Photo to Fabric: Hand Piece a Collage – A Review
March 26, 2025
Hi!
I’ve just finished a new online class from Creative Spark and Becky Goldsmith, and my mind is whirling! In a good way 🙂 .
I’ve discovered a whole new way of piecing quilts, and although I do love how quickly they can be made by machine, there’s something truly satisfying about making something completely by hand, and Becky’s class “Photo to Fabric: Hand Piece a Collage” goes through exactly that.
This 3 hour class has a bunch of different videos detailing exactly how to go about drafting a pattern from a photo, making templates, choosing fabrics, hand piecing the quilt, and quilting and finishing it properly.
The demo quilt is Becky’s 20 x 20 inch “Oranges” quilt, and all the templates and info is also included as a bonus download, so you can get started sewing even quicker.
Becky explains that hand piecing is portable and fast, and she feels it is calming, rewarding and fun to do. She says you’re just “sewing together two pieces of fabric – point to point, and it’s as easy as that”.
It is easy, but I would recommend this course for those who are intermediate level quilters or above, and for those who do enjoy sewing by hand, ’cause there’s a lot of it!
It’s good to see how Becky drafts a pattern from a photo, and she discusses in some detail how to enlarge and manipulate the photo to include the details you would like in your quilt.
I really liked her in depth discussion of techniques in this class – it wasn’t all just based around this one quilt, but she provided the techniques, so you could go straight out and make a quilt from a photo of your own.
Labeling the pieces is important, as is keeping a map/plan of your design to refer back to.
There was a whole Bonus video too on why you should consider washing your fabric first. Becky’s in favour of prewashing, for a number of reasons (and some I hadn’t considered before!), and she also spoke at length about how to stop or catch fabric bleeds when you are washing it. If you’ve ever had a quilt bleed disaster, then this course is worth it for this info alone!!
Becky even has a feline supervisor!!
Choosing fabric is always a big part of quilt making, and Becky talked through the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of her fabric pull for this quilt. She starts by pulling a bunch of fabrics in the colours you need, then identifying those you like for the project, and putting aside those that don’t quite fit.
She says “Trust your instincts – there are no wrong choices”, and urges not to overthink this when you’re picking colours to use.
“Don’t hesitate, just do it!”
Her advice when choosing fabrics for the pieces in your quilt is to make the choices and follow through. You can always change it out later if you need to, before it’s sewn together. Becky’s approach to quilt making is more intuitive, and I really appreciated this.
A great tip she shared too is that prints with large areas of white will pull the attention of the eye, and to look maybe at more all-over prints for a more blended look when making the oranges. This is something we can all think about when selecting fabrics for a range of different projects.
Becky cuts the pieces and pins them to her design wall before hand piecing anything, to get the best idea of how the fabrics will work together.
It’s a constant process of auditioning fabrics to make sure they all play nicely together.
And when it’s time to sew, Becky demonstrates exactly how to hand piece the quilt, with a bunch of tips and tricks along the way.
And when it’s all hand pieced together, the result is stunning.
Becky finished this class with some ideas and tips for hand quilting, and binding this quilt.
It was a very comprehensive class, and at only $29.99 USD, I feel this “Photo to Fabric: Hand Piece a Collage” course is one that we should all have in our quilting toolbox.
You’ll find this class on the Creative Spark platform, at: https://creativespark.ctpub.com/courses/photo-to-fabric , and for those who are interested, I do have one free class to giveaway to a lucky reader this month too.
To be in the running, please comment below with which photo of yours that you’d like to turn into a hand pieced collage quilt, and I’ll draw one name next week from those who have commented before midday Tuesday 1st April.
Do check this out, and Enjoy your week!
8 responses to “Photo to Fabric: Hand Piece a Collage – A Review”
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Wow, this is stunning! I have a beautiful photo of a blue jay in a tree that I would love to turn into a quilt. Thanks for the opportunity to win a class!
I would love to do one of my Son Kevin who died four years ago. Thank you !
I need to do a collage piece of a friend’s face for our group’s challenge. I’m not sure where to start, so this course would be so useful.🤞
Sounds like a fun class with great general tips from Becky. I’ve long wanted to make a fabric collage from a photo I took of a favorite river view, but have had no idea how to start or proceed.
Beautiful
I would like to do a photo I took at Petra, Jordan
Becky has so many wonderful skills and a great teacher. I would like to do this with a picture of my cocker spaniel who is no longer with me sadly!
I have a photo of one of my cats that I would like to turn into a hand pieced collage quilt.