Abstract Piecing Intuitive Color Stories

Multiple Day Retreat / All Levels

A great story begins with well-defined, diverse characters. You will be guided to create abstract patchwork characters based on color, shape and rhythm, and incorporate them in a single narrative quilt. Learn to express color intuitively by tapping into your heart centered relationship with color, through memory, emotion and environment. Learn freestyle piecing techniques with simple shapes and strips. Learn composition strategies for integrating your diverse characters into a cohesive, engaging quilt story, rich in conversation, and aligned with your truth.

A practiced improviser observes and is familiar with their intuitive sense of color and their signature cut. Just like us, our line, patterns and colors both evolve AND remain essentially authentic. —Sherri Lynn Wood

Skills & Techniques

Learn to piece abstractly and improvisationally through a heart centered approach
Basic ruler free techniques for piecing simple shapes and strips
Darting on and across the seam when patchwork bubbles
Ironing strategies to make the most of your line
Order of sewing / utilizing filler to equalize different size sections
Improv Composition strategies
Centering exercise to tap into your presence, emotion, truth and early color memories to create diverse intuitive color characters that carry meaning
Incorporate rhythm to further define characters
Tap into meaningful authentic narratives waiting to be told.

Materials

Fat quarter and similarly sized scraps and/or up to selvage-to-selvage length cuts, in a variety of values, hues, neutrals, shades, tints and brights. I recommend a minimum of 30% solids so the focus stays on the patterns you make and not on the prints, but ultimately it is your choice. There is no fixed amount needed. It all depends on your size goals and your speed. Bring enough to spark your imagination and feel well sourced for a five day retreat.
Bring at least one fat-quartered size scrap to share with the class.
Resist the urge to coordinate or “match” your selections with a focus fabric, or with a rigid, predetermined colorway.
Sustainable sewing practices such as shopping your stash and utilizing found materials is encouraged. Note on washing: If my intention is to wash a quilt made from up-cycled materials, I pre-wash and dry all my materials as I would the finished quilt.
It’s improv! You will learn something no matter what materials you decide to work with.