Last year I started to teach classes at Montavilla Sewing Center in Gresham. It’s a nice location for me from the standpoint of proximity to where I live but also to fill a blank spot on my teaching map and open up an area where I was previously unrepresented. As of January, I am starting my Journal Quilt classes there. These are ongoing monthly standalone classes that focus on artistic techniques the in many cases go beyond the methods you might usually find in a more traditional quilting class.
In The Art Journal Quilt classes we explore techniques such as embellishment, fabric manipulation, fabric dyeing and painting and in some cases, the lesson might involve a different creative approach to design. The projects are small – usually the size of a sheet of paper. Why the small size? This is so you can explore the technique on an experimental project before committing to a larger, more expensive and more time consuming quilt and work out the logistics plus see if it’s something you really want to pursue on a larger scale. As a bonus, many of the students actually complete the project and we all know how satisfying it is to check those UFOs off your list.
In our January class we will play with weaving curvy strips of different fabrics into panels that can be a standalone composition or used as a background for embellishment as I have done with my sample Shell Dreams, or an applique focal point as a couple of my students did in a previous class.
The fabrics do not need to be 100% cotton and in fact, you can get interesting texture variations by combining different fabrics such as silk or satin with rough fabrics like corduroy and linen.
These 3 hour classes at Montavilla Sewing Center in Gresham will take place the first Wednesday of each month from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. Come join me to explore just what you can do with fabric and your sewing machine.
