Improv Workshop intermediate to advanced; domestic machine; 3 hours; $25 per student with 8 student minimum.
Reimagine new ways of dealing with old problems: scraps and discarded blocks. We all have them and we all need to DO SOMETHING with them. While I will have several quilts available to show, the goal here is for participants to create unique, modern quilts using their own orphans and scraps. We will work together to find the courage to rip, cut, and slice completly perfect blocks to reimagine them into a new quilt. Come with all the blocks you hate, the leftovers, the practices. All. Of. Them!
Workshop consists of creating fabric from scraps and orphan blocks; using color theory to connect the pieces; creating alternatives to the age-old question of what to do with castoffs. Workshop consists of cutting and sorting blocks and sewing the quilt top. Participants with an intermediate level of knowledge in sewing and piecing should walk away with a 36”X 36” top. Students will use domestic sewing machines and should have a basic understanding of piecing and patchwork.
Fabric and Supplies
Know your machine and your rotary cutter, because by the end of class you’ll have used them to cut into castoff blocks, create reimagined blocks and begun to put them together in one cohesive quilt top.
- five to eight orphan blocks
- a gallon zipper bag of neutral/low volume scraps, include orphan blocks if you’d like
- two yards of neutral/low volume background fabrics (fat quarters or yardage)
- backing and batting for a 36”X 36” quilt
- machine, scissors, pins, and standard supplies for quilting
Skills You Will Learn:
- Color Theory
- Alternative Gridwork
- Minimalism vs Maximalism in Modern Quilt Design
- Use of Negative Space
- Modern Traditionalism
We’ll begin with a quick showing of quilts created from orphan blocks to give an overview of the workshop. From there participants sort through their blocks, choosing a few and dropping others into a “reimage this colorway.”Once the blocks are sorted, participants begin the process of cutting blocks and sewing their quilt tops using scraps and yardage to create new blocks. We’ll use a variety of cutting and re-piecing techniques:
- Easy—even cuts with reset blocks; even cuts with split resets
- Intermediate—uneven cuts with reset blocks
- Intermediate—uneven cuts with split resets
- Advanced—even cuts with separated pieces
- Advanced—uneven cuts with separated pieces
