Supplies Checklist:

You can see further details about all of my favorite sewing supplies on my website.  For this class, you’ll need:

• A staple gun and staples, any size staple from 1/4” to 5/8” will work

• A wooden frame, or frames, 6x6”, 5x7”, 4x6”, 3x8”; any small-ish frame will work.  A wooden frame with canvas stretched on it is a great option, and there are some examples on my amazon shop page. (Please leave the canvas in place if you’re going this route.) 

• Consider finding a frame at a thrift store!! They’re inexpensive, and come in a lot of great sizes.  If you go this route, please check that you can get a staple into the back of your frame.

• Fabric for your quilt top:

• Natural fibers (especially cotton) are the easiest to work with, but I’m very open to experimental options too! A variety of scraps will work, and it can also be nice to have some cuts of fabric that match the size of your frame.

• Thread scraps and transparent fabric for our ‘layered quilt’ (open weave fabric, a repurposed curtain, silk organza or chiffon, etc.  If you can see your hand through it, it’ll work!)

• Fabric to ‘frame’ your quilt: This fabric will create a border around your quilt, and will look like a frame.  A quarter yard should be enough for one 6x6” frame.  We will cut this fabric to fit your unique frame and quilt in class together, but a strip width of 3” or 4” will work in most cases.

• Thread: My favorite thread is DMC Pearl Cotton size 8, but other options will work too.

• A sewing needle that works with your thread: I like the Dritz Milliners multipack.

• Scissors

• A pushing thimble, to protect your fingers while sewing (I LOVE the Clover Protect and Grip Thimble, which is in my amazon shop)

• A pulling thimble or gripper  (I LOVE the Little House Needle Gripper Silicone Thimble, which I purchase from Snuggly Monkey.  Use this $5 discount code from me.) You can also use a needle puller or rubber gripper  (I like using a square of Dycem Non-Slip)

• Pins (straight, applique, safety, any will work)

• A small piece of quilt batting, we’ll cut it to be the same size as your frame.  You may want one piece for each technique. I like cotton batting.

• About 4 safety pins for basting

• A Hera marker, or pencil

Additional Optional Supplies:

• A cutting mat, clear ruler, and rotary cutter

• A needle threader

• Embroidery hoops, 4”, 6”, and/or 10”

About Heidi Parkes: Before Heidi Parkes was born in Chicago, IL in 1982, her grandmother organized a collaborative family quilt to commemorate her birth.  This set the tone for a life centered on the handmade- raised in a home where sewing, mending, cooking, canning, woodworking, photography, ceramics, painting, and plasterwork were the norm.

Now based in Milwaukee, her quilting and mending celebrate the hand, and her works tug at memories and shared experience.  Often using specific textiles, like an heirloom tablecloth, bed sheet, or cloth teabag, Heidi adds subtle meaning and material memory from the start.  Ever curious, she works with a variety of quilting techniques including visible hand piecing and knots, improvisation, patchwork, and applique. Heidi pursues her passion for teaching by lecturing and leading workshops, and shares her creative process with thousands on Instagram.  Heidi has exhibited in art and textile museums across the country and was an Artist in Residence at Milwaukee’s Lake Park through the ARTservancy with Gallery 224 in fall 2020-21.  Additionally, Heidi lives a handmade lifestyle, sewing her own clothes, fermenting, eating from pottery she made a decade ago, and practicing hand yoga, which she shares with other creatives on her YouTube channel.

See this 3-minute Studio Visit on YouTube: https://youtu.be/s3Q-XxWrcYQ