This workshop will introduce participants to the world of quilting. Participants will see and feel Steven’s quilts, and learn about the history of quilting and a variety of ways quilts are used (wall hangings, lap quilts, beds, clothing. etc.) Participants will be introduced to a small quilting project emphasizing the personalization of their quilt square.

In the extended version of the workshop, we will make blocks using fabric with the goal of making a collective quilt that reflects our collective story. Folks will experience a demonstration for how a quilt is put together.

Educators will:

• Define what a quilt is and describe some of the historic purposes and uses of quilts.
• Learn about quilters including Steven H. Hobbs & Yvonne Wells.
• Learn and practice using the elements in quilting, such as colors, shapes, patterns, and symbols.
• Using fabric, needle and thread participants will learn 1-2 basic hand quilting stitches including (small stitches, big stitches, applique stitches).
• Discuss customs represented by the design and creation of quilts.
• Understand how quilts can be objects of both everyday use and artistic expression.
• Engage with collective learning reflection through written and oral expression.

YA Connections:

NJSLS-VPA:

• Create: Participants will generate and conceptualize ideas as they engage with the elements of quilt design.
• Design: Within the traditions of quilt construction, participants will have the freedom to make personal design choices and to develop alternative visions of design.
• Respect: All levels of skills are acceptable without negative critical judgment and respecting individual choices in design, fabric, and color.
• Inspiration: Appreciate patterns, colors, shapes textures existing in a participant’s environment, such floor tile patterns, nature and other artwork, which can inform and inspire the student’s own creativity.

Professional Standards for Educational

• Respect: Teachers should respect and honor each student’s efforts and offer encouragement.
• Learning styles: Teachers should recognize and accommodate learning styles and abilities.
• Learning Environment: Teachers should strive to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation

Culturally Responsive Practice Exposure:

Using photos, quilt books and websites, participants will learn the diverse world of quilting, studying such artists as Harriet Powers, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, Faith Ringgold, Bisa Butler and the Alabama Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective.

Activism: Discuss how quilters, like Yvonne Wells, make quilts that tell the story of African-American history and the Civil Rights Movement.

Culture: Use fabrics and techniques that reflect a participant’s culture, such as African prints, Japanese sashiko, or fabrics that reflect a participant’s interest, such as sports or hobbies.

Agency: Emphasize that participants can make individual choices about design, color and purpose of quilt.

Self-Reflection: Help participants understand that they can change a quilt’s design as it is being created.

Justice: Explore how a quilt can address social justice themes, such as Yvonne Wells’s quilt project on the Scottsboro Boys.

Social-Emotional Learning

Self Awareness & Create: Participants will organize and develop creative ideas while recognizing the impact of one’s personal strengths

Emotions: Explore how personal emotional feelings can be expressed through a quilt block capturing a student’s reality.

Meditative: The act of making quilting stitches is relaxing and often soothing.

Accomplishment: Participants will have a sense of accomplishment when they finish making a quilt which shows their unique personalities.

When you pair this program with Steven Hobb’s workshop, he provides teachers with the in-classroom support implementing creative teaching practices, what they have learned into practice.