What would you expect from a beginner class?
11-01-2014, 09:19 AM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 2,876
That pretty much covers what I was taught in a beginner class. And I do feel it gave me lots of confidence and I make fewer mistakes because I have the basics.
I've been quilting for about 20 years, mainly self-taught but did take some classes. For a beginner class I would think the following needs to be covered:
Basic notions - sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat, scissors, pins, iron, thread, presser feet, seam ripper
Fabric Choices
Cutting Fabric (and rotary cutter safety!)
1/4-inch seam allowance
Pressing
Matching seams
Batting choices
Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting
Binding
Be sure the students walk away with a completely finished project. Preferably the project would have a few simple triangles just so you can show them a couple of ways of doing triangles.
Basic notions - sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat, scissors, pins, iron, thread, presser feet, seam ripper
Fabric Choices
Cutting Fabric (and rotary cutter safety!)
1/4-inch seam allowance
Pressing
Matching seams
Batting choices
Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting
Binding
Be sure the students walk away with a completely finished project. Preferably the project would have a few simple triangles just so you can show them a couple of ways of doing triangles.
11-01-2014, 12:29 PM
#32
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Posts: 265
I have also been sewing clothes for years but had never made a quilt until May this year. I read loads of magazines and books and spent a lot of time on the computer teaching myself the basics. Then I decided to take a beginner class and boy, was I glad I did. When you learn on your own, you miss out on valuable information and time saving shortcuts that more experienced quilters have learned over the years. Besides the items listed by Patpitter, the class I took taught all the most commonly used blocks, which was awesome.
11-01-2014, 02:17 PM
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Tulsa, Ok
Posts: 4,582
I took a Quilting 101 class at a LQS two years ago. Class time was 4 Monday mornings from 9 to noon. Had a fully complete log cabin block quilt when it was done. People were expected to have basic sewing skills and bring their own machines to class. She covered basic tools, fabric preparation, how to cut fabrics with rotary cutter and ruler, piecing and chain piecing, pressing vs ironing, sewing 1/4" seams, measuring quilt for borders, sewing on borders, sandwiching using safety pins, SID quilting and both machine and hand binding. Basically all the foundation skills.
11-02-2014, 12:44 PM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,203
In addition to the things PatPitter has suggested, I would including sewing straight lines, sewing curves, sewing squares/rectangles together, sewing half-square triangles, and several methods of applique. Maybe another class for paper piecing.
I would expect to go home after the first class with a finished project - something small, maybe a pillow or wall hanging or table topper. Or the 1 yard baby quilt - I forget the dimensions - take 3 yards of fabric that coordinate, cut maybe 10" off each side, and mix and match so you have 3 quilts at the end with centers, sides, and corner squares all different.
I would expect to go home after the first class with a finished project - something small, maybe a pillow or wall hanging or table topper. Or the 1 yard baby quilt - I forget the dimensions - take 3 yards of fabric that coordinate, cut maybe 10" off each side, and mix and match so you have 3 quilts at the end with centers, sides, and corner squares all different.
11-02-2014, 06:45 PM
#36
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: kansas
Posts: 6,407
My Quilters Guild offers 7 3 hr sessions of beginner classes for any member-new or repeat. I will be teaching it along with a friend and some other members. We will cover fabric selection, rotary cutting, finding that 1/4"seam and tool selection (rulers, etc), basic quilting terms; session 2 will be putting together a rail fence block (nesting seams, getting a 12.5 block, pressing) and introduce handquilting; a session on creating an applique block (we'll cover several methods and ask that they choose one); a block of Sarah's Choice, so that they will do a 1/2 square triangle, a flying geese, fit them together as a pinwheel(and open up that meeting corner seam so it lays flat); a session making and "easy pineapple" to show how a complex looking block is very doable; drunkard's path block (sewing curved seams) and "breaking down blocks" to show all the parts they have learned up to this point; a final session of sashings and borders, preparing to quilt or preparing for the long armer. We typically follow-up a couple of months later with a workshop to help them actually get it all finished/binding. We then encourage that they show their sampler at the next Guild show. We ask that beginners do have working knowledge of their machine and basic sewing skills. We even have many members that are experienced quilters that will "drop in" to either help and mentor or re-take a particular class that they want to polish skills.
