A QUILT IS SOMETHING HUMAN
a four week art class where you make an improvisational quilt from start to finish (or not finish at all) and return to your creative practice
A Quilt is Something Human is an intimate four week course on Zoom where we will learn the basics of improvisational quilting through the art of starting over again and again - until VOILA, we create our own small hand quilted blanket
You are encouraged to be available and present for all four classes - however if you have to miss one they WILL be recorded for you to watch at a later date! THIS CLASS HAS CLOSED CAPTIONS
No previous quilting or sewing experience required : also get ready this is going to be A VERY FUN CLASS LIKE A TON OF FUN we won’t just stare at the screen we’ll stretch and talk and reconfigure and rearrange and make some damn QUILTS!
SYLLABUS
WEEK ONE : THE SECRET GROWING ○ / Guest teacher Christi Johnson joins us to talk about tips and tricks for sewing strip quilts, quilt ancestry, and more! Marlee expands to share with us the basics of an improvised log cabin square and quilt top composition! We’ll introduce ourselves in the big group and set intentions for practicing composition together. We will then move into sourcing pieces and go over how to sew them together to make a patchwork quilt top!
WEEK TWO : WITNESSING ○ / We’ll talk about the histories and lost histories of quilting as a practice. From Michigan to Amish Quilts to Gee’s Bend and beyond. We will share and sew for 20 minutes in our breakout rooms, how we made our choices, and what we’ve learned about ourselves and the world from sewing and cutting and rearranging. We’ll continue to look at different choices we can make for our patchwork quilt tops - we will also learn how to put the three layers of a quilt together and learn to HAND QUILT, basics of machine quilting a small quilt, and hand tying a quilt!
WEEK THREE : EXERCISES IN UNFOLDING ○ / This week we will learn two different ways to bind our quilts - week three is also all about TROUBLE SHOOTING! We will meet with our same breakout groups from week one to sew together and talk about our week. We will talk more about improvising and choice making and creative breakthroughs and blocks we experienced in week two
WEEK FOUR : A QUILT IS SOMETHING HUMAN ○ / Showing your quilt! Week four is purely show and tell! Each participant will have 3 minutes to present and share their quilt with the full group. We’ll share our roses and thorns, what went well and what was difficult, and how we expanded our practices and minds throughout our four weeks together. A chance to celebrate each other!
We will use Zoom in creative ways to develop a sense of togetherness in the digital container, we will share in breakout rooms our creative process and blocks, and in the final week we will share our finished quilts (or wherever you are in your process!) You can always keep your camera off or choose to not participate in any part of class
REQUIREMENTS AND MATERIALS
REQUIREMENTS : you must know the very basic functions of sewing a straight line on a sewing machine - since I will not be there to help you trouble shoot, you should take the time before class to familiarize yourself with your machine
You will want to be able to :
Thread your machine
Wind a bobbin / replace the bobbin
Sew a straight line
Switch to zig zag stitch
Don’t know how to do any of those things? Search the model of your sewing machine and the above tasks on YOUTUBE and you’ll be surprised how swiftly you can teach yourself!
Common troubleshooting things to familiarize yourself with:
A jammed bobbin
Tension
It’s mostly bobbin related problems that come up for people!
When you sign up for class I’ll send out a materials list with links to the exact products I use
COST
This class is intimate and will have no more than 40 students
The cost of this course is $375
NOMINATE A BRILLIANT QUILTER : a brilliant quilter is a BIPOC student who would love to take this class and have a tuition-free spot - there are NINE SPOTS : click below to NOMINATE A BRILLIANT QUILTER and good news you DO NOT need to nominate yourself : just USE CODE QUILTSCHOLARSHIP AT CHECKOUT
CLICK HERE FOR THE NOMINATION FORM!
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CONSIDER YOURSELF AN ARTIST TO TAKE THIS COURSE
you just have to be willing to show up and give it a try
A Quilt is Something Human appears as the title of an essay in The Foxfire Book
Disclaimer : I am not an expert sewer or seamstress, I am merely a person who loves the art of putting together and taking apart. I am also someone who love blankets, composition, staying warm, and being together with other people looking to have conversations around art making. I believe in dismantling the idea that quilting is difficult, impossible, needs measuring, needs patterns.
This class is set up in a way to encourage your own self research, to encourage you to set your own pace and find your own way. This is purposeful. I believe in you.
I’d also like to thank the two people who taught me to quilt : Eliza Fernand and Katherine Ferrier, quilting influences Rosie Lee Tompkins, the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Rebecca Scattergood Savery’s friendship quilts, old Swedish quilts, my blanket making grandmothers Marlys Parrott and Alice Cook, and so many more shape makers past and present and future.