The Kids Quilt Project

Kids Quilt Projects provide various levels of student/volunteer involvement. For a one-session visit, volunteers present trunk shows, bringing in numerous quilts to show the students. The focus of the quilts can be the artwork, or the process of quilt making, or “A Walk Through History with Quilts” which begins with the Western frontier in the 1800’s and moves forward to show how quilts reflect periods of history.

With enough time and volunteers, a classroom of students can work together in a group, producing quilts to be donated to a charitable effort or to be used within the school. Groups vary in size -- the entire class can produce one or two quilts, or the students can form groups of four to six, with each group creating a quilt. Quilts are machine-sewn, so volunteers first teach the students to operate sewing machines. Elementary teachers usually establish a specific time and day with the volunteers. One and a half hour per sewing session works best, and the number of days needed depends on how many quilts are made. A class of five groups will take twelve to sixteen weeks. For this kind of project, EduQuilters attempts to provide all necessary supplies. Whenever possible, teachers enlist volunteers who work with EduQuilters. Additionally, because the children become attached to the quilts, we provide an additional small project such as a pillow or wall hanging for each student to make for himself.

Middle and High School sewing classes have the option of participating in a group-quilt project or having students make individual quilts. Middle and high school students provide materials for personal quilts, but EduQuilters will assist in securing the fabrics. If the class wishes to have a special charitable project, EduQuilters assists in securing funding for supplies. EduQuilters can provide technical assistance and can train classroom aides and volunteers.

Second year sewing classes can also request short workshops on specific quilting topics. We have expertise in a variety of quilt techniques.

Volunteers are needed -- as a volunteer, you can:
1. Offer assistance to students in the classroom by signing up as a Brevard Public Schools volunteer. You do not have to be fingerprinted, but the county will do a background check. Contact us to tell us which school you are interested in.
2. Cut fabrics in your home and at “Cutting Parties” to build quilt kits used within the classrooms.
3. Help present quilt trunk shows to students within the schools.

Teachers -- Interested in KQP for your class?
Send an email telling us about your class and your school:
-School name, address, phone number
-Teacher’s name, email address(s), phone numbers
-Classroom information including grade level or subject, number and type of students; Include information about students with special needs of special interests.
-Your ideas about a quilt project -- themes, project applications, etc.
-Your goals/reasons/hopes for having a quilt project
-What kind of assistance you need
-How many volunteers you have
-Preferred dates and times -- how much time you want to spend on the project
-Your sewing/quilting experience (this isn’t a requirement)