Hello, I'm Janet Ramsey (she/her).

About Me

• My website: craftwrightquilts.com
• My Instagram: @craftwrightquilts

My grandmother, Hilda, taught me how to hand piece when I was just eight years old, over 40 years ago. Grandma Hilda kept me busy over many hours and years with nothing more than a needle, thread, a pair of scissors and scraps from her meticulously handcrafted quilts. She made the templates from the cardboard from our cereal boxes and I would mark the pieces with the same pencil she used to track the eggs from her chicken coop. As my quilting progressed I dove into machine piecing, longarm quilting, and every other technical advancement that has swept through our community. Laser cutting complex fabric shapes, specialized sewing machines to duplicate the effect of hand stitching, art quilting, paint, dyeing, and everything in between – I love the diversity of techniques available to quilters and have tried them all! And while my ADHD brain loves the sheer scope of techniques and projects quilting has to offer, from designing and digitizing custom longarm quilting designs to the artistry and chemistry of hand-dyed fabric, I keep coming back to hand stitching and, in particular, hand piecing.

When English Paper Piecing swept through our community, I jumped right on board, making multiple quilts with thousands of hand-basted and stitched paper pieces. Then, when working on the holy grail of EPP patterns, La Passacaglia, I was researching the designs and techniques used by the author of the pattern, Willyne Hammerstein, in her famous "Millefiori Quilts" books. Her books and technique brought me immediately back to Grandma Hilda’s kitchen table, hand stitching pieces cut from cardboard templates. Turns out, virtually any EPP pattern can be easily (and more quickly) made by simply removing the paper from the process and returning to Grandma Hilda’s (and Willyne Hammerstein’s) hand piecing. My stash has dozens of EPP patterns and templates and bags of paper pieces for my planned EPP projects. By repurposing the patterns and templates, and dusting off Grandma Hilda’s lessons, I have been able to make my beloved EPP projects even more portable – and faster – than ever before. While I still need to destash the paper pieces, bringing these time tested techniques back to life has allowed me to honor tradition while continuing to enjoy my favorite part of quilting for over 40 years now – the active and therapeutic meditation that can only be achieved with hand piecing.

Join me for an Introduction to Paperless EPP - quilting at its simplest and most satisfying.

My Workshop

English paper piecing without the papers – while it sounds like a bad quilting joke, it is possible! Learn how to adapt your favorite EPP templates and patterns to prepare and mark your fabric pieces for quick and easy hand piecing. Without the time and trouble of preparing, basting and removing papers, your favorite hand-stitching technique becomes even more enjoyable, portable, and cost-effective. For this workshop, we’ll use the traditional Tumbling Blocks pattern as the basis for our project, but all of the techniques you will learn can be adapted to any of your favorite EPP patterns, including Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Smitten, or Queen of Diamonds. Learn to mark the fabrics using EPP patterns and templates you already own while still ensuring the accuracy and precision that brings fussy cut patterns to life. Then, hand piecing techniques for straight and Y-seams will be taught, allowing you to quickly create beautiful and complex shapes with nothing more than a simple running stitch. Learning to piece without papers gives you more time to do what you love - hand-stitching gorgeous projects!

Don't forget that you can find my supply list, along with those for all the other workshops, by clicking the button below.

My Bonuses

• All attendees can download the Instructions for Making Your Own Sandpaper Board that accompany my workshop. 
• Friend & VIP Pass holders have the opportunity to win a Full-Size Tula Pink Oliso Iron!

Worried you won't have time to watch everything? Want extra bonuses and freebies?