This week I’m preparing for my two-week fabric collage class in Bar Harbor, Maine. Among the other supplies I intend to pack for the drive up the coast, I’ll include my tattered and coffee-stained copy of the Anne Lamott’s classic book “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.” As the title suggests, the “instructions” contained within are applicable to more than just writing.
I often will start the class day by offering a choice selection from Lamott’s book. Here’s one a of my favorites where Anne quotes another author about getting started in a creative endeavor:
E.L. Doctorow once said that “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything that you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard.
Often our beginnings are stymied by our own need to see farther than the headlights reach, rather than taking the first step and seeing where that—and the next step and the next—leads us. In the case of fabric collage, it often means placing the first piece of fabric AND LETTING IT STAY there until you’ve placed a few more. How can you know if that fabric piece works until you place more to surround it? One piece will effect the next—bird by bird.
In a class I consider it part of my job to help students get over the hump of getting started. If you need that help but can’t make it to a class, maybe my new Open Studio Hours will work for you. Check out the information below to see how it works.
“Bird by Bird”: How I Use a Book on Writing to Teach Fabric Collage
Susan Carlson Open Studio Hours: Weekly Fabric Collage Coaching
Tuesdays, September–December, 2025
1/2 hour time slots, $65 each
One afternoon a week (in this case a Tuesday) I’ll be available to help, encourage, and coach anyone who needs it—between the hours of 1pm-4pm Eastern Time. This could be to continue working on an in-progress collage, or to begin a new project—whatever is desired.
Time slots are 1/2 hour/$65 each—five slots each Tuesday. Sign-up can be for one day or multiple days—every week, every two weeks, once a month or once only. These sessions will be recorded, just as regular hour-long coaching sessions are, so they can be referred to as needed.
We provide a link to sign up—just type your name into the time slot(s) you would like to reserve. Once you are signed up Tom will send you the Zoom link via your email address and a PayPal request for payment of the number of slots you have selected. You may also pay by check.
During the hours of each weekly session, you may log in ahead of your time slot or stay late that day to absorb info given to others (or even to visit with each other during the few minutes between each time slot)—though your particular feedback will happen during your chosen time.
September/October Dates
September 23
September 30
October 7
October 14
November/December Dates
(November through December sign-up will open early-October)
November 25 (two days prior to Thanksgiving)
December 2
December 9
December 16
SIGN UP FOR OPEN STUDIO HOURS TIME SLOTS HERE
All are Tuesdays. First time slot at 1:00 pm Eastern Time – fifth time slot at 4:00 pm Eastern Time.
Just click on a slot—all times based on eastern time—and type in your name. Don’t forget to include an email address for us to contact you and confirm!
From an Open Studio Hours participant who also recently took an online class with me:
I can’t recommend enough this new format. I’ve met with Susan three times since our class (once a week) and each session has been inspiring, motivating, and very helpful in terms of defining my path forward (and also creating some accountability relative to that path…). Before each session, I think about what areas I would like to focus on and send off a photo with my questions. In this way, I get from Susan exactly the support I need, plus a video recording to remember it. Meanwhile, preparing for my session helps me make my project a priority so I see ongoing progress, which is gratifying.
Honestly, this was the format I was hoping for. I told Susan I wanted to write a testimonial about it because I was so happy she was offering it. So, if you’re like me and a periodic check-in keeps you learning, growing, and doing your best work, sign up for coaching. Maybe I’ll see you there (you get to listen in on other sessions during the open studio you attend).
—LeahGrace Kayler
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.