Fashion Camp for Middle-Schoolers

2 weeks! Weeks of June 17 and June 24, 9am-noon each Monday through Friday

Age requirements: 11-14

Teaching artists: Heather Kohlmeier and Sarah Best

Camp fee: $440.00

In this two-week camp, participants will explore and learn a variety of techniques and skills to design, embellish, and construct unique looks. In the first week, students will focus on surface design techniques, embellishing and modifying existing garment tops through embroidery, dyeing, and block printing. In the second week, students will be introduced to apparel design by learning basic garment construction and machine sewing as they pattern, sew, and finish a pull-on (elastic-waist) pant or skirt. The camp will conclude with a fashion show – putting together the creations from the two weeks – on Friday, June 28.

REGISTER

See our Summer Camp FAQ for details on TAC’s cancellation policy, pick-up/drop-off, snack, and more.

Partial and full scholarships are available for youth summer camps. Please email us for our scholarship application form.

Bios:

• Week One will be taught by Heather Kohlmeier. Heather is an interdisciplinary artist, papermaker, educator, and co-founder of the Textile Arts Center of Madison. Process and material are central to her practice and inspire her creation of functional and sculptural forms. She has broad teaching experience in textile and fiber arts, including papermaking, indigo dyeing, sewing, and textile design.

• Week Two will be taught by Sarah Best. Sarah is a lifelong apparel designer with a focus on knitwear and textile design. Her passion to sew and knit as a young girl led her to pursue an Apparel Design degree, with a Textile Arts minor, at VCU in Richmond, VA. Her career has included working for Armani Exchange and Ralph Lauren in NYC, and at Lands’ End in Wisconsin. She currently works as a contract designer, expanding her creative interests across interiors and textile arts.

Fashion Camp for High-Schoolers

2 weeks! Weeks of June 17 and June 24, 1pm-4pm each Monday through Friday

Age requirements: 15-18

Teaching artists: Heather Kohlmeier and Sarah Best

Camp fee: $440.00

In this two-week camp, participants will explore and learn a variety of techniques and skills to design, embellish, and construct unique looks. In the first week, students will focus on surface design techniques, embellishing and modifying existing garment tops through embroidery, dyeing, and block printing. In the second week, students will be introduced to apparel design by learning basic garment construction and machine sewing as they pattern, sew, and finish a pull-on (elastic-waist) pant or skirt. The camp will conclude with a fashion show – putting together the creations from the two weeks – on Friday, June 28.

REGISTER

See our Summer Camp FAQ for details on TAC’s cancellation policy, pick-up/drop-off, snack, and more.

Partial and full scholarships are available for youth summer camps. Please email us for our scholarship application form.

Bios:

• Week One will be taught by Heather Kohlmeier. Heather is an interdisciplinary artist, papermaker, educator, and co-founder of the Textile Arts Center of Madison. Process and material are central to her practice and inspire her creation of functional and sculptural forms. She has broad teaching experience in textile and fiber arts, including papermaking, indigo dyeing, sewing, and textile design.

• Week Two will be taught by Sarah Best. Sarah is a lifelong apparel designer with a focus on knitwear and textile design. Her passion to sew and knit as a young girl led her to pursue an Apparel Design degree, with a Textile Arts minor, at VCU in Richmond, VA. Her career has included working for Armani Exchange and Ralph Lauren in NYC, and at Lands’ End in Wisconsin. She currently works as a contract designer, expanding her creative interests across interiors and textile arts.

Fiber Art Sampler Camp

July 15-19, 9am-noon each day

Age requirements: 8-11

Teaching artists: Pat Bullen, Bernie Witzack, Heather Kohlmeier, Elizabeth Tucker

Camp fee: $220.00

In this week-long camp, participants will explore the wonderful and diverse world of fiber art. Using yarn, fabric, and threads, participants will make different fun projects each day. From tie- and ice-dyeing to block printing to embroidery to weaving, campers will learn a variety of fiber art techniques and will develop skills in hand sewing, designing and creating patterns, tracing, cutting, and more.

REGISTER

See our Summer Camp FAQ for details on TAC’s cancellation policy, pick-up/drop-off, snack, and more.

Partial and full scholarships are available for youth summer camps. Please email us for our scholarship application form.

Bios:

• Pat Bullen has been weaving potholders since she was five and is still actively weaving them. She wove on her first floor loom at 12 to make a shawl for her grandmother. She picked up spinning, dyeing, polymer clay, and kumihimo along the way. She has taught dyeing, color blending, and other workshops across the country, and previously ran the textile program at the Cultural Arts Center in Columbus, Ohio teaching weaving, dyeing, knitting, beading, and silk screen to adults and children. Pat retired to Madison in Nov 2018, and has continued her active teaching practice in Wisconsin.

• Bernie Witzack of bernie & zuzu studied Studio Art at Beloit College and has been making and exhibiting her art ever since. She earned an MFA in Fine Art from the University of Michigan, focusing on improvisational drawing and painting. She also studied graphic design at Madison College and was working as a graphic designer before leaving the field to focus on her art full time. She launched bernie & zuzu in 2021, and creates handmade, hand-painted, and screen-printed goods in small batches with a special emphasis on bright, bold color, and playful shapes. Bernie has been a Madison Public Library artist-in-residence, most recently at Pinney Branch, and has extensive teaching experience.

• Heather Kohlmeier is an interdisciplinary artist, papermaker, educator, and co-founder of the Textile Arts Center of Madison. Process and material are central to her practice and inspire her creation of functional and sculptural forms. She has broad teaching experience in textile and fiber arts, including papermaking, indigo dyeing, sewing, and textile design.

• Elizabeth Tucker is a lifelong lover of fabrics and fibers, and is a co-founder of the Textile Arts Center of Madison. As a maker, she focuses primarily on quilting, embroidery, and other machine and hand stitching. She loves exploring fiber art with kids, and has taught hand-stitching, machine sewing, and quilting for after-school clubs and art centers, and with her own kids and kids’ friends.

Quilting Camp

July 22-26, 9am-noon each day

Age requirements: 10-14

Teaching artist: Kaitlin Esche-Lyon (@quarterlifeleap)

Camp fee: $250.00

Learn how to quilt from start to finish! In this five-day camp, participants will learn a simple, beginner-friendly block and finish a beautiful lap-sized quilt.

Kids will learn how to accurately cut fabric; sew fabric on a sewing machine to create quilt blocks; and sew the blocks together into a quilt top. They will learn how to sandwich the quilt top with batting and backing; tie the quilt sandwich; and finish the quilt with binding.

All fabric will be provided by Benartex Fabrics and Quarter Life Leap. Sewing machines, all needed tools, and additional supplies will also be provided. If student wishes to bring a sewing machine from home, they are welcome to do so.

REGISTER

See our Summer Camp FAQ for details on TAC’s cancellation policy, pick-up/drop-off, snack, and more.

Partial and full scholarships are available for youth summer camps. Please email us for our scholarship application form.

Bio:

Kaitlin Esche-Lyon is a Madison, WI based modern quilter. With a background in architecture, she brings unique geometries and spatial awareness to quilting. In her own work, she uses a mix of traditional piecing and foundation paper piecing techniques, and bright eye-catching colors. Kaitlin’s loves to inspire others through her art and through her teaching practice. At TAC, she has taught a throw pillow workshop, a class on making a modern quilt coat, and Beginning Quilting for adults. She’s excited to bring her love to quilting to the next generation.

Website: www.quarterlifeleap.com

Social: @quarterlifeleap