A NOTE FOR SHOP OWNERS

Shop Owners: Please feel free to use this Block of the Week in your shops.

The first block will be up September 1, 2012 and the 49th on August 3, 2013. I'll leave the posts up for at least a year after that last date.

 

Here are three ways to link to the blog.

 

 

 1) Organize a club with block kits and no class meetings. With each kit include a link to the weekly blog post.

Kit up the blocks in three different fabric options: How about:

·         Shades of purple, white and green---England's Suffragette colors

·         A focus on America's golden color

·         William Morris and Art Nouveau reproductions

 There will be 49 blocks so you can do a block of the week or a block of the month. For a monthly feature you could sell 4 kits at a time for a year or just select a dozen for a single block of the month.

 

 

2) Organize a club that meets at the shop with a focus on local Women's History---perhaps six meetings over a year. Assign topics at the beginning  and have students do a little bit of research to discuss in upcoming sessions. The internet has a lot of resources on state and national campaigns. Identify some leaders in the regional fight for women's rights and ask members to find out about their lives and local history. Members bring in their finished blocks from the blog.

 

Topics might include

·         Right to Vote: How did women get the right to vote at various elections locally.

·         Local Firsts: (first female lawyer, legislator, mayor, doctor).

·         The Other Side: Who were the antisuffrage campaigners in the area?

·         Persuasion: Find banners, posters, buttons etc.

·         Local Heroes: Who were local leaders in women's rights?

·         I Remember When: Nostalgia by those who lived through the days when high school guidance counselors gave you 3 options: Secretarial, teaching, nursing. Etc.

·         What was Happening Here a Century ago: What was a woman's day like?

 

3) Use the patterns for a basic patchwork class. You'll find a wide variety of difficulty levels in the pieced blocks (and the three or four applique blocks.) All are 8" but you can also teach students how to convert to 10" or 12". They can learn to draft, to use a computer drafting program like BlockBase or EQ or search the web for patterns.  Adding the Women's History interest to the basic sewing class will attract would-be quilters as well as those who are interested in history and period fabrics too.