Class Announcement: Intro to EPP with 'Lucy Boston' blocks! Gotham Quilts! (9/19)

I am once again teaching

a beginner-level English Paper Piecing class at Gotham Quilts!

We'll again be jumping in with 'Lucy Boston' quilt blocks.

The class is one 3-hour session

on Tuesday, September 19th

Students can sign up for either the afternoon session, 2:00-5:00pm

OR

the evening session, 6:00-9:00pm

This class is an introduction to English Paper Piecing, a traditional technique for hand-piecing quilt tops that dates back as far as the 1770's. This technique is simple to learn, addictive, portable, and can be used to piece an unlimited variety of designs. Students will learn the basic technique, and also experiment with different tricks and styles to find the way of working that is most fun for the individual. We will be learning the famous (and beginner-friendly) Lucy Boston quilt design (sometimes known as Patchwork of the Crosses).

Notes on experience level:

This class is designed for beginners, but any students interested in sharpening their E.P.P. skills, or exploring this fabulous Lucy Boston design are welcome. 

Details:

Again, this is a one-session class

held on Tuesday September 19th

Afternoon option will be 2:00-5:00pm

Evening option will be 6:00-9:00pm

Class will be held at 

Gotham Quilts

40 West 37th Street

(between 5th & 6th avenues)

To sign up

CLICK HERE

for the class page on the Gotham website.

Supplies:

Here's a list of things you'll need for class. 

- Precut paper pieces: 1" Honeycombs, "Small Pack" (not to be confused with regular hexagons OR elongated hexagons)

- Precut paper pieces: 1" Squares, 'Small Pack"

- Straight pins

- Needles for hand sewing (I recommend applique sharps)

- Fabric scissors (small ones are nice for this)

- Non-fancy thread for basting (whatever you've got lying around)

- Thread for piecing (I recommend 50 weight cotton in colors that either match the fabric you'd like to use or slightly duller. Medium greys are especially handy.)

- Fabric: quilting weight cotton - at least 1/8 yard of at least 4 fabrics that look nice together, and then 1/4 yard of one solid that will serve as a background.

- Notes on Fabric and Thread

More details and inspirations for fabric and thread selection will be discussed in class, and there will be time to shop! The selection at Gotham Quilts is great for this project. If you already have a bunch of thread and scraps and fat quarters and random fun fabrics that you'd like to use, go ahead and bring as many as you don't mind carrying! The more the merrier! I especially recommend bringing fabrics with interesting prints that repeat often, and stripes are tons of fun with this design. 

And that's everything I can think of to tell you about this class!

Let me know if you have any questions!

As always, thanks for reading!!!

All the best, 

Reyna

WHY could I not have reached down and removed that stray thread?! :)

Class Announcement: 'Hexatopia' returning to the CQ in September

I'm happy to announce that I will once again be teaching

the 'Hexatopia' class at The City Quilter in NYC!
We'll be English Paper Piecing Unusual Hexagonal Blocks

The class will be 3 sessions this time: 

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

As I say in my official blurb, the class is designed to liberate and empower your English Paper Piecing adventures! We will be leaving basic store-bought shapes in the dust, and instead draw from an infinite vocabulary of polygons to create intricate hexagonal blocks!

Although we will spend time exploring traditional-style hexagonal blocks, the emphasis of the class will be on tweaking those traditional blocks to make them unique to the individual quilter, and most of all, improvising entirely new ones unlike the quiltiverse has ever seen!


Notes on experience level:

Interested students should be already confident with basic English Paper Piecing. 

Luckily, it's a super-simple technique that anyone can pick up quickly. 

Check out this video, and you'll see what I mean. 

Students should also be comfortable working with small pieces, small stitches, and understand that (as with all hand-sewing), best results come with plenty of time and care. 

The good news is that

THERE WILL BE NO MATH INVOLVED. 

You won't even need to use the numbers on your ruler unless you really want to. (I don't.)

Some more specifics about what we will be doing:

On the 1st day we will warm up by drafting simple, traditional-style blocks, get comfortable with this system of working (all the things I learned the hard way), and play with fabric selection and fussycutting.

The 2nd day will be tweaking the shapes and lines of those traditional blocks to make them more unique, and most importantly, improvising entirely new ones!

We will spend most of the 3rd day exploring the Reverse Window Shopping technique that I used to design the Strawberry block from my first post, and the Montpelier Ducks block. We'll also take some time to talk about ideas for projects one might make from the finished blocks.

Deets:

Again, the class will be 3 sessions:

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

All sessions will be held at
The City Quilter
133 W 25th Street NYC
(btn 6th and 7th avenues)

To sign up, you can call the CQ at 212-807-0390
Or just stop by. (Hours and directions here.)

Supplies:

In the interest of including absolutely everything there is to know about the class, I thought I'd go ahead and publish the supply list here.

Most items are available at the store and can be picked up before class.
Items that the CQ does NOT carry are marked with an asterisk*

- Precut paper pieces: 3.75" Hexagons, Small Pack of 12 pieces
    (If you already have hexagons in your stash, any hexagons with sides between 3" and 4.5" are great.
- Colored pencils*
- Something to use as a straight-edge - at least 7" long, but try to avoid anything longer than 15"
    (The Creative Grid non-slip acrylic rulers are ideal)
- Regular ol' pencil with a good eraser*
- X-Acto knife*
- Pins
- Needles: applique sharps
- Fabric scissors (small ones are nice for this)
- Paper scissors*
- Non-fancy thread for basting (whatever you've got laying around)
- Cotton thread for piecing (we will discus thread color selection in class, but bring a selection from your stash if you've got 'em)

Fabric:
Quilting weight cotton (avoid batiks to start)

We will be using small pieces in this class, so if you've got a stash of fat quarters and scraps, go ahead and bring a whole bunch! (Look especially for blenders, tone-on-tones, solids, and small-scale prints that you'd be excited to fussy-cut.)

If you are shopping for the class, go ahead and get:
- 1/4 yrd or more of 1 or more interesting small-scale prints (for fussycutting!)
- 1/16 or more of 3 or more blenders or solids that look nice with the prints


And that's everything I can think of to tell you about the class!
Let me know if you have any questions!

As always, thanks for reading!!!
All the best,
Reyna