Fiber Art Taken To A Whole New Level ► Ann Nyberg's Network Connecticut

Fiber Art Taken To A Whole New Level

Published July 25, 2010

This is quilting and then some. Linda Zimmerman of Madison, Connecticut has found her passion, and she calls it “quilted art.”

This is not your scenario of a bunch of gals quilting together, this is something she creates on her own.

She mixes and matches all kinds of fabric, some of which she even manipulates by dyeing it, or discharging it or even rusting it. Did you even know you could do that to fabric?

An example of “discharging fabric” would be to strip the color out of fabric by bleaching it to get down to it’s basic color. Rusting material is just that, rusting it to change it’s color.

After Zimmerman does all of this she sews it together and then cuts it up and then sews it together again so that you have an intricate piece of art.

She has beautiful works all over her home studio, and tons of material, all at her fingertips for when the when the light bulb goes off and she gets an idea for a project.

When she is creating she says she could care less what time it is which is why her clock is permanently set to “whatever” time. Pretty cute if you ask me.

Zimmerman has picked up the slack too where schools have eliminated Home Ec classes. She gives private sewing lessons to children and adults and also teaches her “quilted art” techniques and also dyeing of fabrics. She also instructs at the Guilford, Connecticut Art Center. The center is a hotbed for creativity which helps spark her imagination for creating back at home.

She has two really great blogs where she posts her creations. They are Zimmerman Dezigns and The Fiber Art Studio.

Zimmerman, after putting together one of her masterpieces, sometimes then adds buttons or hand sews hundreds of bugle beads on to an item or adds dozens of embroidery french knots. Sometimes it’s metallic thread, all to get it just to her liking and hopefully to many others.

The detail in her work needs to be studied to see all of the layers she creates in them, it really is amazing.

She’s already been noticed for her work having been featured in a book called “Master’s Art Quilts.”

As she started creating her art she wondered how many others there might be out there in the world who shared her love of these techniques and she found many in her hometown.

Once she started blogging about it, others started to notice her and she found there are many in Connecticut who have taken this art to all kinds of levels she didn’t even imagine.

If you’re reading this and want to get in touch with Zimmerman you can email her at ctquiltz@gmail.com

You can tell that Zimmerman has found her “thing” because when you talk to her about it as I did you can hear the passion in her voice.