UPCOMING IN SPRING 2025:
Wearable Art: Express Your Inner Goddess!
8 session course over 12 weeks
taught by five-time Fairfield/Bernina Designer
Meryl Ann Butler
Every woman is a goddess — now you can dress like one!
I help quilters design wearable art they love!
- Feeling overwhelmed by fabric choices? Unsure how to put together a jaw-dropping wearable? In my 12-week Wearable Art Academy, you’ll gain the confidence and skills to create a unique piece that expresses your inner goddess!
- Expert guidance, clear instruction: Learn from me, Meryl Ann, and transform your vision into a wearable masterpiece. This course is perfect for quilters who want to:
- Master color and pattern coordination
- Design a stunning wearable art
- Become empowered, knowledgeable, and organized
- Limited spots available, register now! Our Spring 2025 session kicks off in March.
- Not available Spring 2025? Join the waitlist for a fall 2025 session with exclusive benefits (early bird registration & valuable tips!) with just your name and email.
- What you’ll get:
- Early Bird access: Be the first to register and secure your spot.
- Quilt Couture newsletter: Get monthly inspiration and expert tips from me, Meryl Ann.
FIRST PLACE WINNER AT MAQF,
VEST CATEGORY, 2024!
What we wear is a vibrant form of self-expression of our inner goddess—the powerful, intuitive, and creative force that resides within every woman.
In this course, you will:
* Learn a wide assortment of impressive-looking but easy-to-create wearable techniques from a five-time Fairfield- Bernina Fashion Show Designer.
* Enjoy relaxed time to practice the techniques demonstrated in class during the two weeks in between each Zoom session.
* Receive personalized help with color, design and problem-solving, both during live (recorded) sessions and in a private Facebook group.
* Have a stunning wearable at the end of the course! Or, choose to combine the techniques you learn into an impressive wallhanging.
Moonlight in the Garden of the Goddess long vest, front.
Moonlight in the Garden of the Goddess, long vest, back.
The Wearable Art: Express Your Inner Goddess! course is taught by Meryl Ann Butler, quilt book author, and instructor. She has taught color, design and quilting in various venues including at major quilt festivals and at the university level. She has been creating custom wearable art for clients since the 1980s. You’ll learn her clever methods for complex-appearing looks—they are easier than you think!
Participants may choose to make any style garment, including jackets or capes, or even an art quilt, using these techniques. Sample vests shown are made from a five-piece, slenderizing vest pattern.
This is an 8-session Zoom course spread out over 12 weeks to allow participants plenty of time to to experiment with the techniques demonstrated. Each class is two hours which includes demos of techniques and personalized support for every participant; sewing is done outside of class. PDF handouts accompany every technique demonstrated. Students who cannot attend the live event can submit their questions ahead (along with photos) to be answered in class so they can see it on the recording.
The design process includes selecting an 8-step set of Cherrywood hand dyed gradations as an anchor for color harmonies, half yards are recommended. The first two classes are design-oriented, Meryl Ann will help each student with creating a set of coordinating fabrics.
This course is open to all levels of quilting and sewing enthusiasts. The participant should have some experience with machine piecing and garment construction. Beginner, intermediate and advanced versions of the techniques will be offered; students choose to work with the version they prefer.
Fee for the Spring 2025 course is $485. Class size is limited for personalized attention. Classes meet Sunday afternoons from 2 pm – 4 pm EASTERN, and are tentatively scheduled for: March 16, 23, 39, April 6, 27, May 4, 18, June 1. Note that the first 4 classes are every week. After that, students have more time in between classes to catch up if needed. This also avoids holidays.
if you would like to be on the invitation list or have any questions, please email Meryl Ann.
Aura Aum. Techniques learned can be applied to wallhangings, too!
Enchanted Seahorse long vest, front.
Enchanted Seahorse long vest, back.
Our Lady of Guadalupe vestment (front)
Wearing Our Lady of Guadalupe vestment on the set of “Creative Living with Cheryl Borden” on PBS
Our Lady of Guadalupe short vest, front.
Wearing Our Lady of Guadalupe vestment on the set of “Creative Living with Cheryl Borden”
One of the wearable art garments I made for the late Dr. Barbara Lewis King, founder of Hillside International Chapel and Truth Center in Atlanta, which has thousands of members. This tabard was made for her celebration of 35 years of the Center, which her friend Della Reese attended. (Della is not as short as she looks here – Bishop Dr. Barbara Lewis King was about 6’5”!) This ceremonial garment is made from hundreds of pieces of white and ivory silks and cottons embellished with gold and silver. The back , which has a long train, features an applique of Dr. Barbara’s personal symbol, the butterfly, at the top. The front features seminole patchwork and hand-stamped Adinkra symbols in metallic fabric inks.
ZOOM COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
1. No supplies are needed for the first class where you will learn how to choose either the 8-step gradation bundle, or your focal fabric or panel and how to pair these with other fabrics. You will receive pointers on how to collect support fabrics that coordinate with both. You’ll learn secrets of colors, values and scale.
2. You will learn 16 unique techniques and how to create them using a mix of co-ordinating hand dyed and print fabrics. You may choose the methods you like best and make as many versions of each technique as desired. You will see demos in class, have access to the recordings for a year, receive pdf downloads of clear instructions and membership in an interactive Facebook group. The stitched units are created as homework in between class meetings.
3. You will learn how to arrange the stitched units in layers on the base fabric of your chosen garment pattern and learn finishing techniques. (No batting needed unless you want the illusion of extra pounds!)
Hummingbird Joy Vestment. Quilt Market, Salt Lake City, May 2007 (just a couple of weeks after the shootings at my daughter’s school, hence the Virginia Tech micro quilt on my lapel.)
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR
Meryl Ann Butler is owner/instructor at Ocean View Arts in Norfolk Virginia, offering in-person and online instruction.
She is a five-time Bernina/Fairfield Fashion Show designer and author of the bestselling, 90-Minute Quilts:15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon (Krause 2006), and MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares (Krause 2011) as well as hundreds of quilt related articles. Meryl Ann is currently working on a book about quilted wearables.
She has taught at the Houston International Quilt Festival, the Pacific International Quilt Festival, the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival as well as at other quilt events and shops, in her own art schools, and at the university level.
Meryl Ann was active in international peace-related art activities in the 1980s and 1990s, and created the historic “First US-Soviet Children’s Peace Quilt Exchange Project” in 1987-88, the first reciprocal quilt exchange between the two countries. The exchabged was between schools in Odesa, Ukraine (part of the USSR at that time) and Virginia Beach, VA.
As a pre-teen she learned to sew in 4-H Club and later studied art for seven years with Harold Stevenson, a student of Norman Rockwell. She currently works in many media, including textiles and most fine art media.
Meryl Ann’s quilted fiber art is in collections around the world including HH the late Swami Satchidananda’s LOTUS Temple in Buckingham, VA; The Findhorn Community in Scotland; the University of Peace in Costa Rica and Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. Headquarters in Virginia Beach, VA as well as in the private collections of Dr. Norman Shealy, Dr. Gladys McGarey, Dr. Patch Adams, Dr. Caroline Myss and the late Nelson Mandela.
