. What will inspire me? What techniques will I employ to harness that inspiration and turn it into a quilt? Will I need to learn new techniques? Recently I made my butterfly quilt (with quilting by the exceptional Trudi Wood) which came about as a sample for a year-long club I hosted with Crafty Monkies. Students signed up and got to experience my entire quilt making process, from initial inspiration to edge finishing. The butterfly quilt challenged me to think about scale and seams, about how best to piece the wings, to learn inset circles and adapt my triangle techniques. Throughout the club, I made a second quilt, this time inspired by a moth, and found myself tweaking and adapting these new skills.
Quilting very often carries the reputation of being more regimented and new quilters are encouraged to follow instructions and patterns in order to achieve success. What might you say to these makers, to encourage them to work outside of those lines?
I can totally appreciate the desire for new quilters to learn the traditional basics of the craft. I would always encourage people to try at least one pattern-based, quilt. Through such an endeavour, beginners can cut their teeth and learn the fundamentals of pressing, cutting, and accurate piercing. Then, once you have this foundation, you are free to find your own preferred way of working, which may lead to a more liberated approach. Attitude, for me, is the keystone of improv quilting. If you enter into it with an attitude open to chance, and change, then you can have success with improv right out of the gate.
Use & Ornament beautifully incorporates a Then & Now perspective, sharing both historical influences and modern visionaries (with an entirely epic group of quilters included). What inspired you to kick things off with this angle?
I wanted to showcase both historical examples and contemporary makers to highlight, in a vivid way, that there isn’t just one type of improv quilt. Ask ten different quilters for their definition of improvisation and you will likely get ten different answers. Each quilter will work in a way that is productive to them and the resulting works vary widely in style, construction, and purpose.
The projects in your book are presented in the most beautiful way – sharing a story and talking through the technique before diving straight into the how-to… what drove the decision to feature the projects in this way?
Whenever I give talks or lectures, or indeed when I share examples during a workshop, as well as the how questions – how did you piece it? How did you choose the fabric? – I get asked a lot of the why questions – why cabbages? Why are the fish shaped that way? Telling the stories behind the quilts helps to solidify the reasons for their construction and helps viewers to appreciate all the subtleties of the back story and not just the fabric and thread.
We’ve been captivated by how raw, emotional, and self-exploratory some of the ‘Behind the Seams’ sections are for these quilts – what was the process of writing this book like for you? Was it cathartic? Emotional?
I didn’t go into the writing part with any wish for it to be a cathartic exercise. Neither did I want it to be an outpouring of emotion. My goal was to be honest about the inspiration behind each of the quilts, which in some cases touched on emotive topics, like the loss of my grandmother or the Covid 19 pandemic. In writing Use & Ornament, there were many opportunities for reflection – I wrote the bulk of the text after I had completed the quilts and so was able to relive certain moments, both from the creative process, but also for years and decades earlier.
Talk to us about the cover feature, your Viral Temperature quilt. This quilt not only has a wonderful collaborative element and an excellent story, but also showed at QuiltCon 2022, placing second in the Appliqué category.
The cover features the temperature quilt I made during the UK’s first lockdown and beyond. Titled ‘Viral Temperature’, it started as a way to distract me from the goings-on of the pandemic. I sought out a project that would provide a few moments of escapism. I created organic stuffed appliqué shapes using a traditional trapunto technique. Each Shape represents one day, from April 15th 2020 to April 14th 2021. The range of fabrics show the temperature in Cardiff during that period. The shapes were inspired by found objects, such as stones and leaves, as well as significant events, my mood, and by what was happening around the world at the time. People who had contributed to the quilt’s creation in some way also drew shapes. Aurifil’s own Alex Veronelli and Erin Sampson each drew a shape to be included. The dense quilting by my close longarmer friend Trudi Wood helps to elevate the shapes further. The quilting also tells the viewer what the weather was like on a particular day too.
I decided to enter the quilt into QuiltCon 2022. The whole process was extremely emotional! Long story short, the quilt was juried into the show, but then went missing after I had posted it to Texas. It was located just in time to be judged and I couldn’t believe it when I received an email a few days later to say that I had placed in the category. I stayed up to watch the award ceremony and was delighted to receive the second place rosette. It really was a tale of highs and lows!
Use & Ornament releases in the US this week, making it officially available worldwide. Where can readers find it, since we’re assuming that everyone reading this interview will immediately need a copy (truly it’s a new Aurifil staff favorite!!)
The book has world-wide distribution, so wherever you get your books, big markets or smaller retailers, it’s available! If you prefer to shop local, reach out to your favourite bookseller, who I’m sure will be happy to order it in. I’ve already received lots of messages from folks who have purchased it from independent retailers.
You specifically call out your Aurifil thread-faves in the book – how do they factor into the projects in Use & Ornament?
Oh, in so many wonderful ways! All of the piecing was done with 50wt. The cover quilt showcases the heavier 12wt and uses 40wt in the bobbin. Hiraeth, the Welsh-inspired quilt, is made in part with traditional Welsh woollen flannel and so is quilted using the 12wt wool for a wonderfully nostalgic, folksy look.
You included a wonderful range of thread weights in your coordinating collection. How do you use each in the creation and finishing of your quilts?
My Use & Ornament thread collection is the perfect pick-up-and-go collection for the stuffed appliqué technique from the book. This technique is highlighted in the Viral Temperature quilt on the cover and uses 12wt cotton for beautifully textured machine applique. The other weights in the 40wt and 50wt, are perfect for use in the bobbin and for when piecing units together. The 40wt is in my favourite neutral colour, 2600, and works really well whatever colour of 12wt you are using on the top.
Why do our readers absolutely need both the book AND the thread set?
If you’re looking to explore improv quilting further and find out a little more about the hows and the whys of the technique, you can turn to any page in the book and learn something. For those quilters who want to expand their range of improv skills, the included techniques will give you a starting point, but not a firm directive, from which you can go wherever your mind and inspiration takes you. The thread set is perfect for the stuffed appliqué technique, as well as further exploration with heavier weight threads.
We know you’re just back from the US, from a workshop with Crafty Monkies. Are there other events upcoming? Where can you find you throughout the remainder of 2024?
Next up for me is The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham at the end of the month. I have several demos planned on the Bernina stand, as well as hanging out with you lovely folks from Aurifil. I’ll have copies of Use & Ornament with me and will be doing a book signing each day with Bernina, so if you’re after a signed copy, come and see me. Even if you’re not, please stop by and say hello – the festival is a great chance to catch up with quilty friends!
After Festival of Quilts, I have two more retreats I’m teaching at (one is the UK Crafty Monkies retreat in Rutland), as well as several one-day workshops and talks which take me up to December, which I always take off for a little rest and relaxation!
Many thanks to Nicholas for hanging out with us today! Make sure to follow along with him via @quiltsfromtheattic on Instagram to keep up with all of his quilty and crafty adventures!