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Maximum: 20 students
Intermediate
Recommended Format:
1 day workshop
Price:
2010: $750/day
2011: $800/day
2012: $850/day
This class is the first day of my multi-day kaleidoscope workshop and is both a process and product class. Students learn all of the unique machine piecing and template techniques I use to create a complex image while simultaneously exploring the virtues of bilaterally symmetrical fabric. Needlestars© is a 4-patch block reminiscent of a kaleidoscopic pinwheel.
Supplies (* will be available for purchase at seminar)
Guild program chairperson can inquire about a $15 kit for each student including graph paper, template plastic, ruler, and marking pen for templates; $25 if kit includes one yard of bilaterally symmetrical fabric (student will have choice between 3 or more colorways).
| 1. Graph paper with an eight-to-the-inch grid and a bold inch line; one sheet per student will be provided by instructor. |
| *2. Sheets of see-thru plastic template material with an eight-to-the-inch grid and a bold inch line. (Do not purchase long sheets in rolled format; they will never obey your will and lie flat.) |
| 3. Thin rulers and sharpened pencils with ample and accessible erasers |
| *4. Extra fine-point permanent marker. Ex: PILOT7 Extra Fine Point Permanent Marker, SCA-UF |
| *5. Method to mark dark fabric. My preference: light-colored (ex: silver), extra fine-point permanent gel pen. |
| 6. Fabric scissor |
| 7. Template/paper scissors: A template scissor should not be the discarded kitchen shears or shaped for a five-year-old's hand. It is the essential, indispensible tool from which all other acts follow. I use OlfasCS-1 multipurpose scissors. |
| 8. Set-up for rotary cutting, including a rotary cutter, ruler and mat. OPTIONAL: Small rotary cutter and Brooklyn Revolver (cutting mat mounted on a lazy susan) |
| 9. Sewing machine with well-defined quarter-inch seam allowance guide + single hole throat plate |
| 10. General sewing supplies |
| 11. Ziplock baggies to hold templates |
Fabric
The success of NEEDLESTARS depends on choosing a bilaterally symmetrical fabric. A motif with bilateral symmetry can be divided into identical halves by a line
passing through the center.
Note: Patches A+C are cut from the same bilaterally symmetrical fabric. Patches D+E are cut from the same allover fabric that functions as the background and is often a rich, dark (or black) reads-like-a-solid-but-isn’t fabric. Patch B is cut from a different allover fabric and should contrast sharply with Fabric A in order to stand out and emphasize the shape of the “needle.” It is best to audition Patch B in class so bring a variety of small to medium all-over prints such as painterly batiks that evoke luminosity or translucence, textures, gradations, splattered dots, stuff speckled with gold or thin stripes.
| Yardage Requirements for Single Block Made in Class 10" x 10" |
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| Fabric A+C: Bilaterally Symmetrical Fabric: | 1 yard |
| Fabric B: The Needle: | 1/2 yard |
| Fabric D+E: Background: | 1/2 ya |