Getting ready for a week of Improvisational Patchwork at the Folk School

It’s one week before I head back to John C. Campbell Folk School to teach my Intro to Improvisational Quiltmaking class [Aug. 2-8, 2026] ! 

Improvisational piecing in anticipation for my workshop.

As I warm up for a week of teaching ruler-free cutting and piecing, my work table is covered with improv patchwork… fabric strips and patchwork samples. Setting aside precise measurements and perfect points, I let the fabric, shapes, value, color, and intuition guide the process. 

Patchwork strips and pieced units.

Improv equilateral triangles.

What I love about Improvisational Patchwork

What I love about improv patchwork is that it encourages the maker to respond to the fabric and patchwork instead of following a traditional pattern—cutting, sewing, and discovering design and composition as it unfolds. 

In this workshop, we’ll explore simple techniques for creating bold, dynamic patchwork without relying on rulers and pre-determined patterns. It’s about experimenting, playing, and seeing what happens when you trust the creative process. 

The Quilting Studio at John C. Campbell Folk School.

I’m looking forward to spending the week sharing ideas and making quilts together with students and my studio assistant. The quilting studio at the Folk School is open and spacious and equipped with video technology for presentations and demonstrations. The beautiful campus of the John C. Campbell Folk School sits amidst the rolling hills of western North Carolina in Brasstown. 

This August 2026 Intro to Improv Quilting workshop currently has a Wait List, but I’ll be teaching it again February 7-12, 2027. There are a few seats available in next year’s session. Sign up now if you’re interested! Folk School classes fill quickly.

 

One fabric panel yields 5 scrappy quilts

It’s like the story of “the loaves and the fishes”—where one fabric panel turns into five quilts!

Scrappy kitty quilts with a panel block.

I found this cat panel on the sale shelf at a quilt shop in Louisville, KY. Instead of using the panel in its entirety, I’m cutting out the individual vignettes and mixing them with various scraps to make a few improv kitty quilts.

Second quilt top from a panel image.

The first three quilt tops are complete.

Third quilt top from a block cut from the panel.

The two remaining vignettes from the panel will become quilt tops as well… for a total of five.

Cutting up the panel into smaller blocks.

This is one way to use a panel in your quiltmaking to make your fabric go further. This panel afforded a focal point for five projects. Using improvisational patchwork, the scrap basket becomes another resource and puts leftover fabric bits to good use.

Don’t you love these fast and fun, scrappy little quilts?? I do!

Even a “healthy” scrap pile can use new spices

There’s something intriguing about working with someone else’s scraps in a project. What leftover fabric treasures do they have? What are their color and fabric print choices? Are they different or similar to what’s in my stash? How do they add spice to the scraps I already have?

Improv patchwork with new and old scraps.

With my Make Nine 2025 complete, I’ve come back to making improv patchwork and diving into the scrap piles… for kitty quilts and charity quilts… to scratch my fabric patchwork itch. 

Inspiration came from the new scraps

Even though I have my own [healthy] scrap collection, I picked up a couple of scrap bags at The Cherry Pit quilt shop a few weeks ago. Ooooh, baby! It’s like getting new crayons for your 120-color crayon box! Among the newly-acquired scraps were a few orphan quilt blocks, and pieced cut-offs. So I decided that these would be the impetus of a new scrappy kitty quilt top—including the color palette.

Strip pieced blocks and triangle units found in the scrap bag.
Additional fabrics were added to complete the unfinished blocks.

My improv process

Starting with the pieced units and adding triangle shapes to the partial units, I gathered other scraps to add to the “Autumn” color palette. A few scraps of bright pink and red violet pushed the red part of the color palette… but that’s because those scraps happen to be on the top of the pile. That’s how the improv process rolls for me.

Auditioning scraps for the autumn color palette.

The scraps were laid out as if putting together a puzzle. No two pieces are alike… a pumpkin print might land next to a batik or a contemporary print might sit comfortably beside a vintage-looking shirting. I don’t worry much about matching—just let the scraps and shapes find their own places in the improv ensemble. I find that’s the fun of it.

Finished quilt top. Approximately 28” x 25”.

The finished kitty quilt top is playful, freeing, and full of surprises—a lively mix of prints and textures, stitched from the leftover bits from other projects. I intentionally added a few blue fabrics because of the navy print that was already pieced into two of the orphan blocks. And the 45-degree angles of the pieced blocks were intentionally set in different directions to keep the eye moving around the quilt.

As in life, you never quite know what you’ll get in a bag of scraps. But scraps are a reminder that even the most humble pieces—or the most unexpected, wild prints—can be brought together with care and creativity to become something beautiful and useful. Everything will find a place.

A week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School—Part II

We had such a wonderful week with improvisational quiltmaking at the John C. Campbell Folk School that I wanted to post a few more favorite moments from class.

Mari’s cute little pincushion.

Kristen decided on the background fabric.

Charlotte mastered skinny strip inserts.

The improv process and how the work progresses

There is always a first step with any new endeavor… actually, many first steps. Before taking that next step, you may have to stop to think about the options… before continuing the journey.

