CRAFTY | MATH FOR QUILTERS

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I’m not a confident mathematician, unless it involves a sale price reduction and then I’m all over that, so I jumped at the chance to take Dena Crain‘s Math for Quilters at Quilt University.

Are you scared of numbers because you let someone convince you that some people have no head for figures?  Let Dena show you that anyone can tame the numbers that you need to be a quilter.  A designer who uses math, instead of a mathematician who designs, Dena teaches this three-lesson class in a way everyone can understand.  You will plan a quilt, draft a block pattern to scale, change the setting from straight to on point, develop rotary cutting plans and pattern layouts, figure yardage requirements, calculate the cost of your quilt, and learn how to set a price for it.  A bonus lesson introduces the connection between quilting and advanced mathematics.  No sewing.  All levels.

A couple of months back I had enrolled in Dena’s True Quilts class being offered by Canberra Quilters but I was struck down with the plague and couldn’t make it.  (Technically not the plague, but I was sick – real sick!)  Dena kindly offered me an opportunity to do one of her Quilt University classes as I couldn’t attend her class.  I was so happy, thrilled, impressed, thankful that she was so generous in offering me a course when she didn’t have to.

I labored over which class to take and in the end I decided to do the math course as I feel I need to work on my foundation skills. It was one of the best decisions!

I’m half way through the course right now and I’ve realised a couple of things;

1. I’m not as math dumb as I thought I was.  I have found I can do the math and swap between metric and standard measurements which has been a nice discovery.

2. The internet can teach you anything! I posted a photo of some of the stuff I was working on to Instagram and the lovely people there showed me how to work out the answers correctly.

3. My 11 grade math teacher was right (but a shit teacher!) – I will use math in every day application.

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I’m struggling with finding the time to complete my lessons without interruption.  For my first lesson I actually made the boys go out for a couple of hours just so I could do the work and concentrate.  It’s made me realise that I enroll to do classes outside of the home now for a reason – if I have to learn in the house it ain’t gonna happen.  (It’s probably the only thing I miss from my pre-parenting lift, the ability to do a task uninterrupted!)

I’m having a lot of fun though and Dena Crain is a great teacher.  I’m hoping to get the course completed this weekend and then it will be on to using my new found knowledge and confidence to make some new quilts. Yay!