Project Preparations:

Before entering the residential homes, it was vital for us all to be well equipped for our roles as voluntary art practitioners.  One of our first challenges was to get us all up to a level of competence in our Quilting abilities.

To turn us into Quilting Queens, Penny organised a workshop at Hereford College of Arts to teach us the basics of quilting. She explained how we would be working on patchwork quilts, as these are quilts composed of component shapes that tessellate together. This patchwork method allows each person to have their own personal segment that then gets stitched alongside the numerous other shapes to form one united piece.

Penny showed us a few quilting methods, such as Log Cabin quilting, but we mainly spent the morning learning about English paper piecing. This addictive quilting method involves you tacking fabric around hexagon blocks, and then sewing the hexagons together. Once a hexagon has all of its sides sewn onto another, the tacking stitches are cut and the paper removed.

Quickly, we all became entranced (I myself have become highly involved and have started my own quilt now!) and soon had some lovely samples to show!

English paper piecing sample

The results are fantastic, and I can't wait to see how they look with the names all sewn in! Keep tuned in to the blog to see for yourself, and hear some of the amazing experiences the girls are having with the residents.

Along with this, Penny showed us how to appliqué and embroider. These techniques are visual ways of translating imagery onto the fabric to speak of the stories that will be accumulated throughout the project. So while some of the girls carried on quilting, others explored these new techniques. Sanya stitched a little red post box as the red suitcase reminded her of the iconic British mailbox!

Sanya's applique sample.

Learning these skills was vital to our progression, and along with this helpful workshop we had an important training session at the Courtyard on “The Essential Skills for Project Workers in a Care Setting. Colin, an Age UK trainer, came in to deliver the information about how to maximise our involvement.

One of the key focuses of the training day was the importance of involvement. The residents will all have varying degrees of dexterity- from competent sewers to those who may not be able to manage something so fiddly! Colin got us to contemplate different ways of involving people: asking for their creative opinion, helping sew their ideas, allowing them material choices. The imperative thing is allowing people the choice of how involved they want to be, and us working to their wishes.

As a starter project, Penny proposed we take in little Red Suitcase logos for the residents and students to embroider their names on to. This would be a great way of creating conversation and connections between the Students involved and the residents.

So in preparation, Maisie got down into the textiles workshop and screen printed multitudes of the project logo ready to be embellished. Here she is busy working away! 

Maisie Printing.

The finished results!

Keep tracks of the blog to see how the induction session went, hear student stories and learn more about the exciting Red Suitcase project!