Karen West

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Karen West has been teaching at a local quilt shop and has her own pattern company For the Love of Fabric. She designed the quilt shop’s row-by-row offering for 2016 and does commission work as well. Karen says of her designing: “My goal as a designer is to create clear instructions for quilts and other fun things to make with all the great fabrics on the market. After all, most of us sew or quilt because we love fabric.” Karen also makes amazing pet portraits.

Class: Design Your Room – (cancelled)
(6 hours – Friday)

In this class, students will use some Spoonflower furniture pieces and Karen’s expert guidance to create their own room. Pieces will be appliqued with fusible techniques.

Materials and Supplies

  • Kit fee $8 payable to the instructor day of class (cash, check or charge)
  • ¾ yard of Wonder Under Fusible web
  • 14” x 20” cotton batting
  • 14” x 20” Peltex 71 or 72 (heavy single or double-sided fusible interfacing)
  • 14” x 20” white-on-white fabric for “wallpaper”
  • 14” x 20” print fabric for quilt backing
  • 4” x 20” tone-on-tone fabric for “carpet”
  • ¼ yard of a narrow stripe or other fabric for binding
  • ½ yard of narrow ribbon for hanging (3/8” or ½” wide)
  • Sewing machine with darning or free-motion foot and regular sewing foot
  • Dark grey thread, white thread (white in your bobbin is fine)
  • Good sharp medium length fabric scissors (My favorite are Fiskars Micro-tip with the spring that opens them)

Class: Yo-Yo Garden – (cancelled)
(6 hours – Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning)

This is a mini-quilt (12″ x 15″) that may be used as a small wall-hanging. It is a very easy beginning applique project, that could be used for teaching children to sew. You will make yo-yo’s using Clover Yo-yo makers in 3 different sizes. Then you will create your little garden using leaves and stems that are free cut from fabric with Wonder Under Fusible web applied to the back. You can lay out your little garden just like mine or however you wish. Also included are my instructions for a quick machine-stitched and fused binding and then fused-on backing. You will love this! Not intended for use on regular quilts, but for little wall-hangings it is perfect!

Materials and Supplies

You will be given a complimentary copy of the pattern by the instructor.

Tools and Notions:

  • Clover Round Yo-Yo makers in 3 sizes: Large (#8701), Small (#8700) and Extra-small (#8702)
  • 3/8 yard Fast2 Fuse or Pellon Peltex 71 or 72 (heavy single or double-sided fusible interfacing)
  • 3/8 yard fusible fleece
  • 1/2 yard Wonder Under fusible web
  • 20 buttons in assorted colors and sizes-1/4″ – 3/4″
  • thread in 2 shades of green to match green fabrics
  • hand quilting thread and hand sewing needles
  • Glue stick (regular paper kind is fine)
  • Narrow ribbon or cord for hanging
  • rotary cutter with pinking or wavy blade
  • rotary cutter, cutting mat, clear ruler-at least 18” long
  • Clover Mini-iron (wand style)-optional
  • Sewing machine with darning or free motion foot, and regular sewing foot

Fabric:

  • 3/8 yard or a fat quarter of light blue for background
  • 1/8 yard multi stripe for grass
  • (2) 8″ x 8″ squares in 2 shades of green for stems and leaves
  • (7) 5″ squares for large yo-yos
  • (6) 4″ squares for medium yo-yos
  • (5) 3″ squares for small yo-yos
  • 1/8 yard for binding
  • 3/8 yard for backing