Upcoming Workshops

Learn something new.

MEMBERS: Can’t remember the Member Workshop Registration Password? Try one of these:

  • Login to the Member area (your password). It’s at the top of the page.

  • Check July 2024 Newsletter

  • Check Google Group item dated 7/31/2024

Non-MEMBERS: Workshops become available for registration to our non-member friends, 90 days prior to Workshop Date.

Unless otherwise stated, all meeting programs are held at Faith United Methodist Church, 432 59th Street, Downers Grove, IL, 60516

BORO Small Project Design

June Coburn

May 29, 2025

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Class Level: All

Workshop Description

PROJECT SIZE:  12” - 16” square or rectangle

Join June and fellow quilters to learn the art of boro.

Historically, boro (meaning “tattered”) was used to describe the garments and household goods made from re-purposed fabrics, generally purchased with stains, holes and tears.  Women stitched these damaged pieces together, adding others on top or on the back to fill in the missing fabric. 

Boro was never meant to be beautiful—it was utilitarian, plain and simple.  The stitches are not perfect or pretty; there was no time for useless thread ornamentation, or extra thread, for that matter.  It is only with growing prosperity and hindsight that textile lovers the world over have come to appreciate the work involved in making something useable from nothing. 

Actual boro was stitched by re-using thread removed from seams in ragged garments or futon covers.  Or they were pulled from woven fabric to use for stitching.  It was generally coarse and much thicker than machine thread 

There is no pattern for boro. Larger pieces are sewn together in the most economical way possible, regardless of color.  Smaller pieces are placed over or under the holes, rips and worn areas to repair them.  The class sampler could be finished as a tote bag or incorporated in a larger project.

About June

After 12 years in Japan, June’s modern designs combine traditional American sewing techniques with vintage and contemporary fabrics. June is a noted teacher and lecturer who loves to promote international understanding through the textile arts. Her students value the depth of her knowledge, as well as her ability to describe her cross-cultural insights, often by sharing humorous personal anecdotes.

Free Wheeling Single Girl

Denyse Schmidt

June 26, 2025

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Class Level: All

Workshop Description

Spend the day with Denyse Schmidt making your own version of her best-seyling Single Girl pattern. Learn how to bypass the repetitive (and let's face it – tedious) tracing and cutting of dozens of pattern pieces, and transform the patchwork process into an in-the-moment creative flow.

This simple technique will have you stitching up Single Girl blocks quickly and easily, and change your perspective about any quilt pattern!

You’ll receive hands-on guidance and instruction in creating your Free-Wheeling Single Girl, including improvisational patchwork, curved piecing techniques, block assembly tips and tricks, and options for overall composition to finish your project at home.

You will complete 2-4 blocks in a day-long workshop.

  • Denyse Schmidt is a former graphic designer and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design has been sewing since she was a young girl.  As a professional seamstress, she worked on everything from tutus and bishop's mitres to fine clothing. Today, she brings these eclectic influences together in patchwork quilts characterized by simple graphics, rich color and quality workmanship.  Firmly rooted in the techniques of American quilt-making, Denyse Schmidt reinterprets tradition to make modern functional quilts that are fresh, lively and offbeat.

    Denyse's Couture and custom quilts, in production since 1996, are pieced to order in her studio and hand-quilted by Amish women in Minnesota. Denyse Schmidt Works, a line of machine-quilted quilts, pillows and upholstery fabrics with an industrial-chic aesthetic, was developed in 2003 for the design trade and retail markets.

    Denyse Schmidt Designs for Sarita Handa, a partnership with Sarita Handa Exports, launched in 2004 with an affordable line of high-quality quilts and decorative home accessories. Since 2003, Chronicle Books has brought to market more than a dozen stationery and gift items based on her work, as well as her first how-to book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Projects. With FreeSpirit Fabrics, she designed fabric collections for independent quilt and fabric stores (2006-2018) and for Windham Fabrics as of 2020.

    In 2011, her DS Quilts Collection fabric line debuted with record-breaking sales in JoAnn Stores (US) and Spotlight Stores (Australia). In conjunction with her DS Quilts Collection fabrics, Denyse launched quilt patterns featuring her signature style with the venerable McCall Pattern Company. Denyse continues to teach her highly successful improvisational patchwork
    piecing workshops in her studio. Her studio is located in a historic factory building in Bridgeport CT.Description text goes here