This class is part of the five-part virtual Hand Sewn Quilting Series IV. Classes may be purchased individually at $75 or as a five-part package for a discounted price of $350. 

During the mid-19th century, a uniquely American quilt began to appear across the United States of America. Traditionally beginning with a red central square representing the warmth of a hearth or chimney, the quilt blocks are pieced together from thin strips of fabric layered in a pattern that mirrored the construction of a basic frontier structure: the log cabin. 

Log cabin quilts have a complicated history. Initially, they represented a romantic view of colonization of North America where the log cabin was a symbol of the settlers who forced native populations off of their ancestral lands. However, they also symbolized the abolitionist movement: the red hearths signified the houses along the Underground Railroad, and log cabin quilts were routinely auctioned to support the Union army and the abolitionist cause. 

Today, there are many different forms of log cabin quilts and seemingly infinite permutations of the design. Textile artist and scholar Elliot Rockart will walk students through three basic types of log cabin quilt block construction and how they can be used to create both quilts and other forms of pieced textile arts.

Date + Time

Friday, December 19th, 2025, 12 - 2:30 pm ET

Location

Zoom, a link will be emailed to participants the day before class.

Cost

$75 for the individual class
$350 for the series

Materials

• 10-15 Fabric strips, at least 2 inches in width, ranging from 2 to 12 inches in length 

• Scissors 

• Sharp needle, size 5-8 

• Thread 

• Fabric pen or tailor’s chalk 

• Ruler

Scholarships 

We have two scholarships available for this experience. To be considered for a scholarship, please fill out the scholarship application form.

Our Teacher

Elliot Rockartis a nonbinary textile artist, writer, and FIT master's candidate in the Fashion and Textile Studies department. They combine their love of history and textiles through creating historically inspired knitted, crocheted, embroidered, sewn, woven, hooked, spun, tatted, and appliquéd art. Through this hands-on approach to history, they seek to understand through embodiment the lived experiences of people and collectives who have created textiles across history. Today, their work is primarily inspired by the history of material culture and their own process of medically and socially transitioning as a transmasculine person.

*All classes in this series will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all students following the live session. You may purchase the series as a whole even after the classes have begun. You will be emailed the recordings upon sign-up.