Contemplating…

With each improv exercise, students created patchwork units and put them up on the design walls. As the week progressed, the compositions evolved, were edited, and fine tuned. In my previous post about this class, you saw many “finished” pieces. But it’s always interesting to see the beginning and intermediate stages along the way—the options, turns, forks in the road, and yes, … sometimes the “unsewing.” 

Sue’s improv triangle piece.

Carol’s triangles, wedges, curved and strip piecing. Will they end up together?

Early progress with strips and rectangles (Mary Anne’s piece).

Mari brought in fabrics from her godmother’s clothing. She’s going to honor her godmother, Buggie, by making a bed quilt with the fabrics.

Getting a sense of the colors, prints, and values of the fabrics.

After doing research in books from the quilting studio’s library, Mari found a quilt block pattern that she wanted to use as the basis her design. 

Sketches, notes, measurements.

Here are the first sample blocks she made to test the measurements and construction.

Improv quilt blocks made from clothing.

For June, the patchwork from the curved piecing exercise turned into a striking background after she decided to take the rotary cutter to it.

Curved piecing.

A new composition.

Gwen found inspiration for another piece after we did the improv game. Here is the beginning of her Sawtooth Star block.

The improv game inspired the start of a new piece for Gwen.

The quilting studio

Photos of the work space from the week.

Contributions to a Folk School 100th anniversary project

The Folk School is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The celebration begins in 2025 with the Fall Festival and continues through the summer of 2026. Our improv quilting class contributed quilt blocks to a community quilt project that the Textiles and Natural Fibers department is organizing. Here are two of the blocks we contributed.

Improv block for the community quilt project.

This improv block for the community quilt was made entirely 
from fabric scraps found in the classroom.

We still make things!

One of the quilted wall hangings in the Community Room at the Folk School says, “We still make things.” I love this! Here are the hands that make the things.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

We make things with our hands.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

Below is one of my favorite photos of hands. You can discover a lot about a quilt top’s construction by examining the back.

Examining the construction.

Favorite comments from students

• Students found the inspiration presentations very helpful. One person said the presentations were the workshop “fertilizer” to spark ideas. (Fertilizer is only good if you spread it around, right?)

• Check the Spare Parts Division! Even the weavers from the adjoining studio took advantage of our scrap box.

Geri Forkner, the weaving instructor in an adjacent studio, encouraged students in her
“Runs with Scissors” class to raid the scrap bins in other studios.

• At the end of the week, I was labeled as being a bad influence… because now students are saving the smallest of scraps! (I think this is a good thing.)

Show and Tell

I bring examples of my improv work for a Show and Tell with my students. It’s fun to revisit these quilts and share their stories with a new audience.

“Blue Rhino Moon” improv quilt.

Below is “Guitar Strings Improv,” the quilt I made in 2015 that was featured in Sherri Lynn Wood’s book, “The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.”

“Guitar Strings Improv” from The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

The process for “Alone Together” (shown below) is documented in this post. The quilting is documented in this post, and includes the quilt stats (information about threads, thread weights, batting, and how long it took to free-motion quilt it).

“Alone Together” was a Guild Challenge quilt.

I had a fun time sharing the improv quilting processes with my students. And I was so inspired by the work they accomplished in just one week. Thanks for a wonderful experience!

A fabulous week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching Improvisational Quilting at the John C. Campbell Folk School with 10 talented, inquisitive, and adventurous students, and my friend, Susan, as our studio assistant. It was a prolific week of color, pattern, and innovative piecing and patchwork, at a picturesque, nature-filled setting in western North Carolina.

Improv Quilting class display at the Closing Ceremony, John C. Campbell Folk School.

Ruler-free cutting: abandoning the rulers

Mari cutting one of her strip sets.

The first order of business in improvisational quiltmaking is learning to cut fabric freehand with a rotary cutter and NO RULER. We started learning this the morning of the first day.

For today’s quilters who are accustomed to using acrylic rulers and acrylic templates with gridlines and measurements to make patchwork, it may take a little time to get comfortable with this skill. 

By the afternoon of our first day, however, these fearless students were masters of the technique! Several commented how liberating it was and they “may never go back to a ruler…”

We worked on cutting strips, making custom stripes, inserting strips into wider rectangles, and combining strips to make other patchwork units.

At the end of the first day, the design walls began to fill with color and patterns.

Strips and stripes.

Strips, inserts and reassembling.

Strip sets and strips inserted into rectangles.

Strip exercises.

And if you can’t decide what fabrics to choose for various exercises… just take a look at what you’re wearing. The subconscious at work? Seredipity?

June and her coordinating strip set.

Mary Anne brought her hand-dyed fabrics to class.

Sue’s top matches her strip set.

Geometry and improv patchwork

As the week progressed, students learned various cutting and piecing techniques to make patchwork units—curves, quarter circles, and several triangle units. Do you remember your high school geometry???

Improv curves and triangles.

Improv curves, triangles, and wedges.

Improv triangles at play.

