About Me

• Instagram @macbarnes.art

As a 19-year-old male, Mac Barnes does not fit the typical quilter demographic but has been sewing and quilting for over 10 years. However, he has been surrounded and captivated by textiles since he can remember, in the presence of his grandmother’s crochet and online with YouTube icons like Jenny Doan and Michael Sellick. As a recent graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Mac is a current Sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis studying computer science and studio art.

He has been locally and nationally recognized for his work, most recently as one of 11 2022 Scholastic Gold Medal Portfolio Award winners, and the Young Emerging Artist of the Alegre Quilting Retreat 2023.

His quilts, which combine traditional quilting and novel computer-based techniques to tell stories of the human experience have been exhibited in New York, North Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Maryland and have been featured in international magazines such as SAQA Journal. 

My Workshop

In this 30-minute course, Mac will explore digital and physical techniques of creating T-shirt Quilts with a storytelling twist. Through Procreate, he will walk you through thoughtful design methods that prepare you for making a quilt top that is not just made out of your T-shirts, but that tells a compelling narrative through their color, shape, and design, and story. We will cover using procreate with a quilting lens, how to incorporate your shirt’s colors, graphics, and materials properly into your designs, and briefly discuss methods of going from digital design to quilt top.

Procreate is an app for your tablet with a one-time download fee of $12.99. You will also need a stylus such as an Apple Pencil or Adonis Jot. While the concept can be adapted to analog methods, this course will explicitly be working in procreate on an iPad.

Note: This course will be tought through an example Mac himself is working on and students will have access to his procreate file layers, special tips and tricks, and a sneak peak of the larger course which shows the entire process from idea to final quilt. While the techniques covered can be applied to any method of quilting (applique, paper-piecing, etc.) special attention will be paid to the unique and specific topic of quilting with T-shirts or other lived-in materials.

Workshop Supply List

• An iPad (affiliate link) with Procreate installed. 
• A stylus or pencil that works with your device. Two we recommend are the Apple Pencil or the Adonit Jot (affiliate links).
• Old T-shirts