Virtual Scared Stitchless Class is LIVE!

Something I've been working towards for several years has finally happened. My first online class is now LIVE and ready for students to sign up! The first virtual class is Scared Stitchless to Quilt Your Quilt: An Introduction to Free Motion Quilting on Domestic Sewing Machines and/or Sit-Down Quilters.

The information included is extensive with lessons covering machines and accessories, needles and threads, batting choices, and so much more! Before you're done, there are lessons on preparing your quilt sandwich and creating your own first free motion sampler. As long as you can either drop or cover the feed dogs on your machine, you can free motion quilt on any machine. The sampler on the left below was quilted on my Singer Featherweight, while the log cabin block sampler was done on my Brother sewing machine. You'll practice a variety of designs that can be stitched out on a simple grid to start. Then you can move up on your own to practicing with stencils and more complex designs once you're comfortable with the basics. 

 

I've been teaching Scared Stitchless (previously Introduction to Free Motion Quilting) since 2015 to full classes, including at the 2017 and 2019 Kansas City Regional Quilt Festivals. Everything I cover in a single 6-hour day in-person class, is now available to anyone online for up to 6 weeks so you can work at your own pace. 

 

My own need to learn to free motion quilt came out of necessity. When I first learned to quilt around 2006, I didn't have the budget to send my tops out for quilting by a longarmer. I was working part time while caring for my aging father. Signing up with my friend Marsha for a free motion class at a local shop got me launched. Several months after that initial class, I attended a week-long FMQ camp in Southern California where I quilted from 9am to 6pm every day for a week. I went home with so much more confidence, lots of knowledge about how to prepare a quilt for quilting on a domestic sewing machine, and most importantly information about the things I needed to know BEFORE I even sat down to the machine. Hence, the lessons about machines, needles & threads, batting, marking tools, etc., were as important, if not more so, to the time spent at the machine. The information included would be valuable even if you own or are considering owning a longarm quilting machine. I hope you'll join this journey to quilting your own quilts!