Classes with Carolyn Forster
Carolyn is an accomplished quilt maker, teacher and author of several books and patterns. Carolyn has been sewing quilts for over 20 years and just loves using up scraps. She is constantly inspired by vintage quilt blocks that she finds on her travels and she brings them up-to-date with modern construction techniques – stitch n’ flip and Quilting on the Go are two of her favourites. She teaches both in the UK and abroad. You’ll always find her at the Houston Quilt Festival and Market. She likes her classes to be a relaxed atmosphere where students can work at their own pace, develop new skills and gain confidence in their creative ability and she is keen to include advice on quilting designs and binding. She has recently shared with us her ‘Joy of Sewing’ and we have a whole series of workshops coming soon on how to sew patchwork by hand – a great alternative to English Paper Piecing and not a stitch in sight!
Signature Technique:
Quilting-on-the-Go. Enjoy small bits of quilting without the dread of quilting in one go.
Top Tips:
- Mix fabrics, even if they are not from the same collection, manufacturer or decade.
- Little quilts are great because you can finish sooner and get ideas for larger quilts
-
One Patch Rose Block with Carolyn Forster
Carolyn Forster picks out one of her favourite templates to make this fun block. The simple Kite template from the Sunflower block placed together in a three pieced unit.
She demonstrates how to economically cut out using a strip of fabric with very little waste. Although the template is ideal...
-
Hexagon Sunflower Block with Carolyn Forster
This beautiful block can be hand or machine pieced. Carolyn Forster uses a set of templates to rotary cut the pieces for this block. Making the cutting particularly easy to fussy cut when using a variety of fabrics, directional fabrics or even one fabric.
Markings on the templates show where ...
-
Turkey Tracks with Carolyn Forster
Let's Talk about Turkey Tracks.
Carolyn Forster uses templates to make a variety of blocks. That are subsequently pieced together to form the turkey track pattern.
The templates include markings that guide the sewing together. Thus enabling the pieces to be hand or machine sewn.
Carolyn ...
-
1930's Sunflower with Carolyn Forster
Inspired by a 1930's antique quilt Carolyn Forster shows how she uses acrylic templates to replicate the quilt block.
These templates are easy to use, enabling accurate cutting, essential when using unusual shaped pieces.
The block is ideal for highlighting particular fabrics and the templa...
-
Quilting on the Go with Carolyn Forster
Quilting on the Go Patchwork Technique
If you love piecing, but hate the thought of marking and stitching a full size quilt, then this version of Quilt As You Go is for you. In this video Carolyn shows how to put the blocks together with their layers and come up with a really flat finish!
Carolyn... -
Castle Wall Block with Carolyn Forster
A delightful, traditional block created around an octagonal centre, which can be pieced or cut as a single unit.
As there are so many inset seams, Carolyn shows you how this is easier to sew by hand. She creates the small units of squares and diamonds, and if any of the corner units are pieced, t... -
How to Sew Hexagons with Carolyn Forster
Scrappy quilts are a particular favourite of Carolyn’s. In this workshop she talks you through how you can produce a lovely traditional scrap quilt without the need of English Paper Pieces. Here a simple running stitch will suffice.
The hexagons can be precut into an uncoordinated pile. You would... -
Woven Jelly Roll Scrap Quilt with Carolyn Forster
Carolyn has several versions of this quilt to show you, each of them as lovely as the last. It is a great use of the jelly roll or indeed strips of scrap fabric. You could also increase the size of the strips to create a lovely quilt from just 4 blocks!
Even the background can be scrappy, as long... -
Layer Cake Bag with Carolyn Forster
This delightful and useful bag is simple to make from 10″ squares, and comes fully lined with tie handles .
Carolyn shows how to make the handles, which can be embellished with simple hand stitching. How to make the lining and to put it all together with a simple turn through method, but you must... -
Churn Dash Patchwork Block Hand Pieced with Carolyn Forster
This is hand piecing patchwork, nothing like English Paper Piecing.
This form of patchwork is really simple and requires a running stitch, it is very portable. It allows you to manipulate the seams on the reverse of your patchwork, sothey are really neat and indeed some patchwork designs are easi... -
Churn Dash Patchwork Block Part 2 with Carolyn Forster
Rotary cutting your patchwork pieces means that the sewing sequence is a little different, as you start with accurate outside edges, as we do for machine piecing, but it does mean you can have lots of pieces ready for sewing on the go, which makes it very sociable and portable. And if you are org...
-
Cable Quilting with Carolyn Forster
We start off by enjoying some antique and more modern quilts, in which Carolyn shows various styles of cable quilting, and then Carolyn goes on to show how create these lovely designs quickly and easily.
She reminds us not to be afraid of the corners – there are ways round them and a very easy wa... -
Hand Quilting Tip from Carolyn Forster
Quilting on the Go is a technique where you quilt each block individually and then put them together to form quilt. Carolyn shows how to have continuous quilting across the sashing of blocks in her Quilt as You Go method.
This excellent tip is taken from her video on the subject Quilting On the G... -
Cutting Fabric Hexagons with Carolyn Forster
Carolyn loves English Paper Piecing and hexagons are obviously the bedrock of that. Here she shares with you her easy method of cutting several hexagons simultaneously, with scissors, from strips of fabric.
This tip has been extracted from her longer workshop on Hexagons, which you can find by cl... -
Amish Waves Hand Quilting with Carolyn Forster
In this lovely workshop Carolyn shows you a variety of quilts on which this traditional allover pattern has been worked.
Great for Beginners
She also shows you how to create your own pattern, from everyday household objects to use on your own quilts. It is an all-over design that works well with ... -
Hexagon Patchwork with Carolyn Forster
English Paper Piecing
English Paper piecing is extremely portable and a great use of scraps. It is traditionally worked by hand over papers and the Hexagon shape is the most popular.
Great for Recycling or using scraps of fabric
In this workshop Carolyn shows you how to make the individual hexago... -
Biscornu Pincushion with Carolyn Forster
This is a truly delightful little project and Carolyn shows us how quick and easy it is to make. She uses two simple squares, but this is also a project that allows you to use up old left-over blocks and jelly roll strips. Equally, you can just fussy-cut from more dramatic fabrics for a different...
-
Japanese Bag with Carolyn Forster
This simple bag folds up easily to store away in a pocket or handbag or purse. Then just unfold it, knot the handles together and your bag is ready to go.
Carolyn has based the bag on a typical Japanese design which she has tweaked to help you sew it quickly and easily.
You can make it as complex... -
Big Stitch Hand Utility Quilting with Carolyn Forster
Even in the taster of this video you get to enjoy a wide selection of lovely quilts both made by and also found by Carolyn. All of them have Big Stitch hand quilting used on them.
Quick and Easy
Utility quilting is perfect for today’s modern quilter as it is quick and easy. It’s a way of using th... -
Use the Suture Stitch by Carolyn Forster
This is a very portable technique as it is hand sewing and allows you to join your wadding scraps together, so there is absolutely no need to waste any. It’s a brilliant little tip from Carolyn Forster and one of her favourite techniques.
You can watch the full workshop where the tip came from Qu... -
Strips & Strings with Carolyn Forster
Strips & Strings scrap patchwork quilt
This delightful workshop about a great scrap quilt called Japanese Stars & Lanterns, and it similar to antique quilts which were made with strips or strings. This patchwork can be done by hand or by machine. It is great for beginners too, because there is no...