Recap: Sherri Lynn Wood Bias Strip Curves Workshop

On Sunday, May 3, Sherri Lynn Wood taught our guild's very first "sewlebrity"-taught workshop: her Bias Strip Curves workshop. Using a totally ruler-free method, she walked eighteen workshop participants through the process of making continuous bias strips, attaching them to curved shapes, and then "committing" them together into a quilt top.



After helping us find our centers, we selected three fabrics each and worked silently for thirty minutes. Silence was more challenging for some of us than others, but it helped set the tone for a day of good creative work, and I found I was much more able to work quickly when I was working quietly.



After we made our bias strips, Sherri taught us how to attach the strips to the curved shapes of our choice. She also gave us tips for identifying problems, and stood by the ironing boards troubleshooting wavy pieces. Surprisingly, the answer was almost never "pick it apart"!



After lunch we all had one to three petal shapes or half petal shapes to work with. Sherri walked us through some different methods of thinking about composing the shapes into a final composition. She emphasized making one "commitment" at a time--creating only one relationship between two pieces--before you could think about making the next move. Each seam and each "commitment" could not be predicted! While we worked, Sherri walked from table to table, providing composition advice and reassurance, and helping to unstick people who were stuck.



By the end of the workshop, some people had nearly-finished pieces; others have a few more commitments still to make.



Sherri was an excellent, approachable teacher who produced both productive group discussions and engaged with each student one-on-one to provide customized advice. By emphasizing centeredness, curiosity, openness, and flexibility, Sherri Lynn Wood changed workshop participants' perspectives on patchwork piecing, and taught us an advanced technique that I look forward to applying to my work in the future.

[[Thank you to Amy Friend for bringing her camera to the workshop and capturing most of these shots; image credit for the first group photo goes to Sherri Lynn Wood herself!]]