Roxane Lessa

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Roxane Lessa began her professional life as a ballet dancer, and has danced and taught all over the country. After her dance career ended, she decided to pursue her other passions: fabric and design. Her first design teacher was her mother, who brought her to many art museums and the decorators’ building in Boston, to choose fabric samples for her clients. Later, Roxane pursued a degree in Costume Design and Textiles, and has made one-of-a-kind art wear for clients. After relocating to Raleigh, N.C. with her family in 1997, Roxane took her first quilting class and was instantly hooked. She has shown her work at the prestigious International Quilt Festival in Houston, the World Quilt and Textile Exhibition, and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.

Currently, she is teaching fiber arts here in North Carolina at quilt guilds, and privately at her home studio. She is known as The Art Quilter’s Coach, having created her own private art quilting program for serious art quilters.

Class: Photo-Pattern-Quilt! – (cancelled)
(6 hours – Friday)

How do you translate all those wonderful photos you have into the art quilts you love? In this fast moving class, you will learn easy ways to make a pattern from your photo, and an art quilt from your pattern. You don’t need to know how to draw to make beautiful art quilts using this method! Bring your machine (and free motion foot) too, because you will learn how to audition your quilting designs, and then quilt your little art quilt. Students will have a choice of 3 different photos to work from: Seascape, Hibiscus, and City Sunset.

Supply List:

  • Freezer Paper
  • Pins
  • Paper and fabric scissors, small scissors if you have them
  • Small rotary cutter and cutting mat
  • Scotch tape, double sided
  • Masking tape
  • Pencil
  • Black sharpie
  • Lightweight, white muslin fabric that you can see through for fusing (large enough for the size of your pattern)
  • Saral Transfer paper or Transdoodle in a variety of colors.
  • Ballpoint pen in a contrasting color, i.e. red or purple anything but black
  • Teflon press sheet for fusing
  • Nice supply of hand-dyes, batiks or solids from your stash in a large range of values, i.e. very dark all the way to very light. You can never have enough, and if you don’t have what you need, we can cruise the store shelves.
  • About 2 yards of Wonder Under or Misty Fuse, whichever you like better, I prefer Misty Fuse, it has a lighter hand when fused.
  • 2 large ziplock bags to save scraps and pattern pieces
  • Optional, but very helpful: lightbox

Class: “Posh, Pet Portraits”
(6 hours – Saturday)

This is Roxane’s new kitty Huey. She had so much fun making him into a Posh, Pet Portrait, she decided to teach a class on how to do it. Let her help you turn a photo of your favorite pet into a beguiling art quilt using easy, fused, raw edge applique, and free motion quilting. These make great gifts for family members too! After learning this technique, you can also make landscapes and other types of art quilts!

Supply list

  • Picture of your pet enlarged to approx. 20″ x 24″ in black and white at a copy shop. Can be smaller if desired.
  • Light box if you have one
  • Pen
  • Large quilter’s ruler
  • Rotary cutter and mat
  • Pins
  • Black Sharpie
  • Double sided scotch tape
  • Bohn or Clover marking pencil with white lead
  • Teflon press sheet for fusing
  • Misty Fuse, 1 package white
  • Freezer Paper, 1 roll
  • Fabric: hand-dyes, batiks, small prints that you would like to use on your pet portrait, small amounts and scraps are OK
  • Batting and backing of choice big enough for your project
  • 3/4 yd. solid or quiet print background fabric to put behind your pet.
  • No sewing machine for class