Quilt Jamboree with Selvedge Magazine

Jessie Cutts, working as Cutts & Sons explores the possibilities and limitations of form and colour through fabric, using traditional quilting techniques. Bringing together a 20 year background in graphic and communication design, illustration and a lot of making on the side, Jessie works to create artwork and objects that elevate quilting to something that can be enjoyed in a new and modern way. While the pieces are created using patchwork and quilting stitches, the designs take an organic, free-form approach to pattern and line work. These are ‘made’ artworks, using a domestic, functional craft to create pieces that are at once modern, colourful and textural.

Elli Beaven is a textile artist, quilt maker, and natural dyer based in rural Galicia in northern Spain. After discovering quilting while completing a PhD on women artists and domesticity in interwar Germany, she shifted fully into textile practice. Working under the name Wholecloth Studio, she creates tactile, richly coloured patchwork pieces using thoughtfully sourced vintage and repurposed textiles.  Her use of plant dyes—grown in her garden or carefully foraged from the local countryside—imbues each piece with a luminous colour palette that roots her work firmly in the surrounding landscape. Her practice spans a broad range of work that explores the boundaries between fine art and craft, from wall hangings and stretched patchwork compositions to functional quilts and everyday textile goods. Each piece incorporates her favoured hand-stitching techniques, bringing depth, texture, and character to the finished work. 

House of Quinn is a multidisciplinary studio founded by artist and maker Julius in 2016. Rooted in the intersection of art, design and craft, the practice explores process, material and meaning through a dialogue between traditional techniques and contemporary design. Julius is the author of Modern Quilting: A Contemporary Guide to Quilting by Hand. Exploring personal narratives, memory and a sense of place through constructed forms, stitch and cloth, Julius’s work reflects on abstraction through traditional craft techniques, with quilt making as a central process in his practice. 

The International Quilt Museum’s mission is to build a global collection and audience that celebrate the cultural and artistic significance of quilts. The International Quilt Museum is located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus at 33rd and Holdrege streets. The museum has the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection, dating from the 1600s to present and representing 69 countries. In this talk, the Ardis B. James curator of collections, explores how quilts reflect over 250 years of American history, culture, and identity. Drawing on examples from the museum’s collection, she highlights how quilts tell stories of everyday life, community traditions, migration, and social change.   

Ekta Kaul is an India born, London based artist known for her narrative maps that explore place, history and belonging through stitch. Her work is held in several public and private collections including the Museum of London, Crafts Council’s, and Gunnersbury Museum’s permanent collections. Ekta loves to inspire creativity and share 19 year’s worth of experience gained as a practising artist with creatives all over the world. Ekta teaches internationally at institutions including Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Kettles Yard (Cambridge), Leighton House Museum (London), Tatter Blue Library (USA), The Makerie (USA) amongst others. 

In line with the current exhibition Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend at the American Museum & Gardens, Chief Curator Kate Hebert will lead an object study and discussion of three Gee’s Bend quilts. The exhibition celebrates the work of African American women from a remote Alabama community, reflecting a 200-year quilting tradition of profound artistic and political significance.  Through close looking and conversation, this session will explore the quilts’ improvisational style, bold colours, and abstract designs—often compared to modernist art—while considering the intergenerational skills and cultural heritage passed from mother to daughter that continue to shape this extraordinary practice. 

The Quilters’ Guild will present Textile Treasures, an object study and discussion led by Judi Kirk. The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles session will explore a selection of historic patchwork and quilting pieces dating from the early 1800s to the 1940s. Participants will handle and examine both unfinished and well-used textiles, revealing insights into materials, craftsmanship, and everyday use. Many pieces carry personal histories passed down through generations, highlighting the enduring cultural significance of quilting and its place within family and social life. 

Led by Catherine-Marie Longtin, this communal workshop invites participants to contribute to a collaborative quilt that will grow throughout the afternoon. Using the traditional technique of English Paper Piecing, stitchers will create hexagon patches that are gradually joined into a vibrant shared piece, celebrating colour, pattern, and collective making. Catherine-Marie Longtin, a South East London–based textile artist known for her minimalist, colour-led quilts, brings her distinctive sensibility to this collaborative process, transforming a traditional craft into a dynamic, shared artwork.