Whow Marcella. This is a great help!! When you see it all written down like
that it all fits. Should be enough to keep them/me occupied for a month or
two.Thanks again.Will let you know how we progress!! Estelle
"Marcella Tracy Peek" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"John Gallagher" wrote:

Well ,what to teach is the problem!! I have had enquiries from more
absolute
beginners who want to learn.Have decided to use our new school art room
here
in the village fortnightly on a Monday but where do you start. Maybe
with
samplers.Suppose they need to know how to use a rotary and ruler.Any
suggestions welcome! Estelle

I have a super beginner class that I call intro to quiting. All these
quilting terms are like a foreign language to non-quilters (what is a
fat quarter anyway? ) So... First we learn the language of quilting
then they practice and see lots of samples:

what's a seam allowance, why is it 1/4 inch - give them 1" strips (mebbe
6 " long) to practice sewing, pressing and measuring. Teach them how to
take out things that don't measure up. Show them what happens to points
when the seam is too big or too small.

what's a rotary cutter, why to I need one, how do I use it? - let them
see how to square up fabric, how to cut strips, then squares and
rectangles then triangles and diamonds, parallelograms and trapezoids.
Have them bring some old scrap fabric and practice cutting every shape
imaginable. It can be horrible fabric because they don't ever have to
sew anything ;-)

fabric what's the big deal? let them feel different kinds of fabric.
teach them what to look for when shopping. teach them about pre-washing
and testing for color fastness. Talk about color v. value v. hue etc.
Play around with a color wheel. Talk about texture from different
prints. You can keep really busy playing with this one!

Threads, pins, why you should change your sewing machine needle more
than once every 4 years and other useful notions :-) Bring what you
have and like and tell them why. Fun show and tell. Let them sew two
strips of fabric pinned with dull, fat pins that distort. Then let them
try it with new, slick, sharp thin pins. Explain about needle sizes and
weights of threads and why it matters.

Kinds of quilting. Many beginners don't know there is patchwork and
applique and what it is and then it's quilting that holds it all
together. Show them examples of different types of piecing, talk about
what strip piecing is, what paper foundation piecing, english paper
piecing, applique, reverse applique.

Quilting itself - what is the difference between hand and machine work.
How about tyeing, or tacking?

From there, you can go into small projects where they can try out
different things. Do a strip piecing class where they learn to make
simple things like nine patches or rail fence. Print off a couple
simple paper foundation blocks and show them how to do that. Do a
little hand pieced block. Just expose them to something new each week
to give them a taste of all that's out there. Bring samples you have
and pictures from magazines or the web. As you go along, you will see
what interests them and you can then move into projects from there.

Have Fun!
marcella