Here's a quick look at our upcoming seminars, classes, workshops, and tours.  Click on a title or scroll down the page to see detailed descriptions for each offering.

  RReReRequired Supp

Improve Your Spinning - with Norman Kennedy 

Don't miss this fabulous opportunity to spin with Norman Kennedy!

Improve Your Spinning is a one-day workshop for spinners who want to improve their skills, learn traditional techniques, and revel in spinning folklore and songs.  Re-visit fiber preparation, hand positions and posture, and producing yarn for knitting and weaving.  Come with any type of spindle or wheel and leave a more efficient spinner!

Norman Kennedy is a master spinner and weaver who has been involved in textile production for over 60 years.  As a boy, he learned "straight from the horse's mouth" by observing local weavers and spinners in Aberdeen, Scotland and the Outer Hebrides.  After moving to the US, Norman was the Master Weaver in Colonial Williamsburg before founding the Marshfield School of Weaving.  In 2003, Norman was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship for his work in preserving the traditions of Scottish ballads and hand weaving.  He has traveled and studied extensively and brings with him a vast cultural heritage, precise craftsmanship, and knowledge of all aspects of traditional textile techniques.

(For a fun "biography" of Norman read this blog post by Jan Davidson of the John Campbell Folk School.)

Required Supplies: 

• spindle, wheel (treadle or Great) and/or electric spinner in good working order
• washed fleece
• carders
• baby oil
• apron
• paper towels
• two containers for rolags
• other fibers you'd like to spin

Date:	Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time:	9:00 am - 5:00 pm (with a 1-hr break for lunch)
Location:	SEFAA Center 1705 Commerce Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30318
Cost:	$84 - individual SEFAA members $100 - non-members
Ages:	Adult
Experience Level:	Intermediate
Number of Participants:	7 - 15
Registration and Payment:	This workshop is full!  Please email to be placed on the waiting list.  Register and pay online: Select Price SEFAA Member $84.00 USD Non-member $100.00 USD OR,click here to print out the registration form and then mail your completed form with payment to: 125 Parkerwood Way, Alpharetta GA 30022ethe

Heirloom Buttons - with Nancy Hernandez 

You've worked hard to create the perfect garment, so you don't want to skimp on the buttons.  But finding buttons that complement, embellish and add the perfect finishing touch is difficult.  Luckily, the solution is easy - make your own and have complete control over button style, shape, color, texture, and size!

In this class, Nancy Hernandez will teach you how to create both a Dorset button (a needle lace button worked on a ring with fine thread and a needle) and a Singleton button (a tailored, fabric-covered Dorset button.)  Both buttons are quick and easy to make, and once you learn to create your own custom buttons, you'll never again settle for something less-than-perfect for your garments!

Nancy Hernández was born in Cali, Colombia, South America, and has lived in the United States since 1970.  She started sewing when her first daughter was born in 1967.   “I was the most proud mother” Nancy exclaims about her first dress.  However, with time she realized that the dress was far from a work of art.  Slowly, she took into consideration more and more details.  She perfected her skills to the point of making the wedding gowns for her three daughters and many other ladies.  Nancy has also mastered the rare art of tatting.  She learned tatting in elementary school in Colombia and has practiced it ever since.  

Required supplies:

Date:	Thursday, February 23, 2012
Time:	10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location:	SEFAA Center 1705 Commerce Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30318
Cost:	$20 - individual SEFAA members $24 - non-members
Ages:	Adult
Experience Level:	Beginner
Number of Participants:	5 - 8
Registration and Payment:	Register and pay online: Select Price SEFAA Member $20.00 USD Non-member $24.00 USD OR,click here to print out the registration form and then mail your completed form with payment to: 125 Parkerwood Way, Alpharetta GA 30022

Fanciful Faces and More* - with Barbara Gail Blate 

Come join us for a fun-filled, fiber arts weekend.  A Face might be your starting point for learning the process explored in this two day workshop, but you can choose anything...a flower...a tree...a bird...a building...a doodle.  And, your original idea can begin and finish as realistic or as abstract as you wish.

