Practically Perfect Patchwork Class Series
Based on the book,
The Essential Guide to Practically Perfect Patchwork
by Michele Morrow Harer
(See the link at the bottom of this page to purchase this book.)
Click here for supply list to print.
Class Description
Practically Perfect Patchwork, Let’s Finish that Quilt!, Let’s Quilt that Quilt! and Binding Reunion — completion of these four courses result in a finished quilt for the student. Each lesson builds on the one before it. There are 12 lessons in the series. These classes are carefully constructed to be a gradual and non-threatening introduction into quilting for beginners and a primer for those who have been quilting but wish to learn how to stitch patchwork with more ease and accuracy. Two “week off” breaks are incorporated to allow students time to prepare for next session.
The course emphasizes the development of a basic understanding of the four common seam types of block construction with the light-hearted use of helpful tricks and techniques that will enable the student to make any patchwork block in the future. The 46 different blocks in the book are divided into four patch shapes contained in them. Those four shapes are subdivided into block groupings according to ease of assembly. The student chooses the difficulty level of the block she wishes to make. This results in a wide variation in quilts, so no two look identical — especially with the individual selections of fabrics.
The course is truly complete and gives instruction from the most elementary question, “What fabrics should I choose,” to placing the final stitches into the binding and adding a label to the finished quilt. The classes provide a stress-free environment where creativity blossoms — and the students truly develop self esteem and an appreciation for his or her emerging skills and patience. They find they can start a project and see it through to a successful completion — that finishing a quilt is achievable. I have seen many supportive friendships grow between students, and have watched the transformation of beginners into practiced quilters possessing quilting confidence.
Course Content
Practically Perfect Patchwork — Six Lessons
| Lesson 1: | Fabric: types, characteristics, selection, care and preparation; making durable templates |
| Lesson 2: | How to sew the simpler shapes of squares, rectangles and half-square triangles |
| Lesson 3: | Triangles and working with fabric bias |
| Lesson 4: | Polygons — moving on to more challenging shapes |
| Lesson 5: | Circles, curves and arcs — not as difficult as you might think |
| Lesson 6: | Usually a class needs to spend more that a single week on one of the four techniques, so I build an extra class into the curriculum. It is interesting that morning students take a little longer, perhaps because they are used to a more casual pace of life. Sometimes evening students also need an additional class, perhaps because they might be tired at the end of the day. |
One-week break to allow students to finish their blocks
Let’s Finish that Quilt! — Three Lessons
| Lesson 7: | Playing “block doctor” — making corrections to our blocks; adding sashing and sewing the blocks together into a design chosen by the student |
| Lesson 8: | Making and adding the borders including how to miter the corners to finish the quilt top; making the backing; choosing the correct batting for quilting method |
| Lesson 9: | Pin basting the three layers together — the students help each other; last chance to make your quilt straight and “square” |
Let’s Quilt that Quilt! — Two Lessons
| Lesson 10: | Machine quilt where it doesn’t show — in-the-ditch machine quilting — tricks and techniques to make it easier |
| Lesson 11: | Hand quilt where it does show — sources and how to make your own stencils, marking the quilt, hand quilting techniques using the “big” stitch and perle cotton, which disguises and improves the look of beginner quilt stitches |
Longer break to allow students to at least get their machine quilting completed.
Binding Reunion — One Lesson
| Lesson 12: | How to make and apply binding to the edge of the completed quilt; constructing an invisible join of the beginning and end of the binding, the importance of and how to make and apply a label |
Upcoming Classes
More Links
Click here to see a larger image of the quilt!
Click here for a copy of this page which you can print!
Click here for a supply list for The Practically Perfect Patchwork Series which you can print!
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©2005, Michele Morrow Harer
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