I get to teach quilting!!!
 

I'm getting everything lined up to teach a quilting class to students in 8-12th grades. I'm so excited.
The students will be making quilts for the orphanage in Haiti that they adopted. These same students sent Christmas gifts to the children down there. The quilts will be hand delivered when the 10th and 12th graders go on their mission trip this summer. They will get to make two quilts: one for the orphanage and one that they can keep and use.
I wrote a donation request for some sewing machines and I'm waiting to hear back about them. I'm hoping to get 10 machines as I may have 20-40 students taking the class. This will be a good activity for learning to share. Otherwise I only have 4 sewing machines for them to use. Ages of the machines 1964 is the oldest, 2 are the early 70's models, and one is late 70's. I'm glad that they made sewing machines to last.

One of the board members gave a wonderful donation to the class.
The quilts will be tied instead of machine quilted as I do not own a long arm and it costs money to have them machine quilted.

I do have a couple of questions:
Where is the most reasonable place to buy quilting thread and also batting?
I'm thinking Joann's with a coupon but maybe there is something out there that is a better deal.

I'm trying to keep the cost down to almost free, that way anyone can join in the fun.

The first day: Quilting SAFETY!!! , equipment, and fabric and pattern selection then cutting.
Day 2 until everyone is done: cutting, sewing, burping (that is what the video called it) and tying.

Please keep my in your thoughts and prayers as I undertake this endeavor. The only compensation will be to see the finished projects as I'm donating 1 1/2 months of my time after school for this project. I can't wait to see all the smiles on their faces and then it will be a long wait until June to see the orphans smiles.

Patterns I'm thinking of: Take 5, Turning 20, D9P, and a few others from Anka's Treasures (by Heather Peterson)
. (No affiliation to her the girls just loved her styles.)

Thanks for reading.

Sounds like an awesome time will be had, good luck.

The video probably said "birthing", not "burping"! :D I think a rail fence pattern is really good for beginners. Don't think I'd use D9P because of the need to match so many seams.

I will have to go watch the video again. I did watch it late at night- so I maybe misheard them.
Thanks for the idea of the fence rail - never thought of that one.

Congratulations to you! Many thoughts for a great time for you and the students. Sometimes members of a nearby quilt guild would enjoy helping in this endeavor ... offering scraps, batting, assistance and such.

I've seen some great 9 patch quilts that might be great for this group. Keeping it simple, imho.

When you do a 9 patch - they add 2 1/2 " sashing between the 9 patch. Correct?
I will check with the quilting groups. Thanks

Karen,

You are wonderful to undertake teaching such a big class!

Since you live in Minnesota, I would suggest that you check out okleequilting.com, since the shipping wouldn't be so far. The have a roll of "econo" batting that is 60" wide that is commonly used for Lutheran World Relief quilts by church groups. Compare that price to 50% off at Joanns. If you are only making 2 quilts for the whole class, then Joann's is probably the better option.

Get a 15% off teacher discount card at Joann's and you will get that additional discount when batting is on sale. It cannot be combined with other coupons, but it good on sale items. The newest Joann's flyer gives teachers a 20 or 25% discount next weekend and batting by the yard is on sale. If you are a guest teacher in the school, you may need to purchase under the credentials of another teacher in your school.

As for pattern, the simplest one that I know for beginners is to use 6" squares (convenient for common rulers) and make 4 patches with 1/2" seams (gives more fudge room for beginners). Alternate light and dark. If using the 60" batting make it 6 blocks across and 8 blocks down for a 60 x 80 quilt. If you use 4 patch blocks instead of strips, it seems to be easier to match the corners (if that matters).

Good luck with the project! There are lots of quilting concepts to be taught, but the most valuable will be the idea of making and giving to someone else.

There is a new site, where you can raise money for your organization selling t=shirts. I believe after the amount that you raise ( for notions, cloth, etc.) then the t-shirts are sent and you get your check. I don't know what it's called, just saw advertisement on tv. But if this is for a school, they can get the non participating class members to purchase t-shirts to help defray the cost. Since Haiti is hot, you may want to think of a thin lining. What about fleece. It's going to be on sale for the next couple of months?

Excited as you are this will be a rewarding for the sewers and a joy for the ones receiving this labor of love..:)

Judy in Phx, AZ

I admire you! Teaching children to sew is not my favorite thing. LOL One place to find donations is from local guilds. I know in our guild there are many that would rather give money and supplies when asked then time.

This is such a great thing you have offered to do. Most children and adults, do not know what goes into making a quilt. Bless You.