On day 1, play with design elements (space, line, shape, texture, and color) and principles (emphasis, rhythm, variety, balance, and unity) with a variety of materials to discover a practical, step-by-step approach that you can use again and again to develop your own original fabric or fiber art.  On day 2, think outside the box and combine the concepts you learned into a unique expression of your individual personality, artistic preferences, and passions.  Although the class samples will be quilted, you can fuse, stitch, weave, knit, crochet or use another fiber technique to create your class project - a wall hanging, fabric book, pillow covers, focal pieces for a larger project, a 3-D box or fiber installation, or something else inspired by your work and experiences the day before. 

Barbara Gail Blate is a Tryon, NC fabric artist and has been teaching fabric art processes in the southeast since 2002.  As someone who previously taught art to visually impaired children, Gail brings a unique way of "seeing" to her classes and her own fabric art.  Inspiring her students to look beyond their usual fields of vision and helping them discover and express their own inner creativity bring her much joy.  Her warm, flexible teaching style creates a class atmosphere of acceptance, encouragement and stimulation.

Required supplies:

• For day 1 - pencil, black Sharpie permanent markers (fine and medium points), scissors (both fabric and paper)
• For day 2 - supplies will depend on the specific project chosen.  Supplies can be brought rom home or purchased after Saturday's class.

Optional supplies:     Bring what you have of the following items to share:

• paper - colored construction, card stock, drawing paper
• crayons, colored pencils, markers
• glue sticks, Elmer's glue, gel
• magazines, calendars, catalogs with colorful pictures to cut out
• embellishments - glitter, left over trim, ribbon, yarn, beads, buttons, baubles
• fabric scraps - small and large or all kinds, colors, and textures
• fusible web (Steam-A-Seam Lite will be available for purchase)
• cutting board and rotarty cutter
• pressing sheet or parchment paper

Date:	Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29, 2012
Time:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm, with a 1-hr break for lunch
Location:	SEFAA Center 1705 Commerce Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30318
Cost:	$145 - individual SEFAA members $175 - non-members
Ages:	Adult
Experience Level:	Beginner
Number of Participants:	8 - 15
Registration and Payment:	Register and pay online: Select Price SEFAA Member $145.00 USD Non-member $175.00 USD OR,click here to print out the registration form and then mail your completed form with payment to: 125 Parkerwood Way, Alpharetta GA 30022

* Fanciful Faces and More is Trademarked.
Top left image "Picasso Meets Warhole" by Barbara Gail Blate.  Lower riight imate "The Trees of White Oak" by Jo Ann Amidon.

Past Classes

January 2012 -  JJJanuary 2012 - Needle Felting - Sculpting with a Needle and Wool - with Laura Malek
January 2012 - Explore Surface Design with Neocolor II Wax Crayons - with Molly Elkind
October 2011 - The Opulent Object in Wood, Metal, and Fiber - A Tour of MODA's New Exhibition with Tapestry Artist Jon Eric Riis
October 2011 - Breaking Through Creative Blocks:  How to Develop More Creative Designs in Your Art - with Ben Hollingsworth
September 2011 - Handwoven Textiles of Mary Crovatt Hambidge - A Tour of the Atlanta History Center's Collection with Susan Neill
Peplos-style dress of machine spun silk, 1928, Mary Crovatt Hambidge, courtesy Atlanta History Center.        Peplos-style dress of machine spun silk, 1928, Mary Crovatt Hambidge, courtesy Atlanta History Center.
August 2011 - Tour "Order from CHAOS: Art Inspired by Math, Science and Unnatural Disasters" with fiber artist Karen Reese Tunnell
July 2011 - From Dance Costume to Fine Art:  A Biography of Bogolon Cloth with Dr. Jessica Stephenson
June 2011 - Beading + Knitting + Wow! with Linda Fetter
January 2011 - Ethnic Textiles with Gail Goodwin
November 2010 - Holiday Silk with Hellenne Vermillion
August 2010 - A Taste of (Fiber) Arts with Ray Pierotti, Leisa Rich, and Jane Timmers
July 2010 - In Living Color with Rebecca Ewing.