Create Your Own Fabric: Strip Piecing and Restructuring

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Lewisburg Arts Council and the Samek Art Gallery Downtown, Bucknell University.

Learn how to create your own unique fabric out of black-and-white material that you’ll cut into units. Through design exercises and creative discussions, you will learn the practical skills necessary to freehand cut a large variety of units by “strip piecing” them, then by sewing and “restructuring” them into a variety of compositions. This approach is an excellent way to learn how value, proportions, line, and shape define forms and create spatial illusions. These custom pieces of fabric can be used in quilts, wall-hangings and other creative projects.

Meet Your Instructor:
Paula Swett, member of the Manhattan Quilters Guild, is a local artist who works in an improvisational manner. She creates textile paintings with fabrics she has dyed and surface designed. Her work reflects love of line, color and texture as well as the imagery she chooses to depict. The work is abstract as well as representational.

She credits her mother and two grandmothers for giving her the gift of handwork, teaching her to knit and sew, to create clothes and quilts. These women gave her the ultimate gift of passion to express herself through her art. She made her first Art Quilt in 1996. She has extensively studied with Nancy Crow, a master of improvisational quilts.

Her work is shown nationally and internationally and is in many private and public collections. It can also be seen at Artists & Artisans, in Lewisburg.

Event Details:

• When: Friday & Saturday, September 26 & 27 from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
• Where: Iron Front, 434 Market Street, Lewisburg, PA
• Cost: Free, but registration is required. Maximum of 8 participants.
• Age: 16+ (Teens and adults are welcome).
• How to register: Sign up using the form below. Once registration is full, you will have the option to sign for the waitlist. Each participant must register separately using a unique email address.
• Do I need to bring anything to the workshop? Yes, please bring the following:
  • Sewing machine
  • Sewing machine needles
  • Neutral-colored thread
  • 4 filled bobbins
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Rotary cutter + extra blades
  • Large cutting mat
  • Acrylic ruler
  • Sketchbook

BECOME A MEMBER! If you’re not already a member of the Lewisburg Arts Council, please consider joining us! Your contribution helps make programming, like this, possible. If you’re already a member, thank you!