If none of these kids have every used a sewing machine, I would have them just putting alternating blocks together. For my daughter's girl scout Silver award I taught our girls how to quilt as well. My girls were in 9th grade. Some of them had a tough time trying to sew a straight line, much less a consistent seam allowance. Each girl pieced together 2 baby quilts that we were able to donate to mom's at a public hospital. While the girls did the piecing, I quilted each of them and did the binding on them.

Before having the kids start stitching directly on fabric, you may want to draw some lines onto blank paper and have them trying to stitch along the lines without thread. That will help them get the feel for how fast or slow they need to sew.

I agree. Find fun fabrics if possible. Do a simple checkerboard or Rail fence, as someone suggested. If they've sewn before, a simple 9 patch would be great. Don't try to go too fancy because a poorly constructed fancy quilt doesn't look as good as a simple 2 patch which is better done.

And anyway, if you have "interesting" fabrics, that is what the kids care about--not the actual design. At least that has been my experience.

Yesterday I had a 6 yo ask for the puppies because that is what she saw on the fabric. The design was a simple "donation quilt style" (if there is such a term). Have you seen something like this?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]456304[/ATTACH]

This wasn't the same quilt she chose, but this was the pattern. I originally found it the pattern here:

http://www.maryquilts.com/quick-strippie/

Here is a suggestion that might be worth a try: if you or the school contacts mountain mist, or Hobbs or other batting companies they might donate free batting. if you contact moda or other fabric manufactures they might donate fabric, and thread companies might supply thread. Keep your projects small and easy so that the students will be able to complete their items. Good luck and have lots of fun!

I'm hoping some Long Armers can join in donating...I only have a small domestic on a frame and quilt for a few charities...it doesn't take much time..
K

I taught a quilting class to girls in grades 4 - 6 at a gifted and talented center. We met once a week for two and a half hours -- nine times during the semester. Every one of the girls finished a quilt which was hers to keep, but we made several which hung on the center's walls for about five years. We used fabric crayons on squares (which I set), then used a sheet for backing, and tied the whole thing with knitting yarn. I was given the use of several cast-off sewing machines from the high school's home economics department.

When it came time for their individual quilts, the girls chose patterns which contained squares and very few triangles. We carefully cut all the block pieces before we began any sewing. I put matching pieces into sandwich bags and labeled them. We practiced sewing using copy paper with straight lines drawn on and worked without using thread in the machines. The girls got pretty good.

Then we moved to fabric with thread. I wish you could have seen the "one-quarter-inch" seams! Some of them actually measured about one inch! I spent quite a bit of time after school taking blocks apart and resewing them.

The girls all had something truly special to keep when the class was over. The next semester, I had more students who wanted to take the class than I had room for. There were even boys who thought the class would be cool! As it turned out, I had a very understanding principal who allowed me to do two sessions of the class, so I was able to accommodate twenty-four eager young quilters instead of the usual twelve.

Your upcoming very worthwhile endeavor makes me miss the thrill of getting young people into such a wonderful hobby.

My first quilt was a rail fence that I made in a class. It is a really simple pattern. My seams were so crooked but the quilt still went together and it looked really good when I finished. You could not tell how bad my seams were. So that would be my suggestion for a pattern As far as supplies, I taught a sewing class at a local non-profit for a while and we asked the community for donations. We got so much fabric and batting that we couldn't even use it all. We made up flyers lissting the items we were looking for and posted them whereever people would let us. :) There is a site called Freecycle that is used for recycling items. You can put up things you want to donate or things that you need as well. It is organized by city. I only used it once, to donate clothes, but it was a good experience

Karen have you thought about doing a jelly roll quilt, that would be an easy one for beginners. You might also check out the new tutorial that Missouri Star Quilts has out on the disappearing pinwheel, since you are thinking about doing a DSP9, I know Jenny is using layer cakes in this, but you can cut your own, since they are 10"x10". Missouri Star has a lot of quick and easy tutorials, on You Tube.
Your new endeavor sounds so exciting, I wish I lived near by and could give you a helping hand- I am a retired teacher and this would be so much fun- however I live tooo far away- as I live in Texas. If you have a local or an area quilting group perhaps some of the ladies might want to give you a hand to help some of the students with their cutting or sewing. As others have suggested, advertise with your local merchants Wal Mart or any other business for donations of supplies or monetary donations to purchase supplies. Please show us pictures and keep us updated on this exciting project. Don't forget to have your students label their quilts.

Karen, what a great mission project you've taken on.
I looked up the weather in Haiti for December and January, and the lowest low temp I found was 66 degrees. Perhaps the quilts you send to Haiti should have a layer of flannel in the middle instead of batting. The quilts staying in MN will need batting, but the quilts for the warmer climate may be more useful with just the flannel. Perhaps someone from a warmer climate will chime in on this.