I had been a sewer for decades before I took these beginner classes and wanted to learn to quilt. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone take some beginner quilt classes even if they do sew--it was SOOO helpful.
I had been a sewer for decades before I took these beginner classes and wanted to learn to quilt. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone take some beginner quilt classes even if they do sew--it was SOOO helpful.
11-02-2014, 08:06 PM
#37
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 983
It's wonderful that your husband wants to learn quilting! You are never too old to learn and he is doing his brain a favor by tackling a new skill.
True confession: i hate to sew buttons on, so rarely have a button down blouse in my closet!
When I showed my grands how to sew, I let them pick fabrics from my stash, showed them how to thread the machine, and we chose a 4 patch as the first project. They made their first quilts for themselves, so were very interested in the process and the result, and perfection was not one of their or my goals. They loved doing it and were as natural as could be on my machine. When it was time to quilt, they made it interesting by using the decorative stitches on the machine. Now they are older and have other interests, but some day they may come back to learn more.
True confession: i hate to sew buttons on, so rarely have a button down blouse in my closet!
When I showed my grands how to sew, I let them pick fabrics from my stash, showed them how to thread the machine, and we chose a 4 patch as the first project. They made their first quilts for themselves, so were very interested in the process and the result, and perfection was not one of their or my goals. They loved doing it and were as natural as could be on my machine. When it was time to quilt, they made it interesting by using the decorative stitches on the machine. Now they are older and have other interests, but some day they may come back to learn more.
Jeri
11-03-2014, 12:17 AM
#38
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2,140
Aw man, I made a huge long list & then deleted it because I assumed this was just a single class & my list was too long! lol
Ok, first off, I know around me there are only classes for people that have never seen a real, live sewing machine in their lives. It is intensely frustrating because the purpose of those classes seems to be to con clueless people into buying fancy machines and totally unnecessary piles of notions. For the rest of us who started sewing back in junior high, there is nothing available except the occasional skill class. I just want to cry when I see beautiful quilt tops that end up quilted SITD solely because that's all that's taught in local classes. So, my personal bias is that it would be nice to have a class that doesn't include really, really basic lessons about things like how to turn on my machine, plug in the foot pedal, lower the presser foot, thread the needle, pin together two pieces of fabric, or use a pair of scissors. And while I have quite a collection of notions, it is overwhelming to hear about a long list of items (all available immediately after class) that I just "have" to have. There are only a few actual essentials. After that, there is another fairly short list of items that aren't necessary, but will make a big difference in the ease or quality of your quilting. Beyond that, the rest are quilting luxuries and very few of those should be promo-ed in a beginner's class.
For skills, I would love to see a sampler quilt, but I know those aren't really done anymore. So if that's not feasible, maybe a mini-quilt to practice straight line (walking foot) quilting, and then a lap quilt to learn FMQ techniques. There really isn't much to straight line quilting, which I suppose is why so many places are eager to offer one-day classes where people are given pieced samples with triangles and squares to do SITD or cheater cloth prints to do straight line quilting.
For FMQ, on the other hand, there is a lot more to consider both with machine & technique, but the results are undeniably stunning when done right. Heather Thomas has an amazing YouTube video series of her live classes on beginner FMQ (tools, tips & techniques for beginners); and, of course, Leah Day has built a reputation as the premiere source for FMQ on the web.
And after the quilting, it would be helpful to explain about bindings (hand or machine finished) and labels. I think binding would be especially important because honestly, that was the hardest thing for me to learn from on-line videos.
