In the post selected for this Throwback Thursday, Susan handed the reins over to me—Tom, her husband—for the week. In that post from March 2022, I mentioned how lucky I was to be able to watch her work. I described this experience as being almost like watching magic happen.
Well, you also can watch the magic happen as Susan works on her fanciful moon portrait Bella Luna, next week, Thursday, August 7 at 7:00 pm eastern time. If you sign up any time during the series, you will receive links to any previous recordings of all four sessions. See below for more information.
Since this Throwback Thursday post—Always Be Beginning (Your Fabric Collage Quilt)—first appeared three years ago, I have had a chance to experience coaching such as Susan does from the instructor’s point of view. Some of you know I am an avid sea kayaker. Over the past year I have been studying, receiving instruction, and doing practice coaching to become a sea kayak coach. Recently I passed my assessment and am now certified to teach sea kayaking.
What I knew, but didn’t fully appreciate until I started coaching, was what a responsibility it is to guide someone through a learning experience. Susan has been teaching fabric collage for more than 30 years. Over that time thousands of students have trusted her to lead them through the fabric collage process. When learning something new, or refining an existing skill, progress isn’t guaranteed. When one strategy fails to help a student, it’s our responsibility as coaches to pivot to another. And another if necessary. I’ve seen Susan do this countless times.
What helps us as coaches, however, is a certain mindset, an openness to receive instruction, a willingness to try something new. And one way of describing that mindset is to always be beginning. Treat each day, each class, each kayaking session as if we are just beginning to learn. Read more about this idea, and how it applies to us coaches too, in today’s Throwback Thursday.
BTW—In the post I mention that Susan had just started a new quilt, one which she wouldn’t let me talk about at that time. Well, the quilt was “Winfrieda“, the eight-foot polar bear—pictured above, as she was just getting started.
Missed the first or second session? Sign up and you’ll receive a link to the previously recorded presentations to watch whenever you can.
Fly on the Wall: Susan Carlson Studio Watch—Bella Luna
July 17 & 24, August 7 & 14, 2025—7:00 p.m. Eastern Time (no class on July 31)
Each session will last roughly 1-1/2 hours.
All sessions will be recorded for viewing later if you cannot attend live, or to review whenever you’d like.
Price: $78
USE THIS LINK TO REGISTER
The moon examples you see above, are edited and color-adjusted using the image of my existing sun portrait collage. These are ideas as to what a moon portrait could look like. A full moon example for this Fly On The Wall does not, well, exist yet. However, you can watch my Bella Luna progress from drawing to fabric selection to cutting and gluing to background—beginning on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
USE THIS LINK TO REGISTER
Bel Sole (below), is one example of a celestial portrait—the yet-to-be-collaged Bella Luna will be a full moon using the same pattern—available free to registrants.
This next Fly on the Wall: Studio Watch Series begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, August 7. The final evening will be August 14. All sessions will be recorded for viewing later if you cannot attend live, or to review whenever you’d like.
USE THIS LINK TO REGISTER
Though this isn’t officially a “class,” feel free to join me in collaging your own celestial portrait—sun or moon—if you feel so inspired. A link for a free Sun Portrait pattern which will also be used as the full moon portrait design, will be emailed upon registration for the series.
Why Bella Luna?
I’ve already begun a sun portrait—an exuberant Bel Sole—as an example for a class I’ll be teaching in Italy this fall. I started thinking that a glowing moon—a Bella Luna—would be a nice addition to balance the celestial presence. And as a summer collage journey I can bring you along with me, it felt that a full moon portrait would be good subject matter. If you’re interested in where the lunar inspiration will take me, please sign up, tune in, sit back and relax, as you join me as a “fly on the wall” in my studio.
The Origin of Fly On The Wall: Studio Watch—and How It Works
Occasionally after I’ve done a live demo in a class, one of my fabric collage students will say “Wow, I wish I could be a fly on the wall in your studio and just watch you work!”
Since October 2022, we’ve made that opportunity possible. One evening a week in four-week series held at various times, I invite you into my studio—to be the proverbial fly on the wall—as I work on a fabric collage.
