New Design and Craft – Leisure Course May 2020

This course will run along similar principles to the former City & Guilds Level 3 course (which is sadly being discontinued by City & Guilds). It is an exciting programme which encourages creative, personal development through the study of design skills alongside patchwork and quilting techniques. There is something eminently satisfying in designing an original piece of work and making it to a high standard of craftsmanship; this is the ethos behind this course.

The programme covers a huge range of different patchwork and quilting techniques, so has been broken down into three ‘stand-alone’ courses each running for a year and covering different sets of related techniques. Previous experience is useful but not essential, as all samples and design exercises are comprehensively taught to build up knowledge and experience.

Projects – for each year

  • For the Craft side – You’ll study numerous different patchwork & quilting methods, in traditional contemporary and cultural styles, to create a portfolio of notes & samples for future reference.
  • For the Design side – You’ll explore the principles that govern all good design, do exercises to spark your imagination and keep a sketchbook of inspirational source material for future reference.
  • Stitched Item – Drawing on the design and craft elements of the course, you’ll work on a project you’ve designed yourself. This could be a wall-hanging, quilt, accessory, bag, box – your choice!

Year A – Applique

  • The Craft side this year will cover a range of Applique patchwork techniques including:
  • Hand applique, machine, reverse, layered & slashed, shadow appliqué, Broderie Perse, Mola etc…
  • Quilting by hand and machine quilting will be covered each year and in addition this year the cultural style will be Indian Kantha & Banjara quilting.
  • Finishing techniques – these are taught to support whatever projects people choose to work on.
  • Decorative fabric techniques – will include dyeing, printing and sun-printing.
  • The Design side will cover techniques appropriate to applique such as:
  • Shape, composition, printing, simplifying and stylizing complex images, sketching.
  • Colour – colour know-how is essential for each year, this year we’ll cover colour theory and creating transparent effects in solid fabric. The other design elements – Line, Shape, Texture, Form and Space, will also feature to some degree each year, this year particularly Shape.

Year B – Block patchwork

  • The Craft side this year will cover a range of Block patchwork techniques including:
  • American style blocks, curved-pieced, foundation-pieced, representational, logcabin etc..
  • Quilting – as Year A plus this year the cultural style will be Japanese Sashiko quilting.
  • Finishing techniques – these are taught to support whatever projects people choose to work on.
  • Decorative fabric techniques – Tie-dyeing, Markal and marbling
  • The Design side will cover techniques appropriate to block patchwork such as:
  • tile designing, distorting & perspective grids. Designing for foundation piecing & quilting patterns
  • Colour – this year we’ll cover the visual effects of colour such as lustre, luminosity & radiance. The other design elements (as listed above) will also feature, this year particularly Line.

Year C – Contemporary & Traditional

  • The Craft side this year will be traditional techniques with contemporary application such as:
  • English piecing, Victorian Crazy, Cathedral window, Somerset/Japanese folded, Manipulated fabric
  • Quilting – as Year A plus this year the cultural style will be Italian Cording and Trapunto.
  • Finishing techniques – these are taught to support whatever projects people choose to work on.
  • Decorative fabric techniques – Space dyeing and transfer printing.
  • The Design side will cover techniques appropriate to these techniques such as:
  • Designing with isometric grids and contemporary settings for traditional patterns
  • Colour – this year we’ll cover the three-dimensional effects of colour. The other design elements (as listed above) will also feature, this year particularly Texture.

Materials –  Students will need to buy their own fabric as and when needed, but some other more unusual materials are covered by the stock fee (included in the cost).

Additional support – Handouts are given on each of the techniques and I also have a comprehensive library of books available to borrow.

Facilities – the room is equipped with irons, rotary equipment and some sewing machines available to borrow. I also have the capacity to do painting, dyeing, and a large table for layering up.

For dates & costs please click on the Design & Craft Courses for September link on the Homepage. To see inspiring examples of work, click on the C&G ‘Galleries’ link on the Homepage!