Here are the other things I'd like to see included at some point in a Beginner (but not totally clueless) Class:
Tools
What do I actually need to start quilting?
If I had another $100 to spend, where would it make the biggest difference?
Care & Repair: how often to change needles/rotary blades, clean/oil machine, soak cutting mat, sharpen scissors, etc
Marking Tools (ironing, testing to make sure they come out)
Basting Tools (curved pins, Pinmoors, spray baste, Elmer's glue & how/when to use each)
Needles -- selecting the right needle for piecing/quilting/binding by hand & machine, matching needle/thread, numbers
Thread -- cotton, poly, rayon, blend, silk, mono; thread thickness & ply numbers
(if you will be talking about binding by hand, a brief mention of thimbles would be good)
Tips
Extra Wide Fabric vs. Pieced Backs
Selecting a Batting (warmth, allergens, natural fibers, price, durability, washability, drape)
To Pre-Wash or Not to Pre-Wash?
Same or different colored thread in top & bobbin? (risks/advantages of mismatched threads)
Stacking fabric for rotary cutter
Strip cutting/strip piecing (sewing)
Using a "charger" (fabric scraps for start/stop to save thread & level presser foot)
Continuous line quilting/Reducing starts & stops
When to cut/not cut on the bias
How to make HST & QST & how to identify which is which once it's cut
Tricks (aka, Troubleshooting)
Problems related to:
Dull rotary blade
Dull needle
Top Tension
Bobbin
Stitch length
Presser foot is up
Threading
Poorly formed/skipped stitches
Teeny-tiny stitches or giant stitches
Jog in stitch line
Fabric is bunching, pulling, puckering or moving
Difficulty moving fabric under darning foot
Ruffles in border
Pieced square/rectangles that need squaring up
Thread keeps breaking
Apologies for the long list. As you can tell, this isn't the first time I've thought about this. lol. I can't tell you how many quilters I've run into at LQS that have somehow managed to get their first quilt all pieced & then they want to quilt it and they're just totally lost. I can relate to them and I do my best to share YouTube links with the new quilters because I've been there myself, but a live class that actually covered the "Beginner Plus Basics" for those who managed to figure out how to sew a straight line and use a rotary cutter/ruler on their own, would be really nice. By me, many people get hooked into quilting after years of watching F&P or SwN on TV, so they bring some basic knowledge with them plus lots of ridiculously difficult and creative ideas of quilts they'd like to make.
Ok, first off, I know around me there are only classes for people that have never seen a real, live sewing machine in their lives. It is intensely frustrating because the purpose of those classes seems to be to con clueless people into buying fancy machines and totally unnecessary piles of notions. For the rest of us who started sewing back in junior high, there is nothing available except the occasional skill class. I just want to cry when I see beautiful quilt tops that end up quilted SITD solely because that's all that's taught in local classes. So, my personal bias is that it would be nice to have a class that doesn't include really, really basic lessons about things like how to turn on my machine, plug in the foot pedal, lower the presser foot, thread the needle, pin together two pieces of fabric, or use a pair of scissors. And while I have quite a collection of notions, it is overwhelming to hear about a long list of items (all available immediately after class) that I just "have" to have. There are only a few actual essentials. After that, there is another fairly short list of items that aren't necessary, but will make a big difference in the ease or quality of your quilting. Beyond that, the rest are quilting luxuries and very few of those should be promo-ed in a beginner's class.
For skills, I would love to see a sampler quilt, but I know those aren't really done anymore. So if that's not feasible, maybe a mini-quilt to practice straight line (walking foot) quilting, and then a lap quilt to learn FMQ techniques. There really isn't much to straight line quilting, which I suppose is why so many places are eager to offer one-day classes where people are given pieced samples with triangles and squares to do SITD or cheater cloth prints to do straight line quilting.