Below, are three previous Fly on the Wall: Studio Watch subjects and the progress that registrants were able to see up-close and personal.
All sessions are held via Zoom and each starts with a short slide show in order to catch you up .
Each Zoom meeting will kick off with a short slide show presentation to bring you up-to-date on the progress I’ve made in the previous week.
Then with a camera peering over my shoulder—hence the “fly on the wall” theme—I work for 30-40 minutes or so, live. While I work, I talk about my thought process, the decisions I’m making, give pointers on cutting and gluing, and perhaps go off on fabric collage or subject-related tangents—all unscripted and often prompted by the live Q&A.
After the work period, I invite more questions from viewers before discussing goals for the week to come.
A recording of each week’s session is made available the next day to all registrants. This means that when you register for the Fly on the Wall, if you miss a meeting you can catch up before the next week. The recording is yours to view whenever you’d like, “forever.”
Having the Fly On The Wall as a teaching tool, has enabled me to share some of my many ideas with you in real time as I work through them, such as my new:
Fly on the Wall: Susan Carlson Studio Watch—Bella Luna
July 17 & 24, August 7 & 14, 2025—7:00 p.m. Eastern Time
USE THIS LINK TO REGISTER
All sessions will be recorded for viewing later if you cannot attend live, or to review whenever you’d like.
Fabric Collage Online Master Class—Updated
The Susan Carlson Fabric Collage Online Master Class Manual is a multi-media resource guide to the process of fabric collage. Using video, photos, text, and links to my blog posts for further relevant reading and information, I take you from beginning to end in creating your own fabric collage masterpiece, following my guidelines in a step-by-step format. Lifetime Access. Suitable for all levels, including beginners.
Read all about the process of creating the Master Class—explanation of its genesis—the whys and hows Tom and I made some of the decisions we did in this post: Online Master Class Now Available: Some Reflections.
Click here for more information about the Fabric Collage Master Class.
Price: $199
Lifetime Access
Suitable for all levels, including beginners
Interested in attending a 2025 Fabric Collage class with Susan? Both in-person and online classes are scheduled and open for registration. Click the link below for more information, including dates, fees, and descriptions.
2025 Live Online and In-Person Fabric Collage Classes
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Further Susan Carlson Learning Resources include: Facial Features eWorkshop, website, Serendipity Quilts, patterns, blog (in general), YouTube videos, Sea Turtle eWorkshop, Fabric Collage Online Master Class, Patreon. , and our February Fantastical Fish and Summertime’s Fascinating Bugs and Butterfly Work-Alongs
NOW AVAILABLE!
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Fantastical Fish eWorkshop I
INCLUDES:
• All four recordings from the four-week class.
• Extended 10-minute edition of piecing time lapse (see below).
• Over six hours of video instruction.
• Annotated videos with “jump points” to help find the information you need.
• Materials list
• Links to helpful blog posts.
• Free fish pattern of your choice.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Sea Turtle eWorkshop
Learn fabric collage through a start-to-finish project—from pattern and fabric selection through quilting and binding. Each step is clearly written, illustrated with photos, and further demonstrated with videos. Learn the technique with a Sea Turtle then launch into any fabric collage project you wish. Lifetime access and suitable for all levels, including beginners. Sea Turtle Pattern included
Read all about the Sea Turtle eWorkshop in this blog post: Fabric Collage Sea Turtle eWorkshop Launch.
Facial Features eWorkshop
Designed as a supplement to the Fabric Collage Online Master Class, or for those who have a good understanding of the basics of Fabric Collage. Lifetime Access. Intermediate or advanced levels suggested.
The Facial Features eWorkshop contains 8 videos and over 8 hours of in-depth instruction for creating each feature of a portrait in fabric. The videos are annotated with “Jump Points” allowing you to scan forward and backward to the information you need. Facial features PDF templates are included as reference and basic designs to work along with. Like the Fabric Collage Online Master Class, membership in this eWorkshop is for life.
Book: Serendipity Quilts—Cutting Loose Fabric Collage
Full color throughout. Five projects of increasing complexity, four patterns to enlarge are included.
These books will be signed by Susan and can be inscribed to a particular person.