Recent Library Workshops

Student work from various library workshops taught by Elaine Luther.

Student Work from Library Workshops

I recently taught a series of sewing workshops for area libraries with Maker Spaces. Classes are only 90 minutes long and need to be suited to complete beginners. That’s a tall order: to teach people to machine sew, and have them leave with a completed project!

One of the projects I came up with is this one – shown above, where we make an improv quilt block, that’s kind of a modified split rail fence block, and then use Ultra-Hold, No Sew double sided adhesive, to attach the quilt block to a tote bag, T-shirt or hoodie. The library maker spaces have heat presses, to make this easy, but you can also do this at home with a regular iron.

To ensure students could complete the task in the time allotted, we bought pre-cut strips, a jelly roll of batik fabrics. Batiks are great because they all look good together. We also bought some super cool African fabrics, those don’t come in jelly rolls so we got 10″ squares and then cut them into strips.

Student Comments

Feedback I’ve gotten while teaching these workshops include a student saying, of sewing on the machine, “This is exhilarating!” (I love that!) Another student said that learning to sew on a machine was empowering. A returning student thanked me for teaching them to sew and said that they weren’t afraid of the machine any more.

All of those comments are part of why I love teaching in libraries! Library workshops are such a great way for people to access learning for free, and to try something out, without spending money on equipment or expensive classes.

How to Make this Block

Cut strips of fabric that are 2.5″ wide, or buy fabric pre-cut into strips, sold as jelly rolls
Choose 5 strips
Cut each strip to 12″
Sew strips together into one group of two, and one group of three
Cut each strip set in half-ish
Sew the halves together, then sew the two resulting pieces together

That will make sense if you’re already a sewist! If you’re not, check back later, I’ll try to take some photos and post them.

Update, October 27, 2024 – More Workshops!

Here are more photos from additional workshops!  I taught kirigami and more scrunchies and quilt blocks.

Student work from a kirigami workshop at Makers on 8 at Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago.  (Above and below.)

Lined tote bag made by Elaine Luther, using instructions from Purl Soho.

I love the Easy/Easier/Easiest Tote Bag tutorial from Purl Soho, and have taught dozens of people to make the easiest tote. This one is my sample of the lined version, with a pocket inside! The interior side seams are French seams, it’s all straight line sewing and an elegantly designed, useful bag!  The light blue is a vintage fabric I’ve had for a long time, I thought it was funny to make the bag out of two different bandana fabrics.

Lastly, here are two of the bags – I didn’t manage to photograph everyone’s – from another quilt block workshop. One student cut hers into a heart and other students loved that idea and did theirs that way too.

Tote bags with hearts, from a quilt block workshop.

This is just a tiny peak at my teaching! I’ve taught 5-6 classes a week for over 3 months now! Almost all sewing.