Quilt Teacher Resources

Teaching From Debbie Caffrey's Books

Power Cutting, Too

Teaching Outline
Below is a list of the visual aids that would be helpful in teaching a very successful Power Cutting, Too class. Once you have prepared them, keep them together so that teaching another class in the future will only require that you to press and organize the pieces.

Visual Aids for Cutting

Prepare the following visual aids to demonstrate cutting:

• one 4?? square and one pair of 5¾? squares to demo Methods #1 & #2, respectively,
• one pair of 3½? strips to demo Method #3,
• panels and pieces as shown in photos 7-9 on pages 10 to demo Method #4,
• one pair of large half-square triangle blocks to demo Method #5,
• one striped 5¼? square and one striped 2½? strip to demo Methods #6 & #8,
• several half-square triangle units to demo Method #7 (photo 20 on page 14),
• several 2? x 3½? rectangles of one fabric and some 2? squares of a second to demo cut, sew, & flip on page 17. Also, units shown in photo 29 on page 18,
• one 2½? wide strip to demo cutting 90/45 trapezoids in one direction (photo 30 on page 20),
• one green and one background strip 2? wide to demo 90/45 and 45/45 trapezoids, and
• triangles and trapezoids shown in photo 38 on page 25, photo 42 on page 26, and photo 43 on page 32 to demo point trimming.

Visual Aids for Piecing

Make the following visual aids to demonstrate piecing:

• a Churn Dash block (page 27),
• panels and sections as shown in photos 10-15 on page 15,
• flying geese units in progress as shown in photos 27 & 28 on page 17,
• samples shown in photos 35-37 on pages 24 & 25 to demo triangle alignment,
• step by step units as shown in photos 39-41 to demo piecing of block with points trimmed, and
• tree block in progress to show alignment of trapezoids.
  
  Class Outline
  To teach this workshop in one all day class, I focus on the basic techniques and have the quilters bring 6-12 fat quarters of fabrics that they do not mind using just for exercises to learn and practice the techniques. Instruct the quilters as they make the following samples:
• cut and chain piece eight half-square triangle units (Method #2),
• make a Churn Dash block (page 27) to learn Method #3,
• make one block from Coyote Tracks or Winter Trail to learn Method #4,
• make 6-8 large half-square triangle blocks from various to practice making small half-square triangle units of different sizes and making a different number of cuts to learn Method #5 (Use these samples to make other blocks like Friendship Star, Sawtooth Star, Shoo-Fly, etc.), and
• make a tree block to learn to cut trapezoids and quarter-square triangles, and to trim dog ears with the rulers and/or Point Trimmer.

To teach this workshop in three or four classes, use the first class to teach the basic half-square triangle techniques and plan projects. Have the quilters bring a few fat quarters of fabrics that they do not mind using just for exercises to learn and practice the techniques. Help the quilters choose a quilt from the book that they will do in subsequent classes and discuss what supplies they will need to bring. Use some of the time in the first class for discussing fabrics, color, value, etc., and helping the quilters choose fabric.

In the second class, recap the first class, and finish any half-square triangle methods that did not get completed in the first class. Demonstrate the basic quarter-square triangle methods, the cut, sew, & flip method, and trapezoids. Again, have the quilters make samples. Meet with each quilter individually to determine what she should do to prepare for the following class(es).

Use the remaining class(es) to finish teaching any techniques that did not get completed in the first two classes, and work one on one with the students to make their projects. These sessions can be omitted if you want to just teach the process and not do a project. In other words, you would just spread the one day class out into two or three sessions.