By Patricia Belyea
CLIFTON UK Before visiting her home in the charming village of Clifton, I only knew that Janice Gunner liked to dye fabrics with indigo.
Now I know much more. Janice is one of those rare people whose humility belies her accomplishments. There’s a reason why her CV is almost five pages long! With a fifty-year history of teaching, quilting, and exhibiting, she’s achieved so much.
Let’s start with The Quilters’ Guild, the overarching organization for patchwork groups in England, Scotland, and Wales. As a volunteer, Janice served as National Exhibitions Officer, Vice President, and then President. Though the Presidency usually lasts two years, she stayed a third year in order to secure a permanent gallery space for quilt exhibitions in York.
Her most influential act came in 1997, when she persuaded event organizer Andrew Salmon to launch what would become The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Without Janice’s vision and persistence, Europe’s largest patchwork show might never have existed. And I would not have traveled to the UK this summer!
Janice’s story begins much earlier. At five, she was stitching. At thirteen, she owned her own sewing machine. At twenty, she made her first quilt. Initially Janice trained as a nurse, but a back injury ended that path and nudged her fully into textiles.
What followed was a remarkable 35-year career teaching patchwork and quilting. She worked with City & Guilds, taught at leading adult learning institutes across the UK, and shared her expertise abroad.
Along the way, Janice received many honors, including the Charles Henry Foyle Textile Award for Technical Excellence, the Jewel Pearce Patterson Scholarship for International Quilt Teachers in Houston, and two Medals of Excellence from City & Guilds.
Most notably — Janice was recognized with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Festival of Quilts for her far-reaching accomplishments in the quilting world.
Like me, Janice has long been drawn to Japanese culture.
As Janice got more involved with quilting, she dove deep into shibori, sashiko, indigo, and Japanese textiles. Her book, Shibori for Textile Artists, offers a comprehensive history of shibori and step-by-step instructions — a trusted reference for studio makers worldwide.
When I visited, we began in her cozy living room with the walls lined with book shelves and textile art.
After lunch in her airy kitchen, we moved upstairs to Janice’s sewing studio — a work space brimming with fabrics, tools, and her Bernina midarm.
In the hallway, Janice opened a closet stacked with fat rolls which she unfurled to release lots of gorgeous quilts.
Her work reveals her fearless curiosity. She’s an innovator who will try anything!
A whole-cloth sashiko quilt with her own overall pattern:
A boro-inspired composition with layers of old and new Japanese fabrics, densely stitched:
Pole-wrapped shibori exposing indigo-dyed cotton wadding:
Clamp-dyed textiles with reveals and appliqué details:
Bold indigo lines created with cording:
Dyeing with Japanese indigo using chopsticks as a resist:
Before leaving, Janice showed me her backyard greenhouse where she’s growing indigo for the first time. I suggested she clip the tall plants to encourage branching.
When I got back to London, I received a message and photo from Janice: she had already trimmed her indigo plants and dyed fabric with the fresh leaves!
That’s Janice — endlessly curious, endlessly making. A woman who never stops playing with textiles!
To visit Janice’s website +click here
Want to catch up with Janice in person? Janice participates in World Textile Days — small gatherings of global textile experts and vendors — in local venues around the UK. +learn more
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ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria import vintage Japanese textiles, host in-person and online creative quilting experiences, and lead textile tours to Japan.
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