Remember this recent acquisition?
The maker, Serena Potter, has started an informal and free online tutorial aimed at people who would like to learn traditional pieced quilting, people who might have no clue how to thread a needle. She doesn't quilt to win blue ribbons or make a quick buck - she does it because she loves the tradition, the process and the finished work. Her easy going and straightforward style is fun and she writes about a range of beginner's concerns that have never occurred to many who charge good money for quilting classes.
I know not many of my readers fit this description. Most of us have been at it so long we would be hard pressed to explain the most elemental details of sewing anything by hand. It would be easier for me to hem your skirt than tell or show you how, if either of us had the patience. I don't.
Serena, who is also the mother of two toddlers, has plenty.
She also has a wry sense of humor that is right up my alley and I have a long list of non-sewers to pass this link along to and I'll bet you do too. It jumps around a bit and the reader might have to scroll forward and back through the days to find a good starting place depending on one's skill set, but it's all worth it.
She worries that there are purists out there who will argue with some of her methods or practices.
I told her "Screw em!" I have held one of her quilts in my hands and if these methods and procedures are how she arrived at this result, then she knows what she's talking about.
1 comment:
oh goodness. i appreciate this so much deb. i've actually started marketing it locally too in hopes those of us who are living a one car life with kids can't get out like they could two or three years ago.
and not to mention retirees who maybe always had an interest in handwork but never tried.
and the whole range in between.
like you mentioned, and another friend did too, the formatting is a little off still. i'm working on it. it's a struggle keeping what i consider an audience of 8-80 year olds, with or without supplies or experience, perhaps navigating a language barrier, and doing it cheaply,
but hey it's what i believe in! and i know i can take someone who has never quilted and get one solid heirloom out of them at least.
i do know of local classes that have left close personal friends confused and angry. in my case twenty somethings that wanting to replicate their great grandmothers quilt wound up learning little to nothing and the shops and individuals only caring whether every week they got their 45 dollars for teaching....not to mention their nudge to sell supplies.
i'll also note that it's free because after a long talk with my mama i can find nothing about traditional quilt construction that can be considered property to sell. women have been quilting like this since the 1800s and before and they certainly didn't learn it from anyone living today.
i really appreciate the support deb! and as always your friendship and humor. ;)
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