Pine Burrwith Aaron Sanders Head

This class is part of the five-part virtual Hand Sewn Quilting Series II. Classes may be purchased à la carte at $75 or as a five-part package for a discounted price of $400. 

The Pine Burr Quilt is a unique, textured quilt made from many different folded triangles that are then sewn to foundation fabric in varying patterns. There are many design choices to make, from fabric color, fabric texture, pine burr spacing, and framing techniques, and the resulting quilt – either sewn in rows or in a circular pattern – is a sculptural, individual quilt block that reflects the maker’s hand.

The Pine Burr Quilt is also known by many different names with many variations, like Pine Cone Quilt, Somerset Star, and others. There are geographic variations that exist across the country, with specific kinds made in Florida, and the Lumbee Pinecone made by the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina.

The Pine Burr Quilt became the State Quilt of Alabama in 1997, largely due to its popularity among Southern African American quilters. The official Pine Burr quilt in the state archives was made by Loretta Pettway Bennet of Gee’s Bend. 

Date + Time

Thursday, June 12th, 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
$400 for the series

Materials

• Two yards of 40-inch fabric, of any pattern and color you want! You can mix and match or make it monochromatic.

• A 12-inch square of foundation fabric to sew your pine burrs down.

• Glue stick (or pins, but Aaron prefers glue basting)
• Any type of hand-stitching thread you are comfortable with!
• Needle (a sharp, longer needle is best for sewing through several layers at once)

• Ruler

• Marking tool

Not required but helpful:

• Cutting mat
• Rotary cutter
• Iron
• Quilting ruler 

Scholarships 

There are scholarship spots available for this workshop. Please email info@tatter.org to learn more.

Our Teacher

Aaron Sanders Headis a Southern, Alabama-based textile artist. Aaron was raised in rural Grady, AL and Hope Hull, AL, as the youngest of three children from an artist mother and an agricultural worker father. His grandparents were both rural mail carriers, and the times Aaron spent accompanying them on those trips cemented early on a fondness for rural areas and the importance of connection however it can be found. That learned sense of observation combined with inherited family traditions of textile and agriculture inform the unique visual language Aaron works in today, that exists in the worlds of quiltmaking, handwork and natural dyes. Aaron creates quilts and hand-stitched, naturally dyed textiles that explore the lived experiences of rural Alabamians and the bonding traditions that hold rural communities together.

*All classes in this series will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all registrants 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.

4th Image credit: Untitled (Pine Burr), ca. 1930s, American. Cotton. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.