I wonder if you were to go to a sewing machine dealer that accepts trade ins, if you could 'borrow' or rent a bunch of their older machines that they take on trade ins. My guess is that many of those older machines get donated to overseas charities, so making a pit stop at your charity event may be feasible. Just a thought.

Another easy quilt is Warm Wishes. It alternates large squares with basically rails. The girls can strip piece, and then cut the rails, which will be quick and easy.

Best of luck with your endeavor.
Blessings,
Kris

I would also contact some of the online fabric shops. Tell them what you're doing and ask if they have any 'ends' they'd be willing to donate. :)

You could put out the word to local guilds, I bet you would get lots of donations. For that matter, send me you mailing address and I will send thread. Any other notions that would easily mail, just let me know.

Speaking of fabric. See if you can get some from estate sales donated. They may give it to you just so they don't have to deal with loading it up and taking it to GW or SA. Some of those estate sales have left over batting and flannel sheets. The ones I like to hit are the ones that say women's plus-size clothing. Even clothes from their own homes or relatives. Give them a seam ripper and let them take out their frustrations.

Karen have you thought about the 10 minute block? That would also be a quick quilt for your class. Suzanne McNeil has a quick tutorial on You Tube for this. Check out the Bow Tie quilt from 10 minute blocks in the picture section of todays Board for the YouTube site. Just another idea for you.

Have you checked your LQS? Mine sometimes donates sale fabric to a local school, the teacher is a regular customer.

I am excited with you... What an undertaking but a wonderful one!
I'm sure you will get a great feeling of reward in teaching these young ladies as well as the gifting aspect to the kids in Haiti

As to your question about where to find reasonably priced thread, I buy mine at connectingthreads.com. Watch for their sales. I get their thread on sale for $1.79 a spool for a nice 50wt. cotton. There is 1200yds on each spool. I quilted a large quilt with an intricate design and still had half a spool left! Only caveat is it can be a little linty, which means you have to clean the machines periodically. Wonderful thing you are doing!

For batting the Warm Company, which has a plant near us, is very generous for charity or donation quilt materials. They gave us several bolts which had minor flaws or were a little soiled. We just cut off the bad parts and used it all year long. For materials could you run an ad or perhaps an article in your local newspaper asking for fabric donations? My mom's group which meets in the local senior center always gets huge bags of fabric donated because someone has died who had a huge stash. Some of it is dated, but still very useable.

wow this is a big undertaking, each girl will make two quilts right? I would use 9 patch and rail fence. I have tied several quilts and I find if I stitch in the ditch all away around the inside of the borders after the quilt is tied, it anchors the quilt and batting better. The girls can do this easy and their eyesight is so much better than ours! Best of luck.

They have thread on sale right now. Just saw it in the catalog.

Awesome - this sounds like alot of fun for you.

What a wonderful thing you are doing for the girls, they will never forget it. You have a good heart.

That's wonderful of you to donate your time to teach quilting. I have also taught kids, so here's just a few suggestions: DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING- even that they know the correct way to sit in front of the machine. Keep it simple! I know that sounds easy, but for quick donation quilts, they will want to see something get done, not an interesting design. Beginners will get bored with the precision, and the more talented kids will take over, leaving the less experienced with little to do. And PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE!!! Not everyone's mother ( or whoever) has taught them the basics, and I've found for a lot of kids, even the simplest dexterity needed for a needle and thread does not come easily. Have fun!

Good for you for volunteering to teach those kids. Building any skill like sewing can make a huge difference in terms of confidence and self-worth.
You have an advantage because the kids you're teaching are high school level and want to be there. That makes a huge difference. They will all at least be trying. Maybe after going over the basics have them make a few test seams to see what their skill levels really are. That can help you determine which patterns to let them choose from. I think it's important that they're challenged at least a little bit so they won't get bored.
DP4 might be a good pattern too. Still pretty easy but looks tough to do when it's done.
Rodney

Oklee Quilting Supply, Oklee, MN has rolls of what they call econo batting. 60 inches, 60 yards, $82. I have used this for all my missions quilts and kids quilts. I don't hand quilt it but know people who do and say that they love it. Hope this helps you. Don't remember the phone # but go to a search engine. They are there.

I wish that we had a sewing machine store in our town. No luck. I can call and check in the neighboring towns. I'm hoping to get the ones I wrote a donation request for.

I would not use batting at all. It is very hot and humid in Haiti. For the small children, I would use flannel only with the edges serged or hemmed. For the older ones, I would do quilt as you go. In that way, you would not even have to tie them. I would cut the fabric in 5" pieces and sew it right to the backing. Try a piece and see what you think. I believe fleece would be very hot in that climate. Maybe you could do more research. God bless you in your teaching effort.