Class listPlease contact me on jenny.bowker@gmail.com if you are interested in any of the following classes. Before you book me for a class, please click here to read my letter of introduction. Images in applique - 2 daysClick here for the class
requirements list This workshop will teach you to turn any of your own photographs into a larger fabric picture. We use only tools which are easily available, and no drawing skills are necessary. You will learn which parts of your image are important and which can be simplified. You will learn how to build up your picture to give perspective and depth. Over two days your image will appear in fabric and ready to quilt. This image will be appliquéd using Vliesofix and soft edge appliqué because it is fast, but we will discuss different ways to appliqué during the workshop. Most people will get most of their image down in the two days, but there is rarely time to start sewing. A common complaint is that the class is too short. I demonstrate additional techniques to augment your image - free machine drawing and working with acrylic paint to make minor changes. We will also discuss ways to stretch the piece with 'extender' blocks in traditional patchwork to give a 'crystalline' picture, though there is not time in this class to do this extra work. Images in applique extended - 4 or 5 daysThe first two days of this class is the same as the two day Images in Appliqué class. In the second stage we have a chance to finish and extend the image, to look at possibilities for making the quilt so much more exciting, and to extend the image. This could be with blocks, further images, or by placing it in a wall as a window or a picture. It is a challenging and different class aimed at extending your imagination and skills, and is suitable for anyone with basic patchwork skills. At least a half day will be spent on free machine stitching and quilting techniques, and in the five day course there is a half day on developing ideas to make complex and interesting quilts. Free machine quilting - 1 or 2 daysClick here for the class requirements list This class is designed to teach you to do wonderful free machine quilting with the feed dogs down. We will also learn how to sandwich a quilt for machine quilting and touch on techniques which involve a walking foot. You will not predraw but will learn simple techniques for easy patterns which look rhythmic and graceful. This class is either one or two days, with the first day spent on learning patterns and skills and the second on some small finished pieces. Hand applique with spray starch - 2 daysIn this class you will learn to use hand applique and spray starch in a technique which I find easier than traditional needleturn. We work with simple appliqué patterns on 6" blocks to make pieces which work together as a beautiful and traditional country garden quilt. This quilt uses nine patch blocks which alternate with your appliqué pieces. It is a wonderful showcase for a collection of reproduction scraps. This is the only course I run which has a truly traditional flavour. Playing with kaleidoscopes - 2 daysClick here for the
class requirements list This class plays with the versatile kaleidoscope block and scrap fabrics in several colour ranges to produce a variety of whirling patterns in a stunning quilt. No two quilts will be the same. You will learn to use machine foundation piecing for speed and accuracy. This is not a class which produces a fast and easy quilt, but you will be taught to play with colour to create something really spectacular. Pieces of eight - 2 daysClick here for the class requirements list This class will teach you a quick way to make half square triangles, and show you several ways to use this technique to produce a variety of shimmering quilts. You will work on one or more in class and take home instructions for others. This is a wonderful workshop for a collection of large scrap pieces in several colour ranges, but you can also work with a few colour co-ordinated fabrics if you wish. Broken star - I dayClick here for the class requirements list This class teaches the same eight half-square triangle system as Pieces of Eight, but covers fewer design principles, concentrates on one dramatic quilt and makes it in one day. Patterns in nature - 2 daysClick here for
the class requirements list This class lifts images from around us which are reproduced as tile patterns made with quick techniques - appliqué with Vliesofix or raw-edge reverse appliqué. Once we have some basic shapes we play with colours and shapes to alter and simplify our own blocks and see what they do together. This is an experimental workshop for those interested in pushing back the boundaries and making innovative work. Patterns from science - 2 or 4 daysThis is a design development course for those who want to stretch their skills and work in innovative ways. Working from scientific sources and a visual diary we play with imagery and pattern. We talk about adapting and altering designs to produce unique designs, we discuss copyright law and how it affects the artist. By day three we are working in fabric to create quilts or quilt pieces based on the designs we have made. Artist Trading Cards - 2 daysClick here for the class requirements list In this class you will learn to play with many stitching techniques on your machine to make business cards your friends will treasure! We will use machines for thread play, draw with machines, play with many different textiles including transparencies, and some objects and textiles not usually associated with traditional quilts. We may use paint and potato printing or printing with rubber stamps to add interest to our cards. We will use different sorts of thread and couching, fragments and exotic textiles to make our cards more interesting. Triptych - 3 daysClick here for the class requirements list This is a design and ideas class which will explore the idea of using several quilt pieces together to give a sense the development of an idea, whether through narrative, colour, subject or design. For the first one and a half days we will work through a series of exercises from different design sources, some mine and some yours. Then you will move into working with your own ideas. While I have called the class Triptych with the idea of making three small tops in the class, some might make more. The work might be intended to hang together or as a series of pieces. What you make in class will be small and exploratory rather than finished but should provide ideas for the next fifteen years. Creative Stitching - 2 daysClick here for the class requirements list The classes with be broken into several sessions, each followed by the making of small pieces, some no bigger than postcards, some larger. Arabesque - 2 daysClick here for the class requirements list This workshop will teach you to play with a selection of patterns to produce designs suitable for quilts made with blocks – but your blocks will be appliquéd like Islamic blocks. Pattern is defined in the Concise Oxford dictionary as "a regular form or order … or design." We will look at the way pattern appears in nature - while there is usually an underlying structure there is often a lot of variation within the basic design. We can play with patterns that nature produces for us or produce patterns of our own using several different. We will also analyse several Islamic patterns though we will not be drawing the more complex ones with twelve pointed star grids. It is a design based workshop where you will not produce a finished quilt, but will work with many small samples in paper and perhaps fabric. Most of your time will be used in working up designs, and some students might work with fabric. Several appliqué methods will be demonstrated – both hand and machine. Skill level . A willingness to work in new ways is necessary for this class. Some experience is useful but not essential. |