The Quilters’ Guild is giving all young people aged 5 to 18 FREE Young Quilter membership as part of its commitment to inclusivity and ensuring a vibrant future for patchwork and quilting in the UK.
The Quilters’ Guild is a national education charity preserving the heritage of patchwork, quilting and applique and working to ensure a vibrant future for the craft. Founded in 1979 by a group of committed quilters with the aim of bringing together quilters in a spirit of friendship and learning and to promote quilt-making in all its forms across the UK.
What does free Young Quilter membership of The Quilters’ Guild offer a young person?
Sewing and Quilting is creative, fun and proven to benefit mental health!
Sewing boosts self-confidence and gives people huge pride and a sense of achievement
Access to sewing classes and online learning
Gaining a transferrable skill for life which will prove useful again and again
A dedicated website which provides learning opportunities and projects
For those aged 14 – 18 there is a Youngish Quilters blog which shares sewing activities, articles and inspiration!
Take part in is the ‘SewPal’ scheme whereby young quilters can create sewn postcards to send to each other and make friends with other young people who share their hobby.
Don’t just take our word for it! We asked a young quilter what they enjoy most about being a member:
‘The workshops are fun and I’m learning new skills.’
And parents of our amazing young quilters are happy too:
‘For a child that struggles so much with reading & writing…I feel it is all the more important for her to realise that she is so talented in other areas.
Examples of projects which may inspire your thinking:
Lock-down project – after a disconnected and isolating time, regain a sense of belonging and key values in your school by building a group coverlet/hanging. Each student can capture this moment in history by reflecting and recording it through a quilt block, which are then sewn together. This can be extended to involve parents and the wider community. An example includes our ‘Staying at home’ block https://www.youngquilters.org.uk/resources/stay-home-and-stay-safe-house-block.html
Reuse, reduce, recycle, rethink – explore environmentally friendly textiles through The Quilters’ Guild Collection, textiles artists and natural dyeing of fabrics https://www.youngquilters.org.uk/resources/reuse-reduce-recycle-rethink.html
War time sewing – explore the rationing of fabric and ‘make do and mend’ attitude toward clothing, as well as patchwork quilts donated from American and Canadian charities during WWII, for our armed forces and hospitals. Create end of war celebratory bunting or a soldiers ‘huswife’ sewing case. https://www.youngquilters.org.uk/resources/ve-day-video-and-project.html
