{"id":107007,"date":"2016-01-27T03:31:06","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T10:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-quilt-co-trains-a-new-generation-of-quilters\/"},"modified":"2016-01-27T03:31:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T10:31:06","slug":"cortez-quilt-co-trains-a-new-generation-of-quilters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-quilt-co-trains-a-new-generation-of-quilters\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Quilt Co. trains a new generation of quilters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"At
At a youth quilting workshop, 10-year-old Austion, 8-year-old Natalie and 10-year-old Mercades review a pillow pattern with instructor Aimee King.<\/span>Tobie Baker\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Quilting since last summer, 10-year-old Mercades has handcrafted a personalized Halloween bag, hanging chalkboard, a small throw quilt and a Christmas stocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fabrics,\u201d a smiling Mercades said.<\/p>\n

At a recent youth quilting workshop, Mercades joined two other preteens at the Cortez Quilt Co. to craft a travel pillow, which featured a pocket and a handle. Mercades planned to use the pillow on a summer vacation to Florida later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere ready to hire Mercades, except we have labor laws,\u201d joked quilting instructor Aimee King. \u201cShe knows her way around the shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez Quilt Co. owner Karen Childress said her favorite aspect of the youth class was watching the students develop \u2013 not their needlework skills per se; but their social interactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they first get here they\u2019re usually pretty timid,\u201d Childress said. \u201cWithin an hour, they\u2019re all talking and laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, quilting customarily involved sewing multiple fragments of material together. That patchwork approach was necessary, for example, to create bedding material. Today, quilters hunt for vibrant materials, complementary threads and complex patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less patchwork and more art,\u201d said Childress. \u201cPeople still use them on their beds, but more and more people are hanging them on their walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process of sewing two or more layers of cotton fabric together to make a thicker padded material, quilting is on the rise. Childress attributed the increased interest to emerging Baby Boomers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur perfect customer is the woman that\u2019s recently retired with time on her hands and a little bit of disposable income,\u201d said Childress.<\/p>\n

Childress also offers adult courses. She and her customers also engage the community through various outreach and fundraising programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recently brought in more than $1,000 for a quilt that we made to benefit Southwest Memorial Hospital,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to Childress, quilting poses some hazards, noting that she has pricked her fingers with sewing needles on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest concern is bleeding on the beautiful fabric,\u201d Childress joked.<\/p>\n

Asked to describe the greatest misconception about the craft, Childress was quick to respond: \u201cIt\u2019s not just for grandmothers anymore. There are a lot of young, working women starting to quilt now.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Childress, quilting helps her sanity, stating that the hobby was creative and relaxing and when finished, she had something to show for her time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can get lost at my sewing machine,\u201d Childress said. \u201cIt also helps to keep my mind focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quilting since 1980, customer Maggie Lemons said the finished product was her favorite aspect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a since of pride when you finish,\u201d Lemons said, holding a new pattern and bundle of fabrics.<\/p>\n

Watching Mercades and the other young quilters during their instructional workshop, Lemons said it was thrilling to know that a new generation was taking up the craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust stick with it,\u201d Lemons advised the girls.<\/p>\n

For beginners, basic quilting items include fabrics and padding, cutting mat and rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, sewing machine along with an iron, scissors, needles and pins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a big investment to get started in quilting,\u201d Childress said.<\/p>\n

Some elementary math skills are also helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to know how to measure \u2013 an inch, a half-inch and quarter-inch,\u201d Childress added. \u201cPrecision in measuring is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercades explained that her interest in quilting resulted after watching her mother sew. She envisions being able to hone her skills in order to raise money to attend college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d Mercades said, \u201cand I get to learn new things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co. opens doors to preteens, trains a new generation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[338,21,2265,93],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-business-enterprises","tag-cortez","tag-hobby","tag-students"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107007"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}