David Owen Hastings: Scraptastic Quilted Cards (3 hour WS, Fri, 3/28/25, 12-3pm EDT)

Grab a handful of fabric scraps, and let’s make some art!

MAKE MINI QUILTED COMPOSITIONS INTO ARTFUL GREETING CARDS

3 hours: Your scrap bin is a great and underused resource! It’s often full of beautiful fabrics, but in very small amounts. Sometimes it contains mistakes that we would rather toss into the scrap bin than unpick. It’s time to dive in and make something beautiful from those off-cuts and whoopsies.

Using just a few pieces of fabric pulled from scraps, we will machine sew a mini series of modern art cards. We’ll explore color, scale of print, value, and texture… and maybe come up with some surprising combinations!

Using heavyweight stabilizer as our canvas, we’ll stitch down small compositions using the quilt as you go method. Then we’ll add surface design and linear texture with our sewing machines and colorful threads.

I’ll share my recommendations for greeting card blanks, plastic sleeves (if you want to package the cards to sell), and framing ideas to make your compositions into a quick and impressive hangable piece of wall art.

ZOOM WORKSHOP DETAILS

•               Grab a handful of scraps as a jumping off point.

•               Curate and refine your fabric selection into hue (color) and value (light, medium, dark).

•               Solids and subtle, small-scale prints or textures work best, but it’s also fun to mix in a dramatic print.

•               Cut heavyweight stabilizer into 4 x 6-inch rectangles, this is our foundation to sew on.

•               Sew a couple of strip sets combing the color you like.

•               Trim up a few pieces of the fabrics you like into small rectangles. Now you’re ready to create!

•               Using the quilt-as-you-go technique we will sew from the inside out, adding a piece at a time onto the stabilizer.

•               Explore further ideas strip piecing and leaving the raw edges visible for extra texture.

•               Square up your composition so it is 4 x 6 again.

•               Add extra surface design and texture with mock quilting in colorful thread.

•               Slide your mini artwork into a greeting card blank and use double-stick tape to secure.

•               I’ll also demonstrate how to sew a larger composition and then cut it up into sections that can be framed individually or as a group.

A complete PDF supply list will be provided. Class sizes are limited to ensure one-on-one time.

This is an all-levels class. You should be comfortable using your sewing machine and it should be in good working order. Basic knowledge of sewing/quilting is helpful, but not necessary. We will learn together!

For more about David, please visit www.davidowenhastings.com or follow @davidowenhastings on Instagram.

To learn more about this workshop, click HERE! 

All Levels

Students to Provide

MATERIALS LIST

• Scraps of quilting cotton fabric: small pieces of fabric are great, from about 1 to 6 inches.
• Cotton sewing thread: 40- or 50-weight, medium grey, plus 3 to 4 colorful options for the top stitching.
• Sew-in heavyweight stabilizer: I use Pellon 50 Heavyweight Stabilizer, which you can get at Joann Fabrics.
• Photo frame cards: Purchase a set of 5" x 7" blank photo frame cards.

A PDF handout will be provided with more details.

 TOOLS/EQUIPMENT

• Home sewing machine with walking foot or dual feed foot
• Iron and ironing board
• Small scissors and fabric shears
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting mat
• Quilting ruler
• Fabric marking pen
• Glue stick
• Optional: double-stick tape

 Please Note: Try out your walking foot attachment before class until you are confident it is working properly.

Sewing Machine Required