Feature: Nancy Kerns

By Janet Esch

What a treat it was for me to talk to Nancy Kerns. (One of the best benefits of being editor is having a legitimate reason to talk to truly great quilters and teachers.)

Her website, www.nancykerns.com gives us much information about this gifted quilter. But I found some extra tidbits of interest, I think. Like many great quilters, Nancy started sewing early, in this case in the fourth grade--doll clothes and such--and then in high school she took a "real" sewing class and for the A grade that she received, her father bought her a new Sears Kenmore sewing machine. Her grandmother quilted; and although she rarely saw her, she does have an embroidered floral quilt from her. But possibly the greatest influence has been her own desire to sew: she made clothes for herself and her two sister, started with "biscuit" quilts--she calls them ravioli squares with a smaller piece of fabric on top of a larger piece and stuffed with batting--and then in 1977 completed her first quilt, a king-sized Dresden Plate.

Nancy has the basic traits that make a good quilter and an excellent teacher: love for detail, organization, and motivation to stay on task. (My husband calls that obsession.) Her "Tribute to Baltimore", her favorite quilt, completed in 2000, exhibited in Houston and Chicago--illustrates her energy. She had completed some of the blocks as she was teaching and then decided she wanted to finish it: with her daughter they picked out remaining blocks to create a balanced quilt, and within 70 days or 356 hours she made the blocks and quilted using1000 yards of thread in the 1/2 inch grid.

Her favorite tool is the hand carved, orange wood toothpick that she gets online from Vermont Country Store with a flat edge on one end and point on the other. The idea for this little gem -- her "Magic Toothpick" -- came from Ann Connery at G Street Fabrics. Without the needle to fray the fabric, she can make a sharp point by sewing up to the end of the seam line, undercutting the lower level of fabric below the point, using the flat end of the toothpick straight across the point, turning the fabric under by pleating the seam, and like magic there is a nice flat point that can be "6 threads wide". This toothpick has made possible her stitching the designs of Maggie Walker with the blue, "delft like" designed vases in the Jason blocks, the "Gathering of Angels", quilt, and the "Feather and Song" quilt that you can see on her website. She sent me several of these "magic toothpicks" and I have already used them on the points of a block for Mimi Dietrich's class and on the medallion for Marylou McDonald's class. (I am trying to make up for lost time by doing two Baltimore Albums at the same time -- or is that normal?)

Teaching is her joy. Again the ability with language and organized thinking has moved her from guest artist at Ellie Sienkiewicz’ Appliqué Academy to permanent teacher there. This year she will teach her "Summer Garden" pattern in a two-day class and "Epergne of Fruit III" a classic Baltimore block for the conference class. She also will be teaching for Hidden Stitches, TAS chapter in Clearwater, Florida, this July and for Quilters' Gathering at Nashua, New Hampshire, in November.

Nancy follows the "Where there is a will, there is a way" philosophy. She wanted to design, but without any art background she needed to find ways to produce what she could see in her imagination. First she found Dover Books, which are copyright free, for many of the realistic flowers that she likes. She found a picture of a vase online and with permission from the potter and help from her computer to enlarge and reduce it she was able to trace and copy. She ended up buying the vase and using a silk rose, similar to the one in her quilt, to add a decorative detail in her home.

"A Rose for You"

"Fruit in Blue Vase"

From photograph of flowers she scans and prints out her patterns. Then she "just cuts it out and sews it". Sometime she sees a shade of fabric is wrong and will change it in the making. It may take a long time to satisfy her eye. For years she has been collecting shaded pink flowers and just at the end of her project for "A Rose for You" she found the "right flower" to use. Batik fabric is her favorite because of the shading and detail. She uses 100 weight, silk thread for sewing Batik because the fine thread is better hidden in the density of that particular fabric. Also in fine details she must use many small stitches and the silk thread creates a smoother line.

Shirley Bloomfield from England (who visited BAS last year) creates her favorite designs. "They are not complex, but very pretty." For her gallery she has a long hallway without windows leading to her sewing room where she can hang "triple" quilts. Nancy also said, "I keep the shades shut in rooms where I want to avoid fading of quilts on the walls."

Nancy Kerns in her studio

"Summer Garden"

Nancy is a generous artist. She wants to share her knowledge and techniques. Now she says with her children away from home--one in college and the other already in a career--she is ready to branch out by teaching classes across the country and the world. If we are lucky I hope Nancy Kerns comes to Baltimore Applique Society next year to teach a class.