Workshop report 1 -- large-to-small

The workshop I taught last week in Ft. Myers was on fine-line piecing, the technique I have been using almost exclusively for the last six or seven years.  Although all my fine-line quilts follow the same basic approach -- separate two bits of fabric with a pieced-in very skinny line -- I have experimented with lots of variations on that theme.

I've sorted them out in my own mind into two buckets, which I call large-to-small and small-to-large.

In large-to-small, you start out with a large piece of fabric.  Cut a slice through the middle of it, piece in a very skinny line of fabric, and sew it back together -- now you have two smaller areas with a line in between.  Repeat -- now you have three or four smaller areas with lines in between.  Repeat, repeat, repeat, ending up with ever-smaller areas and ever-greater complexity.

That's what we did on Day 1 of the workshop.  After people got comfortable with the sewing technique, they concentrated on design.  And after they had worked for a few hours on a composition, they were challenged to add a second color.

Here are some examples of what they came up with: