Classes

Every quilter has a masterpiece inside.

(NB This cost will be $40 after this year's AGM in June 2024)The Guild subsidises courses for members throughout the year. These classes are mostly held on a Saturday from 9.30am, but the venue is open from 9am to allow time for set up before the class starts. Classes conclude about 3.30pm. There is often preparation needed prior to the class so be sure to check that you are ready for the day. Classes cost $30 per day for members. ($40 after the AGM in June 2024) If numbers permit, non members can apply to attend for $50.

You can enrol for classes (expression of interest) and your name will be added to the list, but your place will not be confirmed until payment is made. First paid will be first confirmed. To Book a place in any class please pay $30 (per day) to the Guild Account 01-1167-0013764-00. Putting your name and the class tutor's name in the references. (NB This cost will be $40 per day after the AGM in June 2024) You will be emailed a confirmation. If you later find you need to pull out, a refund will only be made if we can find a replacement attendee, or if the committee decides that the situation warrants a refund.

Information and enquiries about all classes - Donna at kcqclasses@gmail.com

Following courses, photos of the day will often be posted further down the page so please scroll down to see our members busy at work.

Classes in 2024

Jane Bloxham - Visible Mending / Embellishment Workshop

April 13th.

Places still available in this class!

Participants can bring a couple of garments they would like to mend/embellish visibly in a creative way and Jane will go through some of the techniques and then follow through in the workshop.

Jane says "I will work through the boro techniques of patching visibly and look at how denim can be worked as well as the basic sashiko running stitches used to hand stitch the garments.

These two techniques are not the pure Japanese methods as I have created a contemporary approach so if anyone has already done some sashiko it would be an advantage but is not needed."

Needs list to follow

Donna Jordan is taking names for this class now at kcqclasses@gmail.com

Dianne Southey - Inktense Painting class.

June 15th

You will be using Inktense pencils on fabric to create new and interesting fabric and add colour to existing fabrics.

Needs list to follow.

NB The YouTube video is here from the web editor to give some information about this technique only and is not part of the class

Donna Jordan is taking names for this class now at kcqclasses@gmail.com

Di Barnden - Circles and Squares Quilt

August 24th

This is a quilt that combines piecing and applique and is an ideal project to show off themed fabrics that you have been collecting. Di made her quilt in African themed fabrics, in a color palette from nature using earthy shades. But you can use large and small florals, NZ themed fabrics, leaf fabrics, and different shades of one colour.

Needs list to follow

Donna Jordan is taking names now at kcqclasses@gmail.com

Classes by Other Groups

Textile Classes at Hutt Art

2024 is the Fourth year that textile related classes will be held at the Hutt Art Centre. From art quilting through to traditional stitching the tutors (Sue Swann, Clare Smith, Mary Self, Cherie Gurney and Jo Dixey) have put together a wide range of exciting classes that are suitable for beginner to more experienced stitchers.

For those who are interested in traditional Japanese stitching, Clare is teaching her Boro jacket and a practical Komebukuro bag (rice bag) in one stitch sashiko . She will also be setting up an indigo dye vat in early March while the weather is still good and teaching a variety of shibori techniques so you can dye your own fabrics.

Some of you may be familiar with the work of Jo Dixey. Jo has recently moved to Wellington and is teaching some embroidery technique classes. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to apply metal threads, there is an introductory class teaching the basics of this technique. She is also teaching a blackwork class and a landscape design class. Learn how to develop your own blackwork design and create more interest with shading or create a favourite mini landscape in stitch.

Use up those interesting scraps of textiles and threads that you’ve been keeping and make a wall hanging that will bring back lots of memories with Cherie. Cherie will also show you how to use stitch to embellish a piece of fabric, a technique that can then be applied to your favourite pieces of fabric.

Mary has a variety of classes on offer this year. Discover the pleasure of working with a variety of threads on an open canvas and make yourself a bright new pincushion or work a design based on a traditional knot garden. Traditional Suzani embroidery in Uzbekistan has flourished since the fall of the Soviet Union. Taking inspiration from a contemporary Suzani, Mary has designed a cushion cover using a stylised bird, flowers and leaves and reinterpreting them in wool. Mary has also created a mini quilt based on the houses peeking through the bush on the hills around Wellington and then embellished with stitch to add texture to the piece.

