Kristin Laura Designs

Shortly before 1920, a new decorative technique was developed by Seminole women - the now famous patchwork. Early designs were blocks or bars of alternating color or often a sawtooth design. These bands of designs were sewn directly into the body of the garment, forming an integral part of it. Patchwork was rapidly adopted as a way to further embellish the already colorful clothing. As time went on, the designs became more and more intricate as the seamstresses became more adroit at their new skill. Often, the designs used on women's skirts today are extremely complicated. When patchwork was examined, people often exclaim over the complexity and ask, "Do the Seminole women sew each little piece together?" There's no denying that a great deal of time is required to make a patchwork garment. However, the making of patchwork is a systematic process which allows the work to proceed much faster than might be assumed. -- from the Seminole Tribe of Florida website

Typically, all the blocks in a quilt top are joined together and sandwiched with batting before quilting. This can make quilting a challenge on a domestic sewing machine. With quilt-as-you-go, each block is sandwiched and quilted individually. The blocks are then joined with special sashing strips that cover the raw edges.

Yes! This is a skill builiding class. The band patterns will be simpler to begin with and get progressively more complex. Along the way, you’ll learn techniques to improve the accuracy of your piecing. If you are comfortable with your sewing machine and can sew a relatively straight line, you can make this quilt!

Yes! The quilt-as-you-go technique is a great skill to add to your quilting toolbox.  Sometimes you don't want to send out your quilt for longarm quilting and just want to get it done.  You will also learn how to piece beautiful Seminole bands that can be incorporated into other quilts and sewing projects.

No worries! Each session will be recorded and you may watch it later at your convenience.  I do encourage you to attend the live events so you can ask questions and interact with the other students.

The 10 bands will finish at least 40" wide.  If you chose a row layout for your quilt and add 4" borders, your quilt will be about 48" x 80".  If you choose a custom layout, your quilt can be as large as you like.

No. We will be using standard quilting supplies and rulers. A 24" ruler is helpful for cutting the long strips, and a 14" ruler is good for sub-cutting the strip sets. Your rulers should have 45 and 60 degree markings.

I like the Hobb’s Fusible Batting for quilt-as-you-go because it has a light, temporary fusible on both sides that holds your blocks together while quilting. The fusible washes out and leaves you with a soft quilt. You can also use your favorite batting and a temporary adhesive spray such as Sulky KK2000 or 505 Temporary Spray & Fix. Please do not use a permanent fusible batting such as June Tailor. Your quilt will end up stiff as cardboard and you won't be happy. Contact me if you have questions about batting.

Download the Supply List to see the fabric requirements.  You can also wait until after the first class to gather your fabrics if you're unsure what what fabrics will work well together. To attend class, you will need a computer, tablet or smartphone with internet access. We will use Zoom for the weekly meetings.  You can download it free at Zoom.com or use the browser version.  A webcam for video is not required, but it is more fun when we can see each other!