The improv patchwork compositions evolved on the design walls. With each new lesson, it was interesting to watch compositions change, grow, and develop from morning through the afternoon and into the evening. Each day brought a new path to explore.

The Improv Game

One of my favorite exercises in this week-long workshop is a game of improv. This time, a neutral color palette was the result of the roll of a die. We pushed the neutral color palette just a bit to include a light salmon, green tea, and fog (a dusky violet) solids [colors of Painter’s Palette by Paintbrush Studio]. Students chose 5 or 6 fabrics to use for their quilt blocks.

Making fabric choices… don’t over-think it!

Pushed neutral color palette.

Fabric bundles were cut and distributed…

Pushed neutral fabric bundles ready for cutting and piecing.

… and the freehand cutting and piecing processes began.

Freehand cutting.

Classic quilt blocks were created using improvisational methods. Block names included Eight-pointed Star, Hour Glass (two versions), House Top (log cabin variation), Quarter Log Cabin, Sawtooth Star, Propeller (Rail Fence), Shoo Fly, Quarter Log Cabin, and a Star Block.

Improv versions of classic quilt blocks.

Tips, demonstrations, and resolving construction dilemmas

Many of the students commented that basic sewing/piecing/quilting tips that were mentioned and demonstrated in the workshop were so helpful. Whether you’re new to patchwork or a long-time quilter, it’s good to be reminded and refreshed about basic techniques—pressing to set the seam, spinning the seams, pressing vs. ironing, etc.

Demonstrations.

And I try not to let students go “out on a limb” in their patchwork without a safety net or a way to resolve construction conundrums. We talk as a group and I meet with students one-on-one to discuss ways to get around any construction challenges they are having with their pieces. 

Discussing piecing challenges.

Figuring out “patchwork construction” is a fun part for me as it’s like putting a puzzle together—without having the puzzle box cover that shows the end result. 

Discussing the composition. Audition. Stand back. Edit.

Presenting the work

At the end of the week, students have the opportunity to talk about their piece(s)—how they chose a color palette, what surprised them, if/how their perception of  “improv” changed from the beginning of the week until the end.

Gwen was surprised by all aspects of the improv process. She said the exercises helped
 to broaden her pieces. Gwen plans to quilt her piece by hand with big stitch.

Mari prefers a calming, neutral color palette. She found the improv process pushed her creativity
resulting in the addition of raspberry and burgundy colors in one of her pieces.
(But check out the sweater she’s wearing!)

Lisa said “her colors picked her” and not the other way around.
She found the grey fabric to be a good solution to resolving the composition of her piece.
She plans to “up her game” with free-motion quilting to finish her pieces.

The green/red/black color palette surprised Sue.
In the future, she wants to loosen up her piecing by making and using larger blocks.
She plans to expand her quiltmaking in more non-structured ways.

Carol, a garment sewer, learned a new vocabulary and is excited about using “quilting” tools
in future projects. She stretched herself in her choices of color
and plans to take a beginning quilting class to expand her skills.

Mary Anne’s hand-dyed fabrics provided a unique depth and texture to her pieces.
She was pleasantly surprised to learn she now likes freehand cutting with the rotary cutter!

Charlotte challenged herself with this color palette. By “letting go” of planning the color and fabric
 placement of each unit, she was surprised and pleased where the colors appeared in her project.
Charlotte plans to write a tanka poem about the meaning behind this piece.

June let go of “precise piecing” to be more free with cutting. She is inspired by the Gees Bend quilts
 and learned that it’s OK to cut into patchwork that wasn’t exciting to her.
She is pleased and excited about the pieces that she cut up and then reassembled.

Deborah started with fabrics that were not her favorites, but pushed herself and discovered
that she did like the color and fabric choices in the end.
Her previous work was more linear, but has now found an appreciation for curved piecing.
Deborah enjoys hand sewing but is contemplating whether to finish these pieces by machine.

As a more traditional quilter, Kristen was used to grid-based layouts. Free-form layouts are 
new to her. Techniques such as curved piecing inspired her “botanical” themed composition.
 Kristen plans to machine quilt her piece.

As you can see, it was quite a productive week!

Wrap up and final thoughts

It was indeed a wonderful week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School! In addition to learning improvisational cutting and piecing techniques, basic sewing tips, and gaining inspiration from the demonstrations that were given, the overarching comment from my students was the camaraderie they felt from each other, our studio assistant, and me during the week. I will say that the Folk School values—joy, kindness, stewardship, and non-competitive—definitely sprang forth this week. 

Keep “Singing behind the Plow.”

A big Thank You to each of my students for brining an open mind and sense of curiousity to class, and for just being yourselves. It was a delight to get to know you all! Thank you to Susan, my assistant, for taking photos, the copious note-taking, and keeping our studio space tidy. Thank you also to the Folk School staff, the behind-the-scenes personnel, and our Textiles and Natural Fibers Coordinator, Allie, for all the support, and for paving the path for an enjoyable and educational experience. 

——

For more photos of the week, see Part II blog post.