Starting Something New for the New Year

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.

Shell Dreams #1. A woven textures panel embellished with seashells and pebbles and textured quilting

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.

Ardie’s Tribal Mask Applique on a woven textures background
Joy’s Tribal Mask Applique over woven textures background

 


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