In this episode of Running Stitch, host Janneken Smucker sits down with Canadian quilt artist Libs Elliott to explore how technology is reshaping the way we design and make quilts. Known for her use of generative code and bold geometric style, Libs shares how she blends computer code with traditional quilt techniques like English paper piecing. They discuss the role of algorithms, the possibilities and pitfalls of AI, and how social media transformed her quilting journey. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, code, and the evolving tools of the quiltmaking trade. Learn more about Running Stitch at www.quiltalliance.org/runningstitch Visit Kristin online at www.libselliott.com
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Voices from QuiltCon
Running Stitch is back! We're bringing you a special bonus episode: Voices from QuiltCon, featuring mini-interviews from quilters just like you, collected at the Quilt Alliance's booth at QuiltCon 2024. We invited show attendees to stop by and randomly select a question chosen from our Quilters Save Our Stories oral history project. Enjoy this mini-episode, and we'll be back in a week or two with three new episodes to close out our fourth season, focusing on the intersection of quilts and technology. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss these exciting episodes!
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The Rotary Cutter
Other than the sewing machine, what tool has been the biggest innovation in quiltmaking? Yes, that’s right: in this episode of Running Stitch, we’re talking all about the rotary cutter. Our guest is Kristin Barrus, a PhD candidate at University of Leicester and a quiltmaker. Kristin’s work explores 21st century quiltmaking through the lenses of women's studies, fan studies, and anthropology. We’ll talk with Kristin about the origins of the Modern Quilt movement, and she also shares with us the fascinating history of how quilters came to use--and love--the rotary cutter. Learn more about Running Stitch at www.quiltalliance.org/runningstitch Visit Kristin online at www.kristinbarrus.com
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Electric Quilt
We’re back with our second episode of Season 4! We’re continuing our focus on the intersection of technology and quiltmaking, but this time, we’re going digital. We’re exploring the backstory and invention of Electric Quilt, the leading quilt design software that's been changing how quilters create their work for more than 30 years. Join us for a conversation with Penny McMorris, co-founder of The Electric Quilt Company, and a key player of the late twentieth century’s quilt revival. We’ll hear how Penny and her husband Dean Neumann created Electric Quilt software, listen to snippets from quilters across the decades about how they use EQ to design their quilts, and reflect on Penny’s journey through quilt history, hosting a PBS television show, and designing software specifically for quiltmakers. This episode of Running Stitch is sponsored by A New Deal for Quilts, a book and accompanying exhibit up now through April 2024 at the International Quilt Museum by Running Stitch host, Janneken Smucker.
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The Industrial Revolution
We’re kicking off a new season of Running Stitch, focused on the intersections of technology and quiltmaking. But it’s not just about computers and digital sewing machines! In this episode we’re going back to the roots of quilt making to discover how our nostalgic ideas about quiltmaking as a pre-industrial craft is just that: nostalgia. In fact, quilting as we know it exists because of the Industrial Revolution. New innovations like the factory-made sewing needles, cotton sewing thread, and eventually the sewing machine, created the environment in which quiltmaking flourished, democratizing the art from a form that only wealthy women could participate in, into one that women across economic classes might enjoy. Our guest is Dr. Rachel Maines, a visiting scientist in the Cornell University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a seminar associate at Columbia University. Along with her many articles on needlework and textiles, she is the author of The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction and Hedonizing Technologies: Pathways to Pleasure in Hobbies and Leisure.
Running Stitch - A QSOS Podcast explores quilt stories, revealing the inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations of contemporary quiltmakers by drawing on Quilters S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories, the long running oral history project created by the Quilt Alliance in 1999.
Netherlands