Fewer things between you and making.
Quilting patterns and classes built around structured improv, experimentation, and making with what you have.
Patterns:
Enough structure to get started. Enough freedom to make it yours.
Patterns for making useful, interesting things without requiring you to follow every rule.
Bring a classic quilt block off the wall and into everyday life with the Sawtooth Star Tote.
This beginner-friendly pattern brings traditional patchwork together with practical bag making. It walks you step by step through piecing a striking sawtooth star block, quilting your panels, and assembling a fully lined tote. Along the way you'll get comfortable with accurate piecing, careful pressing, and the basics of turning flat panels into a finished bag.
The result is a tote that's as useful as it is good-looking. It's roomy enough for knitting projects, a stack of library books, market finds, or the everyday things you haul around.
Whether you're new to quilting or just want a satisfying weekend project, this one gives you the particular joy of making something by hand that you'll reach for again and again.
Skill Level: Confident beginner
Finished Size: Approximately 19½" square before boxing the corners
Techniques: Traditional piecing, quilting, bag construction, boxed corners, and topstitching
Learn the technique. Then make it yours.
In-person and online classes built around structured improv, experimentation, and the particular satisfaction of figuring something out.
Classes:
November 21, 2026
Quilted Tote
Make a lined, quilted tote bag from start to finish.
Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum
La Conner, WA
[Register through the museum]
Monthly
Seasonal Projects
Saturdays at the Salmon Center in Belfair. Childcare, materials and sewing machines are available for a fee.
Belfair, WA
Spring 2027
Stars, made by eye
6 weeks to a finished quilt using improv stars at 3 sizes.
Online Cohort
Hi, I’m Jana.
I've been sewing for 16 years. I work primarily with thrifted cloth, old sewing machines, and structured improv: a way of working with enough structure to get moving and enough freedom to let the work find its own shape.
I'm an invited instructor at the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum. I teach in Belfair and La Conner, Washington.