For FMQ, on the other hand, there is a lot more to consider both with machine & technique, but the results are undeniably stunning when done right. Heather Thomas has an amazing YouTube video series of her live classes on beginner FMQ (tools, tips & techniques for beginners); and, of course, Leah Day has built a reputation as the premiere source for FMQ on the web.
And after the quilting, it would be helpful to explain about bindings (hand or machine finished) and labels. I think binding would be especially important because honestly, that was the hardest thing for me to learn from on-line videos.
Here are the other things I'd like to see included at some point in a Beginner (but not totally clueless) Class:
Tools
What do I actually need to start quilting?
If I had another $100 to spend, where would it make the biggest difference?
Care & Repair: how often to change needles/rotary blades, clean/oil machine, soak cutting mat, sharpen scissors, etc
Marking Tools (ironing, testing to make sure they come out)
Basting Tools (curved pins, Pinmoors, spray baste, Elmer's glue & how/when to use each)
Needles -- selecting the right needle for piecing/quilting/binding by hand & machine, matching needle/thread, numbers
Thread -- cotton, poly, rayon, blend, silk, mono; thread thickness & ply numbers
(if you will be talking about binding by hand, a brief mention of thimbles would be good)
Tips
Extra Wide Fabric vs. Pieced Backs
Selecting a Batting (warmth, allergens, natural fibers, price, durability, washability, drape)
To Pre-Wash or Not to Pre-Wash?
Same or different colored thread in top & bobbin? (risks/advantages of mismatched threads)
Stacking fabric for rotary cutter
Strip cutting/strip piecing (sewing)
Using a "charger" (fabric scraps for start/stop to save thread & level presser foot)
Continuous line quilting/Reducing starts & stops
When to cut/not cut on the bias
How to make HST & QST & how to identify which is which once it's cut
Tricks (aka, Troubleshooting)
Problems related to:
Dull rotary blade
Dull needle
Top Tension
Bobbin
Stitch length
Presser foot is up
Threading
Poorly formed/skipped stitches
Teeny-tiny stitches or giant stitches
Jog in stitch line
Fabric is bunching, pulling, puckering or moving
Difficulty moving fabric under darning foot
Ruffles in border
Pieced square/rectangles that need squaring up
Thread keeps breaking
Apologies for the long list. As you can tell, this isn't the first time I've thought about this. lol. I can't tell you how many quilters I've run into at LQS that have somehow managed to get their first quilt all pieced & then they want to quilt it and they're just totally lost. I can relate to them and I do my best to share YouTube links with the new quilters because I've been there myself, but a live class that actually covered the "Beginner Plus Basics" for those who managed to figure out how to sew a straight line and use a rotary cutter/ruler on their own, would be really nice. By me, many people get hooked into quilting after years of watching F&P or SwN on TV, so they bring some basic knowledge with them plus lots of ridiculously difficult and creative ideas of quilts they'd like to make.
11-03-2014, 11:19 AM
#39
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,667
I love this list. Especially the part about walking away with a finished project! I took a beginning quilting class, making a sampler, and ended up at home alone trying to figure out how to finish it.
I've been quilting for about 20 years, mainly self-taught but did take some classes. For a beginner class I would think the following needs to be covered:
Basic notions - sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat, scissors, pins, iron, thread, presser feet, seam ripper
Fabric Choices
Cutting Fabric (and rotary cutter safety!)
1/4-inch seam allowance
Pressing
Matching seams
Batting choices
Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting
Binding
Be sure the students walk away with a completely finished project. Preferably the project would have a few simple triangles just so you can show them a couple of ways of doing triangles.
Basic notions - sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat, scissors, pins, iron, thread, presser feet, seam ripper
Fabric Choices
Cutting Fabric (and rotary cutter safety!)
1/4-inch seam allowance
Pressing
Matching seams
Batting choices
Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting
Binding
Be sure the students walk away with a completely finished project. Preferably the project would have a few simple triangles just so you can show them a couple of ways of doing triangles.
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