I teach regular weekly and workshops in the Sydney area and I’m happy to travel to country areas or interstate.
Join a class and choose either traditional patchwork and quilting or more contemporary textile art work.
My regular classes are usually a mix of beginners to advanced and I find this is very beneficial to everyone. The beginners benefit from working with more advanced students by seeing what they are achieving and the more advanced students enjoy being mentors to the beginners.
I always include a topic of the week. For just a few minutes we all stop working on individual projects and discuss a particular topic such as – the best practice techniques for cutting, sewing, pressing, matching seams and points and bindings etc. Other topics include my passion for Fibonacci number sequencing as a design tool, colour theory, tips for ensuring that quilts lie flat when finished, marking quilting designs, hanging quilts, drafting blocks, machine quilting, a range of quilt as you go techniques, short cuts for piecing and all sorts of problem solving. These sessions are often a good refresher for more advanced students who may not have had best practice training during their beginner course and ensure that everyone in the class is exposed to a range of techniques and new ideas. During this time class members are also able to share their own ideas with the rest of the class.
Fabric selection, is an important topic in the classes and something many beginners are very nervous about. This is a topic that is explored regularly and choosing fabric is often a group experience involving the whole class.
For those interested in traditional patchwork and quilting a sampler is a good apprenticeship, after that the sky is the limit. I love to help women to explore their own ideas and receive great satisfaction from their accomplishments.
I have more than 70 of my own original designs to choose from, including projects suitable for beginners through to advanced. If you would rather source your own designs this is fine, as long as you own the book or pattern I will be able to help you with it. If you would like to design your own projects I’d love to help you with this.
Contact me for up to date class vacancies or to enquire about holding a workshop for your group.
© John Daly.