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Hello everyone! It's Steph from Steph Jacobson Designs. This past February, I traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for QuiltCon 2022 - sponsored by the Modern Quilt Guild. After transitioning to a virtual event in 2021, it was exciting to be able to travel to this modern quilt show. As I took in the show, shopped at the vendor market, met up with old quilting friends, and made new quilting friends, I realized how truly fortunate I am to have an interest that brings me so much joy.
Learning How to Sew
Like many quilters, when I look back to that initial spark that ignited this passion, it started with one person (for me, it's my mom) introducing me to the world of sewing. I learned to sew on my mom’s now-vintage Sears Kenmore Zig Zag sewing machine and have fond memories of stitching together piles of her fabric scraps to make doll clothes and quilts.
Her intervention, while I was sewing, was minimal. It was this unsupervised creative time of trial and error that taught me many important lessons such as the necessity of including seam allowances while making Barbie clothes!
Sharing Quilting Skills with the Next Generation
Almost 40 years later, this creative freedom is still with me and allows me to think anything is possible when it comes to creating quilts. Because of the joy quilting brings me, I feel compelled to share my skills and love for quilting with the next generation.
My first student was my son, and his quilting awards far exceeded mine when his improvisational quilt “Broken to Built” won first place in the Youth category at QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, Texas.
While this was a really proud mom moment, my purpose as a sewing and quilting mentor is not for my students to create award-winning quilts. Instead, the goals are pretty simple:
Allow youth to sit at a sewing machine, learn how to use it, and create something that makes him or her happy.
How to Teach Kids to Sew and Quilt
So…where does one start?
Like many endeavors, it can be easiest to start at home with your own child(ren) or grand(children). Or, you can also branch out to friends and neighbors.
In Omaha, I have become involved with my local 4-H and Girl Scouts organizations. I have found that AccuQuilt Fabric Cutters and dies are the perfect tools to either prep quilting projects for meetings or safely and accurately let my students design and cut fabric for their own projects.
I’m excited to share a few of those projects with you!
AccuQuilt Makes Teaching Kids Easy and Safe
One of my favorite beginner projects for youth is a patchwork I Spy quilt. I love collecting novelty fabrics and always seem to have more than I can ever use.
When I participate in Project Linus sew days, am invited to teach quilting at a Girl Scout meeting, or need a quick and easy 4-H service project, I will pre-cut novelty fabrics into 5” charm squares using Shape 1 from the GO! Qube Mix & Match 9" Block (55777) or the GO! Square-5" (55010 or 55716) Die. (If you have any size AccuQuilt square die, that will work as well!)
I have found that youth enjoy picking out fun novelty fabric squares, and it’s a great way to introduce how to sew ¼” seams, press seams to one side and assemble rows into a completed quilt top.
For the past four years, I have also been a collaborating artist for Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska artVenture. With artVenture, volunteer artists work with small groups of Girl Scouts to share their art and create a project that will be sold at the annual fundraiser silent auction.
While I’m always hesitant to classify my quiltmaking as “art,” I jumped at the chance to share my love of modern quilting. For the past few artVenture quilt projects, I have used various AccuQuilt Strip Dies to trim donated and stash fabric scraps into various widths and lengths.
I then let the Scouts choose whatever fabrics they like to sew together into improv quilt blocks. Improv is a great project for those new to sewing since perfect ¼” seam allowances are not required!
Depending on the final quilt pattern being used, the improv blocks are then trimmed down to the desired sizes and incorporated into a quilt top.
After not being able to hold an in-person artVenture workshop in 2020 due to the pandemic, I was excited to meet with a small group of Girl Scouts this year and guide them in creating beautiful quilt blocks once again.
A Little Knowledge Makes You a Teacher
Quilters often tell me they aren't qualified to teach others. In my experience, knowing just a little bit more than your student makes you qualified!
I always find my volunteer teaching experiences so rewarding and find I learn just as much from my students as they learn from me.
While sewing and quilting may not become a life-long love for the youth I teach, teaching them a new skill and seeing how proud they are of their handmade projects is incredibly rewarding!
If you share your sewing and quilting skills with others, please share a photo on social media using the hashtag #AccuQuiltBuilt and don't forget to tag @stephjacobsondesigns and @AccuQuilt so we can see your post!
