Quilts by Hayley Wandelt-Smith from the Queanbeyan (NSW) Spotlight store

A graduate of the Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) from Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), 21-year-old Hayley works in the dress fabric department at Spotlight in Queanbeyan while she saves to move to Melbourne and pursue the dream of building her own clothing label.

Whilst working at Spotlight, however, Hayley has developed a love for quilting fabrics and, in the rare moments when she’s not working or making wedding dresses for private clients, she has begun exploring this new textile interest.

“I suppose, to be honest, I thought quilting was a bit nana-ish,” says Hayley, “but I just loved the fabrics. I found a book called ‘Free-Style Quilts - A No-Rules Approach’ by Susan Carlson and this was not as old school. I followed her technique and that’s when I created my first ‘fish’ quilt. I loved it and thought it was easy.”

A talented fashion illustrator, Hayley decided to combine her love of drawing with quilting and has begun using realistic figurative images on her works. In fact it was one with an image of American singer and actress, Jennifer Lopez (also known as JLo), that initially caught the eye of one of the ‘get creative’ team while visiting the Queanbeyan store.

“I’m working on a great one now,” says Hayley. “I love Marilyn Monroe so this is a black and white image of her in a gold dress. I’ll send you a photo when it’s finished!”

Hayley has sent us a project for you to try, just search "Freestyle Quilt" to view it.

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