Saturday 21 January 2023: Online Workshop (Use Your Intuition!)

Victoria van der Laan - Saturday 21 January 2023 - 4.00pm to 7.00pm (GMT)

Online Interactive Workshop: Use Your Intuition!

Introduction by Victoria:-

Hi, folks! I'm Victoria van der Laan, a textile artist and quilter living and working in Albany, NY!

After attending an artist residency deep in the Catskill Mountains I was inspired to begin making nature-inspired work, including a piece that represented blades of grass. From there I developed my intuitive stacked forms technique and people have been asking me to offer a workshop on it ever since. The time is finally here! These are my favorite pieces to make and I'm so excited to be teaming up with CraftyMonkies to teach a class on all of the techniques involved.

As quilters we can sometimes get a bit too hung up on the rules and be obsessive about precision--I know I can! Those things absolutely have their place but it can be a great practice to take a deep breath and lead with your intuition. That's what this workshop is all about! I know this can be a bit scary but I'll be there to guide you and I am certain you will learn something new about your creative self in the process.

What You Will Learn in this Online Interactive Workshop:-

In this workshop I'll bring you into my studio to share how I create my intuitive stacked forms quilts in the moment with no planning or pattern, and I'll show you how you can do the same! You can stow your rulers for this class; we'll be relying on our intuition to make the cuts required to sew curved forms that will stack up to create a beautiful, organic work of art. We'll begin the workshop with some very rough sketching to get our creative intuition flowing and to give us some ideas for what we might like to create. From there we will get to work cutting and sewing, building methodically from the bottom up to add to our stacks of pointed, curved forms that almost-but-not-quite touch, creating that lovely vibrational space between.

Though I will guide you in the creation of a small wall-hanging, this is really more of a techniques class in which you will learn the skillset required to incorporate organic, curved design elements into your own quilts. I'll share some of the ways you might expand on this technique as well as talk about quilting and finishing options. I really hope to empower you to trust your intuition and see what beauty comes of it both in your creative pursuits and beyond. Once you get the hang of it you'll see that this is a simple technique that, once you're comfortable with it, will allow you to make many more similar quilts (every one unique!) and can open up lots of new design possibilities for your quilts.

Skill Level for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

This workshop is appropriate for the confident beginner and up. The adaptable nature of the technique allows for curves to be kept gentle if desired, making it a wonderful introduction to curved piecing.

Fabric requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

It's not imperative to have these exact lengths of fabric but around a half yard/metre for the background and 16 inches/41cms for the forms is a good size to work with when learning. The key is that you want the piece of fabric you're using for the forms to be less wide than the piece of fabric you're using for the background. I prefer solids but prints are fine, too! I will go over fabric/color choice in the workshop so feel free to bring some options. Please make sure your fabrics are fully pressed and ready to go--it will make the process much easier!

· One half yard/half metre length (width of the bolt) of quilting cotton for the background

· One 16 inch/41cm length (width of the bolt) of quilting cotton for the forms

Equipment requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

· Sewing Machine

· Rotary Cutter (with a sharp blade!)

· Cutting Mat: at least 20 inches/51cm wide (or at least as wide as your background fabric)

· Sewing Gauge with sliding marker or small clear Acrylic Ruler (a regular school ruler can work, too)

· Fabric Marking Pen or Tailor's Chalk (if you're using very dark fabric be sure you have something that will show up)

· Straight Pins

· Thread to match the background fabric

· Iron

· Paper and Pencil

· Fabric Scissors

· Optional - Starch alternative spray, like Flatter or Best Press

​Tickets for this Online Interactive Workshop (via the Zoom platform) will be limited & allocated on a first-come/first-served basis! If applicable, any free pattern, or other information, relevant to this course will be forwarded to you after booking and approximately 5 days before the course date. The ticket price of £30.00 is based on ONE person attending this crafting class.

This CraftyMonkies Online Interactive Workshop is being broadcast from the United Kingdom and the class time given is based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). We advise you check via Google Search (or similar) to see corresponding start-time in YOUR location!

Ordering MATERIALS/EQUIPMENT Online For Any Class/Workshop!

Please ensure you book your place & order any materials/fabrics/equipment online in plenty of time ahead of course dates.

Enjoy This Class/Workshop Again on YouTube! A link to a recording of this workshop will be sent to all who buy a live 

ticket for the Zoom broadcast approximately 5 working days after the event; the video will be available to view for 30 days from the video release date.

Are you not able to attend this class due to living in a different time-zone?

Are you otherwise engaged on the date of this workshop? Well, we have excellent news!

This class will be available to view via Pay-On-Demand via our Online Shop for 30 days following the video release date (approximately 5 working days after broadcast on Zoom).