Have you ever wondered how those heavily beaded haute couture garments are made or the Suzanis, shawls and rugs from Central Asia are worked? Sue is teaching the basics of working with a tambour hook. Through the year, you will make a sampler of the basic stitches, then work on a design of your own in a style of your choosing. Sue has also designed a contemporary piece of delicate needlelace using a kawakawa leaf as inspiration. Once you have mastered the basics of this technique, you will be able to enjoy creating your own pieces.

We haven’t forgotten Christmas either. Learn how to use fabric paint and thread to create your own unique Christmas stocking or a pohutukawa tree ornament in an Italian style of embroidery or some Hungarian inspired Christmas baubles.

More detailed information about our classes can be found on the Hutt Art website. https://www.huttart.co.nz/copy-of-classes-3

Previous Classes

Sat 28th October

Bag Class - Tutor - Donna Jordan

This class showed the basic things to do in assembling a bag. I do "by annie.com" bag patterns and once you have mastered the basics you can do any of her patterns. The pattern we use is Pocket Packers - a project bag to store your work etc in. The class will cover inserting zippers , using vinyl and mesh and doing bias bindings.

Donna Jordan

Images of Bags made at Donna's Class from Show and Tell

Wed August 16th - Jenny Hunter - Kawandi

Presbyterian Church Hall

Somer information about this technique:

Called kawandi, the quilts are made by women of the Siddi ethnic group, descendants of early African migrants to South Asia, including slaves brought by Portuguese colonists in the 16th century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFd0xEfKeto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mQdXT4pmEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAnxYnJGyM

Mary Jane Sneyd - Using Valuies and Shadows

Mary Jane is a self-taught textile artist. Her background is predominantly in science and medicine and until January 2022 she worked as a cancer researcher.

She is particularly interested in the portrayal of the human form and all parts of the human body. In 2014 after discovering Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) online, and retiring from viola playing, she began an exploration into portraiture and nudes. She creates realistic textile works, predominantly nudes, people and portraits, and sometimes incorporates social commentary based on the human form.

She is an artist member of the Otago Art Society, a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), Gondwana Textile Artists, and Aotearoa Quilters.

She currently has 4 fabric artworks touring in the USA and Australia/New Zealand, and 4 have recently returned from touring. Two artworks have been selected for a book about art inspired by birds to be published late 2023. She won the viewers’ choice award in the National Cleveland Art Awards in 2021 for ‘Bertie and Mac’, ‘Black Panther’ won an award in the Cat exhibition at the Otago Art Society in 2021, and she received a Special Commendation in the Hope and Sons exhibition, 2022 for ‘Sundown’. Her work is in private collections in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, China, the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Mary Jane won 1st place in the Members' Challenge "LINES" at Aotearoa Quilters Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua in May this year. Her quilt is shown on the right

Mary Jane says:

"For any of my classes YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE ABLE TO DRAW. I have never done art and I cannot draw to save myself.

I teach theory and techniques so in the future you can work in a realistic style. For this class I concentrate on teaching about using

fabric value (lightness or darkness) instead of colour to achieve realism. All techniques you will learn in this class can be applied

to other forms of art quilting or textile Using Values and Shadows.

Mary Jane's 1 day class was a technique and theory class. In it she teaches about value and how to apply it to fabric. It also includes an introduction to making shadows.

27 May - Suzanne Sage - Intermediate Free Motion Quilting - ferns and fauna

This was s a skill builder class focused on feathers and taking those basic feather skills and applying them to leaves and fauna. Feathers don’t have to take a traditional shape although we do work with the more traditional feather as well as many variations. We start out with non backtrack feathers… a good place to start to get the juices flowing, before moving on to continuous and heirloom (hump and bump) feathers. Along the way we will play with variations on each of those methods and applying our feathers to various shapes.