Carolina Oneto In Colour: Modern Hand Quilting

Carolina Oneto is a master in modern quilting, creating stunning pieces full of colour & curves! In this Off The Spool interview we cover everything from how she gets inspiration for her designs, to her best advice for fellow creatives. As well as what WonderFil threads she swears by when creating her own projects.

Like many other modern age quilters Carolina discovered her love for quilting online! After moving to Chile for her husband’s work, Carolina hoped to find a new creative medium. She began scanning through Pinterest for inspiration, and saw beautiful, quilted designs she wanted to recreate. She said she so clearly remembers seeing photos and thinking “I need to learn this”! Carolina began taking classes with quilting teachers in her area and has never looked back. As she experimented more with her work she grew an interest in colour, and how to use colour to create different effects. Wanting to deepen her knowledge of colour theory, she decided to take a course in colour interaction, which inspired her to begin using colour as a main element in her quilts and their composition. This has become a recognizable staple in her work! Students from all over the world attend her in person and online classes to learn more about her use of colour, and her affinity for quilting perfect curves. Carolina now enjoys teaching, designing, and creating quilts.

Carolina’s Work

Carolina’s work is made using both hand and machine stitching at different points in the process. She begins by machine piecing her quilts together, allowing for precision and speed! Next, she adds simple machine quilted designs which hold her project together while adding the first layer of texture. With the machine quilting, Carolina does not have to hoop or stabilize her quilt when she starts hand stitching. Often, she turns to designs like grids, or spirals which leave a lot of space open to add big stitching later. Then she adds hand quilting on top, in the spaces where there is no machine quilting. This helps to create a unique layer of texture and design on her quilts that makes them really pop. Each layer of quilting must support the piecing design underneath, helping to tell the story intended for the quilt. “I enjoy the process of creating these big stitches, I always like to have one quilt I am hand quilting, to work on with no rush and enjoy the process”. It’s good to always have a project on the go that you can take with you, not being tied down to a sewing machine allows you to work on hand stitching anywhere. This step can sometimes take up to six months, as Carolina prefers to take her time! Both hand and machine work are crucial to creating Carolina’s distinctive and captivating style. When speaking about the two techniques she said, “I can’t compare them they are absolutely different, I don’t like one better than the other one it all depends on what I need to do and what I need to add to my work, for quilting I add both”. Her work is a testament to how important it is to try out and combine a variety of techniques in quilting!

Her work is inspired heavily by colour and storytelling. “I am telling different stories with my quilts, maybe about painters or flowers or colours”. She finds inspiration all over, often looking to colour as a building block. Using her background in colour interaction Carolina aims to combine, and place colours in a way that creates compelling designs with a distinctive look. This contributes to her signature style, full of colour and curves. For some of her quilts, she plans out the design in advance knowing the end product she wants before starting. But she also enjoys starting projects and discovering what story they want to tell as she works. Using improv quilting techniques which allow her a freedom to decide what to do with a quilt as she makes it.

Colour is one of the main things Carolina considers when choosing threads for her projects as well! She prefers thread collections that offer a wide variety of colours, so she has that freedom to experiment. For her hand quilting Carolina either uses Eleganza™ (8wt Perlè cotton thread) or Spagetti™ (12wt cotton thread), depending on how visible she wants her stitches to be. Eleganza™ offers bolder stitches with its heavier weight, and slight sheen. Spagetti™ however is perfect for more subtle stitching, when she wants her quilting to blend in. Both come in a wide range of colours so she can always find exactly what she needs.

Carolina’s Tips

 “Start small” was Carolina’s number one tip for beginners looking to learn big stitch quilting. She highlighted how much simpler it is to practice your stitching on smaller projects. It’s much easier to handle smaller amounts of fabrics so you can focus on your stitching and getting it even! Smaller projects are also easier to finish, and less overwhelming. Learn to take your time and get your stitches more even. But keep in mind your work will never be perfect! Practice, and progress is more important than perfection according to Carolina. “Perfection is the enemy of progress; you won’t finish because it’s not perfect”.

Want to learn more about Carolina Oneto? Be sure to visit her website and sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date on classes she’s teaching, designs she creates, and more. Or follower her on Instagram and Facebook to see more of her work. Click on the link below to see what live events Carolina will be attending in the coming months!

Featured threads

Spagetti™

12wt long staple Egyptian cotton thread

Eleganza™

8wt Perlé cotton thread