My name is Heddi Craft and I am a teacher who has been making quilts with children for the past nine years. This page is designed to describe the projects I have organized and give you ideas, techniques, and resources for working with children in making quilts.

Please note: Due to birth of my first child and the expected birth of my second, I don't currently have the time right now to keep this page up-to-date. Although the information here continues to be useful (I hope), I will not be revising or adding anything new for a while. I will still be happy to answer questions and would still love to hear from people using this information, however!

• 1993- Tollivers Secret quilt, based on an historical children's book
• 1994- Lap robe project for the local nursing home
• 1995- Our Favorite Places in Chase County raffle quilt
• 1996- Favorite Places Everywhere raffle quilt
• 1997- Fifty States quilt, based on an inernet project
• 1998- Wallhangings for the El Mercado Fair
• 1999- Women Making History quilt
• 2000- The Millennium Quilt -- an auctioned quilt
• 2001- Santa Cruz County Quilt

• Creating picture blocks
• Designing pieced blocks
• Teaching hand sewing
• Putting the top together
• Suggested patterns for use with children
• Tying a quilt
• Finishing the quilt--edges and labels
• Suggested timelines
• Suggested reading list
• Sources of materials

Useful Web Sites

My hope has been to make this page a comprehensive resource for anyone who wants to teach kids how to quilt! To that end, I've collected quite a few stories and pictures from other people who have made quilts with children.
 

Other School Projects

Pre-K to Second Grade

• Patty Weiser tells about her experiences with making a quilt with her son's first grade class
• Heidi Swanson made a quilt with first grade students in New Jersey
• Sharon Simpson made a quilt as part of a reading program with first graders
• Ellen Manson has some tips for making quilts with kindergarteners on a limited budget
• Leslie Rogalski tells about the quilt her kindergarten class made
• Laura Franchini tells about the quilt presentations she's made to kindergarteners
• Beth Nutting shares pictures from making quilts with her second grade class for the Ronald McDonald House

Third Grade to Sixth Grade

• Amy Henbest's suggestions for a parent working with a class and pictures
• Karen Cutter's suggestions for working with a class and pictures
• Kim Haywood's quilt unit with her third grade class
• Natasja Segerink's experiences in teaching kids foundation piecing
• Scott Carles shares his experiences making quilts with his class
• Jeananne Wright has pictures of the quilts she's been making with her students for several years
• Lisa Hetzel describes the memory quilts she made with her fourth graders
• Terry Sams tells about the quilts she's done with her fourth graders
• Susan Louis writes about being a quilt artist in residence in the NYC schools
• Carole Whitney was also part of the fifty states quilt project in 1997!
• Rachelle Stebbins tells about the service learning quilt project she did with her fourth grade students
• Lisa Hollerbach gives a wonderful description of her fifth grade quilt project followed by some tips for organizing a class project
• Jan Cohodes tells about making quilts with a deaf fifth grade class
• Diane Fish tells about making a quilt with a fourth grade class in honor of their teacher's new baby
• Linda Turner tells about her fifty states quilt project with a fifth grade special education class
• Linda Speck tells about her American flag quilt project with her California fourth graders.

Seventh Grade through High School

• Suzanne Agnew tells about a quilt club she started at her school
• Michelle Scott's class making a quilt
• Jean Power tells about making quilts with high school students

Multiple Grades

• Debbie Meyer has a great web page with lesson plans related to quilting
• Jennilyn Landbeck tells about the quilt presentations she's made
• The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio offers a free-to-download booklet called Geometric Design in Ohio Quilts: An Integrated Math, Art, Social Studies and Language Arts Curriculum that has lessons that could be adapted to any state's quilt designs
• Carole Erlandson tells about creating quilts with an entire elementary school
• Cindy Herring tells about the quilts she made in collaboration with her children's second through fifth grade classes

Other Group Projects

• Katrin in Germany is looking for quilters as penpals who are doing patchwork with children
• Yvonne Jordan writes about her "Sew and Swim" classes
• Anita Brown tells about a brownie troop project for Project Linus
• Hillary Roberts shares information about Project Linus NJ's Kids Helping Kids Quilt Mural Program
• Vikki Tesar describes her Charity Quilt Overnight project with Girl Scouts.

Quilting with Your Own Children

• Meena Schaldenbrand's suggestions for other projects and pictures of her daughters' quilts
• Gail Winter's experiences with teaching her children to quilt
• Linda Cook tells about making quilts with her grandsons
• Sandy Murphy tells about the Rosa Parks Quilt her daughter made for a school project.
• Gwen Graham tells about making a quilt with her daughter and granddaughers.

 Other Resources

• Debbie Meyer has a great web page with lesson plans related to quilting
• Barbara Robson has put together an excellent list of children's books related to quilting
• Carol Perna alerted me to a mailing list for moms who are teaching their children to quilt. It can be found at http://www.onelist.com/community/QuiltingKids
• Barbara Robson also reviews some newer children's quilt books

Note: The contents of this site as a whole are protected under the OpenContent License.

Past winner of the EduNET Choice Award

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