August has arrived, and I have been waiting for this challenge for a long time.
Every month I get excited about the collection we bring to the Wall, but this one is different and I want to tell you why before we start. We are collaborating with Ellene McClay of Brave Nouvelle, and her collection, Evoke, is one of the most personal collections we have ever had in a QuiltInk Challenge, because every single print in it began somewhere you would never expect, and it carries her hands all the way through.
This month the Wall is going to turn blue, and what a blue it is. The blues in Evoke are deep and luminous, the kind that make you stop scrolling, and the story behind them is even better than the fabrics themselves.
But before we get into it, a big congratulations to ArtsyCarew, winner of our July Challenge. Their mock-up of Summer Sun by Kiley's Quilt Room was randomly selected from all the entries shared on the Wall, and they will receive a Fat Quarter Bundle from the Always collection, kindly sponsored by Benartex Fabrics. Enjoy every single piece of it!
And now, shall we take a look at Evoke?
EVOKE PALETTE
Here is where that story I mentioned begins, and it starts with the sun.
Evoke came out of an experimental photographic process called Cyanotype, one of the earliest photographic printing techniques, invented back in the 1800s, and known for the extraordinary range of Prussian blues it produces. The process itself is beautifully simple and never entirely predictable: chemicals are applied to paper or fabric, then botanicals, objects, or transparencies made from photos are laid on top, the whole thing is left out in the sunlight, and then rinsed.
What began as a functional test to work out exposure times slowly turned into the visual language of the whole collection. Ellene kept looking at those test strips, where the color grew more and more intense the longer they sat in the sun, and they became the starting point for the gradients and grid prints you will find running through Evoke.
Around them, gorgeous botanicals from nature in different scales bring soft, feminine florals that work beautifully in a quilt, and because cloud gazing is one of Ellene's great inspirations, dreamy cloud photographs found their way in too. These nature inspired prints make the kind of blue and white quilt that feels like an heirloom and still has a completely modern vibe.
Want these fabrics? Evoke is manufactured and digitally printed in the United States by Paintbrush Studios, on quilting cottons with a wonderfully soft quality, made to endure through a local supply chain built around thoughtful, efficient production. Ellene then distributes the collection herself, and Brave Nouvelle is the exclusive retailer for Evoke, which you will find in her Etsy shop.
MEET ELLENE
Ellene McClay is the designer and pattern maker behind Brave Nouvelle, and she arrived at quilting from a completely different world. She spent many years working as a fashion designer before she found quilting in 2019, and by 2023 she was designing her own quilt patterns, always with the same instinct pulling her forward, which was to bring her own fabrics into her quilts.
A love of fabric really is at the root of everything she does, and she has taken it further than most. She has been dyeing fabric for years and has explored many different types of surface design for textiles, and over the past few years she has focused on cyanotype printing, translating those photographic images into fabric designs made for quilting. So when you sit down to color with Evoke, you are working with prints she photographed, exposed to the sun, and rinsed with her own hands before they ever became fabric, and Evoke is her debut fabric collection.
And there is more of her work waiting for you, because Ellene's quilt patterns are on QuiltInk too. You can find them on her designer page and color them with Evoke, or with any other collection you feel like trying.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
- Go to www.quiltink.com and sign in or create your free account.
- Choose a pattern from the main page.
- Color the pattern using the August Challenge palette: Evoke.
- Share your mock-up on the QuiltInk Wall.
- Want more chances to win? Create a post or story on Instagram mentioning @quilt_ink and @bravenouvelle and tagging #QuiltInkChallengeAug26, and you get 2 extra entries, so each mock-up you share counts 3 times.
PRIZE
One lucky quilter will win a Fat Quarter Bundle from the Evoke collection, which means those cyanotype blues go from the screen straight to your sewing room.
On September 1st, we will randomly select 1 mock-up from all the entries shared on the Wall using the August Challenge collection. The more mock-ups you create, the more chances you have to win.
This giveaway is open internationally. Participants must be at least 18 years old.
This giveaway is not sponsored by Instagram. Participants release Instagram of any responsibility and agree to Instagram's terms of use.
NEED SOME INSPIRATION?
Here are a few quilt patterns already colored with the Evoke collection on QuiltInk, and they show just how differently these blues can behave depending on where you place them.
- Stellar Focus by Colt and Lamb Quilt Co
- Courage Dear Heart by Tessellate Textiles
- Pinnacle Pop by Tasha Quilts
Remember that by filtering the mock-ups in the QuiltInk Wall you can browse all the challenge entries as they are shared throughout the month, and there will be plenty of them.
CHECK THE FABRICS
Take a look at all the fabrics included in the Evoke collection, along with the names of each print, because half the fun of this collection is realizing what each one actually is: a cloud, a test strip, a flower that spent an afternoon in the sun.
Ellene has also added 18 blue solids from the Kona Cotton collection by Robert Kaufman, hand-picked to sit alongside the prints, so you have a whole range of blues to move through when you are coloring and can play with light, depth, and contrast exactly where your quilt needs it.
We can't wait to see what you do with Evoke. Head over to quiltink.com, choose a pattern, and let yourself play with these blues for a while. Every mock-up you share on the Wall is a chance to win the Fat Quarter Bundle, and even better, a chance to find the quilt you did not know you wanted to make.
Happy coloring! 💛