2-Day Workshop
“Wholecloth Painting from Original Photos”
Wednesday & Thursday
April 9 & 10, 2025
9:30 am to 4 pm
Arrival/Check-in/Set-up from 9:00 am to 9:30 am
Blacksburg Presbyterian Church,
701 Church St. SE, Blacksburg, VA 24060
Learn the basics of painting on fabric to make wholecloth painted quilts. Students start by tracing their photo to create a pattern, transfer their pattern to fabric, and then use acrylic textile paints to recreate them on fabric. Students can begin one – or sometimes two – projects during the two-day class. They will learn how to select the right photos for great results; how to mix colors, shades and tints; and how to choose paints and fabrics that work for this technique.
We will also cover how to thread sketch and/or quilt the projects at home.
Students are encouraged to send their photos to Susan in advance, to ensure that they will work for this class.
NOTE: No machine work.
EXPERIENCE LEVEL: All
Registration is OPEN.
$140 TAVA member 2-day workshop fee per person
$160 Non-member 2-day workshop fee per person
Non-optional $30 kit fee: payable to Susan Brubaker Knapp on first day of class. Includes PFD fabric, paintbrushes, paint used in class
For additional supplies see Supply list (PDF)
Susan Brubaker Knapp bio
I am an artist, author, photographer, teacher, and host of “Quilting Arts TV.”
My work is in private and public collections, and I’ve won national as well as local awards, and have been exhibited at national and international venues. I have won seven Best of Show awards at three different quilting guilds, with six different quilts. My work has been featured in several national and international magazines, Quilting Arts Calendars and the 2012 Quilt Art Engagement Calendar. It has graced the covers of five issues of Quilting Arts magazine.
I am the author of two books and have produced five video workshops with Quilting Arts. My first series of six lessons on thread sketching ran in Quilting Arts magazine throughout 2010, and the second series ran in Quilting Arts magazine in 2014.
I appeared in four seasons of “Quilting Arts TV” with Pokey Bolton before taking over as host with Series 1400 in 2014. I am also the co-host of the Quilting Arts Podcast. In 2018, I became a Bernina Ambassador.
Previously, I worked as a graphic design and communications professional, and as a visual journalist. I grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, and earned my B.A. in English at Allegheny College (Meadville, Pa.), spending my junior year at The University of St. Andrews (Scotland); and my M.A. in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have two adult daughters, and now live in Chapel Hill, N.C., with my husband, Rob, a journalist.