Supplies Checklist:

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

• Needle, I like Dritz milliners

• Thread that fits with the needle, I like DMC pearl size 8

• 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.)

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

• Scissors

• Straight pins

• Sewing clips, like wonder clips

• Safety pins

• Marking tool, like a hera marker for pressing a crease/mark into your fabric, an air erasable pen, or chalk. My current favorite for this is a Crayola Ultra Clean Washable Marker, not in red or pink

• Garment to copy

• ideally it is woven and not stretchy (quilts aren’t stretchy, so our starting garment shouldn’t be either)

• ideally it can lay mostly flat on a tabletop, although Heidi’s model tank did have a big pleat in the back

• ideally it is a tank, but if necessary, we can work with something that has sleeves

• most importantly: you like how it fits

• your tank will not be harmed in this class

• A quilt!

• we will have some quilts available for purchase at the WMQFA

• it should be soft, and hand quilted is ideal. The drape, hand, and softness of the quilt is very important. If it is too stiff, it will also be too stiff on your body!

• wash this quilt before class, if it is going to shrink, shred, or have other issues in the washer, we need to know sooner rather than later

Provided Supplies:

• Tru Grid Pellon pattern making interfacing with a 1” grid - students will receive about 1 yard each

Additional Optional Supplies:

• Bias tape, I like to use this on the edge of my neck, sleeves, and sometimes the waistline. If we don’t use bias tape, we’ll turn the front over to the interior to finish the edges, which is a little bit more fiddly, slower, and harder to know if the size is just right

• Elastic, there are 4 main ways to finish the waistline of the tank; one way includes elastic for a ‘tucked in’ look, which I like to wear with shorts in the summer. (options: elastic, high waist, tunic, dress)

• Needle threader

• Flexible measuring tape

• Rotary and mat cutter

• A sewing machine and related thread and tools. Sometimes I like to sew the sides and shoulder tops with a machine, but other times I prefer to do it all by hand (If you’re already skillful with a machine, or prefer a machine, you may like this option)

• In addition to making quilted tank tops with existing quilts, I also like to do my own quilting. You would likely not finish such a top in this two day class, but I will demo how it is different. If you would like to start something like this, you will need:

• prewashed and ironed cotton muslin, about 2 yards (interior)

• prewashed and ironed fabric or quilt top for the exterior, about 2 yards

• batting, I like relatively thin batting like Toasty Cotton brand, but anything soft with good drape, that isn’t overly stiff will work
  

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